Chapter 3
The conservatory hadn't gone quiet in the way empty rooms do. It was the kind of quiet where everyone was still listening.
I was still standing too close to the black-draped table where the laptop sat open. The projection screen beside it had gone blue and then black, the webcam on top blinking red once before it went dark. Someone had tugged the power cord loose but left the lid up. My sister in the purple dress kept one hand on my elbow like she thought I might tip over.
I could see the girl.
She was off to the side near the gift table, where the white hydrangeas and orchids were stacked so thick they made a little wall. Her navy top was bright against all that white. The big pale yellow bow in her blonde hair had slipped a little to the side. She wasn't crying. She was standing very still with her hands clasped in front of her, watching the adults watch her, and that was worse.
I didn't realize I'd moved until I was already kneeling.
The floor of the conservatory was that pale poured concrete they use in greenhouses, and the hem of my satin gown pooled around me. It was cold against my knees. Up close she smelled like hairspray and sugar.
"Hey," I said. My voice came out lower than I wanted. "Hey, sweetheart. You did a good job pressing play like they asked you to."
She looked at me, eyes wide. I tried to keep my breathing slow so she wouldn't hear how fast my heart was going.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked.
My sister made a small sound behind me. I shook my head.
"No," I said. "No one is mad at you. I just want to understand what happened. Can you tell me who gave you the video?"
She glanced past me, toward the table. The laptop was still open. The screen saver had come on — photos cycling, me and him among the greenery, the same photo that had been on the projection screen before the silhouette came.
She swallowed. "It was already on there," she said. Her voice was small and careful, the way kids get when they think they've broken something expensive. "Someone put a file on the desktop and said it was a surprise for the wedding. They said to wait till everybody was sitting and then press play."
I felt my sister's hand tighten on my shoulder. I kept my eyes on the girl.
"Who told you that?" I asked.
She frowned, trying to remember correctly. "They texted Mom. Mom showed me. The file was called Wedding_Surprise_FINAL. They said not to open it before."
My mouth went dry. "When did they send it?"
"I don't know," she said. "It was there this morning. Before we came here."
I didn't move. The string lights above us hummed faintly. Through the glass walls I could see the parking lot, my dad's truck, the white folding chairs stacked after the ceremony.
"Did you see who put it on the laptop?" my sister asked gently from behind me.
The girl shook her head. "It was just there. On the little computer. Mom said it was from family."
She didn't know what the second image meant. That was clear from her face. To her it had just been a dark blurry shape in a doorway, not a person anyone would recognize. She thought the surprise had simply gone wrong.
I looked at the laptop again. The black drape was pulled crooked. Someone had kicked the power strip trying to stop the video when he said, "Stop the video." The screen was angled toward me and I could see the desktop reflected in it.
I stood slowly. My knees ached where the concrete had pressed through the satin. The girl reached out like she wanted to hold my hand and then pulled back.
"It's okay," I told her. "You did exactly what they told you to do."
I walked the three steps to the table. My sister stayed with the girl, kneeling now where I had been, talking to her in a low voice. I could hear her saying, "You didn't do anything wrong, honey."
The laptop was warm. I touched the trackpad and the screen woke. The desktop was a mess of folders — DJ playlist, photo booth app, a slideshow we'd made together two weeks ago. And in the center, one file sitting alone.
Wedding_Surprise_FINAL.mp4
I clicked once. Not to play it. Just to highlight it. The info pane opened on the right side. I stared at the details.
Date Created: Yesterday, 9:47 PM
Date Modified: Yesterday, 9:47 PM
File Size: 412 MB
Yesterday. 9:47 at night. While we were at the rehearsal dinner in the back room of the diner on Main Street. While he was standing next to me giving that short nervous toast about how lucky he was. While his mother in the silver dress was clapping with her pearl necklace catching the light.
Before the ceremony. Before I'd walked in this glass room in this white dress. Before anyone had taken a photo among the greenery that was now frozen on that screen.
Someone had put this on the laptop before the wedding day even started and told a child it was a surprise.
The file had been waiting there all morning while the florist carried in those huge white arrangements, while they set up the projection screen on its stand, while the webcam was clipped on top. Waiting through the vows and the applause and the string lights being plugged in.
My hand was shaking over the trackpad. I closed the info pane. I didn't press play. I didn't need to see the blurry silhouette in the doorway again to know what it meant now.
It wasn't a prank. It wasn't a glitch. Someone had planned for that second image to come up exactly when the room was full and bright and everyone was watching.
May you like
Behind me, the girl said something in a small voice and my sister answered her. The conservatory was still that strange, listening quiet. Outside the glass walls the daylight hadn't changed at all.
I left the laptop open and stepped back from the table, my gown catching on the power cord under my shoe.
