“Of course.”

Noah took the microphone.

I stood beside our empty table.

“I brought my dad a wedding present.”

A few guests made soft, affectionate sounds.

Victoria smiled.

Julian opened his arms.

“Come here, buddy.”

Noah didn’t move.

He placed the brown box on the table beside the wedding cake.

“You said you left because our family was already over.”

The room became quiet.

Julian’s smile disappeared.

“Noah, this probably isn’t—”

“You said that a lot.”

Julian stepped toward him.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Noah put one hand on the lid of the box.

“But I found something.”

I started walking toward him.

“Noah?”

He looked at me.

For the first time that evening, he seemed nervous.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

Then he lifted the lid.

Inside were photographs.

Dozens of them.

Printed screenshots.

Hotel confirmations.

Travel receipts.

Dates.

I recognized Julian immediately in the first photograph.

Victoria was beside him.

They were standing in front of a hotel balcony.

I picked it up.

The date printed beneath it was eight months before Julian moved out of our house.

My fingers stopped.

Victoria stepped closer.

“What is that?”

Julian reached for the box.

Noah pulled it away.

“Dad left his old iPad at our house.”

Julian went pale.

Noah looked at me rather than him.

“It was still connected to his cloud account.”

I picked up another photograph.

Then another.

Austin.

Denver.

A hotel in Scottsdale.

Every one had a date.

Every date came from a time when Julian had still been coming home to us.

Victoria took one from my hand.

She stared at it.

“Julian.”

He lowered his voice.

“Victoria, give me a second.”

She held up the photograph.

“You told me you had already separated.”

“We had, emotionally.”

“You were living together.”

Julian looked at me.

“Charlotte, what did you do?”

I almost laughed.

“I didn’t even know this box existed.”

Noah reached into it again.

This time, he removed a small black USB drive.

Julian stopped moving.

Noah held it between two fingers.

“There’s more.”

Victoria looked from the USB to Julian.

“More what?”

Noah swallowed.

“Messages.”

Julian stepped forward.

“Give me that.”

Noah backed away.

I moved between them.

It was the first thing I had done all evening without thinking.

“Don’t.”

Julian stared at me.

Behind him, nobody was laughing anymore.

The microphone was still on.

Noah placed the USB in my palm and closed my fingers around it.

The brown paper box sat open beside the wedding cake, photographs spilling over its edges.

And for the first time since Julian had walked out of our house, he was the one standing in a room full of people with no story ready to save him.

The USB

Victoria was the first person to move.

She walked past Julian and stopped directly in front of me.

“May I see it?”

I looked down at the USB in my hand.

“I don’t know what’s on it.”

“Neither do I.”

Julian came toward us.

“This is ridiculous. We’re not turning my wedding into some public trial.”

Victoria didn’t look at him.

“You already made your first marriage part of your wedding speech.”

That stopped him.

Noah returned to my side.

I put my hand on his shoulder.

“How did you get these?” I whispered.

“The old iPad.”

“All of them?”

He nodded.

“There were folders.”

Julian heard him.

“You went through my private files?”

Noah looked down.

“You left them on our iPad.”

“That doesn’t give you permission—”

“Julian.”

Victoria’s voice was quiet.

She was holding one of the hotel confirmations.

“Were you in Scottsdale with me on March seventeenth?”

He rubbed his forehead.

“Victoria, we need to discuss this privately.”

“Were you?”

“Yes.”

She looked at me.

I already knew where I had been that weekend.

At home.

With Noah.

Julian had told me he was attending a legal conference.

Victoria picked up another photograph.

“And Denver?”

Julian said nothing.

She turned toward him.

“You told me Charlotte had moved out by then.”

I answered before I could stop myself.

“I never moved out.”

Victoria stared at me.

“He said you were living with your sister.”

“My sister lives in Ohio.”

The ballroom went completely still.

Julian looked around at his colleagues, his mother, Victoria’s parents.

Then he looked at me.

“Can you please take Noah outside?”

Noah’s fingers tightened around mine.

“No.”

Julian blinked.

I had spent nearly two years trying to keep conversations calm for Noah.

Not that night.

“You invited him.”

The Stories Julian Had Prepared

Victoria took the USB.

There was a laptop at the DJ’s station used for music and slides.

She carried the drive toward it.

Julian followed.

“Victoria, don’t do this.”

She turned.

“Why?”

He had no answer that sounded good enough for the room.

The DJ hesitated before plugging it in.

Several folders appeared.

Most meant nothing to me.