Chapter 4 - The Hallway Behind the Stage
The emcee stepped back up to the podium like he wasn't sure it was still his. He smiled too wide and tapped the microphone and the tap went loud through the whole ballroom.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's take a brief intermission," he said. His voice shook a little on the last word. "Refreshments in the lobby. We'll resume the program in just a few minutes."
Nobody moved at first. The band wasn't playing. The projection screen behind Dad still had that big photo of him on it, frozen and too bright.
Dad didn't look at the crowd anymore. He looked at me. His hand was still on my shoulder from when he'd guided me away from the mic, not squeezing, just there.
"Come on, sweetheart," he said quietly, low enough that the mic didn't catch it. "Let's step off for a second."
Vanessa was already stepping back from the podium. She touched the pearls once without thinking about it, then dropped her hand. She didn't look at Dad or me. She looked past us, toward the side of the stage where a man in a black vest was motioning.
I held the envelope and the little USB flat against my blue dress with both hands. My silver clutch was still open on the podium where I'd left it. Mom picked it up as she came up the stairs to the stage. I hadn't even seen her get up from the table.
She didn't say anything to Dad. She just came to my other side and put her hand lightly on my back. Her navy dress made a soft sound when she moved. Her earrings caught the stage light.
"Okay, Ellie?" she whispered, and I nodded. I could feel my heart beating against the envelope.
We had to walk single file to get off the stage. Dad went first, then me, then Mom, then Vanessa. The emcee held the curtain back for us with one hand and kept that smile on his face with the other.
The ballroom got loud all at once behind us, but not in a normal way. It was that low, fast whispering where everyone pretends they're not talking about you. I heard a chair scrape. I saw phones lifted up over the white tablecloths, little rectangles of light. Two women at the table near the stage didn't even try to hide it.
A young server in a white shirt and black tie moved ahead of us, clearing the aisle even though no one was standing in it. "This way, please," he said, not looking any of us in the eye. He pushed open a door at the side of the ballroom that I hadn't noticed before. It was heavy and had a brass push plate.
The hallway behind it was narrow and not decorated at all. The carpet was gray and the walls were just plain beige with a couple of framed hotel prints. It was cooler in there and it smelled like cleaning spray. Our shoes sounded different on that carpet, muffled. The door swung shut behind us and cut the ballroom murmur down to almost nothing.
The server led us maybe twenty feet down the hall to another door and knocked once before opening it. "The dressing suite is right in here if you need a moment," he said. He didn't wait for an answer. He just stepped back and let us go in.
It wasn't really a suite. It was a small room with a mirror that had lights around it, a couch against one wall, a clothing rack with empty hangers, and a low table with water bottles and glasses. Someone had left a garment bag hanging on the back of the door. The air conditioner hummed loud.
Dad closed the door behind us himself. The click of it felt heavier than the ballroom door.
Vanessa went straight to the couch but didn't sit. She stood beside it with her arms crossed loosely, like she didn't know where to put herself. The pearls sat against her champagne dress and I couldn't stop looking at them.
Mom pulled the door of the room closed all the way and stayed near it, one hand still holding my clutch. Dad stood in the middle of the room and rubbed the back of his neck. His bow tie was a little crooked now.
He looked at the envelope in my hands.
"Ellie," he said. He tried to sound calm, that same voice he used when he'd been at the podium. "Can you give me that for a minute? Just so I can see what your grandma -"
Mom spoke before I could answer. Her voice was quiet but it cut right through his.
"She's holding it," she said.
Dad looked at her, then back at me. He swallowed.
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"We need a minute to figure out how to go back out there," he said. "Before this gets bigger than it needs to be."
No one moved toward the door. Outside in the hallway I could hear the muffled sound of people walking past, and somewhere far down the hall the clink of trays being stacked. In the ballroom, the program was still on pause, waiting for us to decide something. I held Grandma's envelope tighter against my dress and felt the hard edge of the USB inside it press against my palm, still sealed, still mine.
