Despite her confrontation with Karen, she’d been lively and cheery as ever at the wedding ceremony… yet some sort of gloom had fallen over her since. Brandon had tried bantering with her and introducing her to some of the more amenable guests, yet she remained secluded behind the sweetheart table. Had the hostile environment finally gotten to her? Brandon put himself in her shoes: those of an outsider at her own wedding. A wedding full of judgmental glances and surreptitious gossip. He felt horrible for her. I should never have let myself get talked into having the wedding here, even if Heather was the one who convinced me. During this last hour of the reception, as the night’s energy wound down, Brandon decided to sit next to Heather, to let her know he was here for her. He again flat-out asked her if something was wrong, but she insisted that she was just tired, that everything was fine. She smiled and chatted when greeted, and even tapped her feet to the music, but Brandon knew her well enough to see through her outward veneer to her uncharacteristic quietness, to her curt responses to his questions, to the way her smile vanished a little too quickly after talking to one of his friends or relatives.
