I looked at her.
She smiled.
“You’re allowed to finish your dinner first.”
I picked up my fork.
We ate quietly for several minutes.
Then Rachel’s phone vibrated.
She glanced at it and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing serious. Someone sent me a photograph from the ballroom.”
She hesitated.
“Actually, Clara, I think you should see it.”
She handed me the phone.
The photograph showed Vanessa and Adrian standing beside the framed portrait of Dad that I’d helped choose.
Behind them was the large screen displaying the final image from the slideshow.
Dad was laughing, with one arm around Vanessa and the other around me.
I recognized the picture immediately.
It was from Grandma’s seventieth birthday.
Vanessa had insisted we all squeeze together before Dad set the camera timer.
I’d worn an awful green dress.
She’d teased me about it for years.
Now that photograph was being displayed to nearly two hundred people.
Beneath it were the words:
Robert’s greatest joy: his family.
I stared at the image.
For a moment, I could hear his laugh.
Then I noticed something else.
Vanessa was standing beside the portrait, holding a bouquet of white roses.
Grandma’s place beside her was empty.
Mine was empty too.
Rachel took the phone back.
