“I told you I was looking for him,” I said.
Patricia hurried closer.
“It was an unfortunate misunderstanding.”
George straightened his jacket.
“We were protecting the property.”
Ethan looked at him.
“By searching my mother?”
George’s mouth opened, but no answer came.
I removed the phone from its sleeve.
The red timer was still moving.
That became the new sound on the lawn.
Not laughter. Not music. Thirty people realizing their voices had been saved.
I pressed stop.
Vanessa reached toward the phone.
Ethan stepped between us.
“Don’t,” he said.
The young server bent to retrieve his tray.
Beneath it lay a white place card that had been soaked at one corner.
He picked it up, turned it over, and stopped breathing for a moment.
On the back was a list of staff names in Vanessa’s handwriting.
Three had marks beside them.
His name was first.
“What is that?” Ethan asked.
The server hesitated.
Vanessa moved quickly.
“Give me that.”
I took the card before she could reach it.
Ethan read the card twice.
“You planned to dismiss him before he ever tried to help her?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“This is not about staff management. This is about a woman trespassing at a private family event.”
“My mother was invited.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward him.
Ethan reached into his jacket and removed his phone.
He opened the message thread between us and held up the screen.
There was my reply from the night before confirming that I would attend.
There was Ethan’s message telling me to come whenever I felt comfortable.
There was no confusion left to hide behind.
Patricia stepped closer to her daughter.
“Vanessa, apologize.”
It was the first useful thing she had said all afternoon, but even then she said it like a public-relations instruction.
