Chapter 10: Before the Music

Nathan had spent weeks inside the ballroom while it was covered in dust. That evening, he stopped just beyond the doorway and saw it as a guest would.

Light from the chandeliers reached the walnut panels around the windows. The restored moldings carried the eye toward the high ceiling. Guests stood beside the walls his team had worked on, setting down their drinks without knowing how many times Luis had measured each curve.

Emma slipped her hand into his.

“It looks bigger with people in it,” she said.

“You helped me carry one of the samples here.”

“I wasn’t wearing these shoes then.”

She wore a blue dress and held the walnut jewelry box against her side. Nathan wore the same suit he had worn to Daniel’s wedding. Emma had fixed his tie again before they left.

They found Luis near the entrance with his wife. Mae stood beside a window, showing her sister the section of original wood they had saved. Nathan introduced Emma to everyone. When Luis’s wife asked which part her father had made, Emma led her straight to the east doorway.

“He made them take this panel back and finish it again,” she said.

Nathan gave Luis an apologetic look.

“She’s right,” Luis said. “It was the right call.”

Emma ran a fingertip along the edge, careful not to leave a mark. “Now you can’t tell.”

“That was the idea.”

Denise Warren approached with two guests who wanted to know how the removable access panel worked. Nathan showed them the join without opening it. He explained what had survived from the original ballroom and where his team’s work began.

One guest asked if Victoria had suggested his shop for the project.

“No,” Nathan said. “We applied through the public bid. Denise chaired the selection committee.”

Denise confirmed it. Then she asked Nathan to tell them about Mae’s preservation work. He did.

The question still stung, but Nathan did not carry it across the room with him. His team had a contract, a completed job, and their names in the program. He had answered what the guest asked.

Emma returned from the dessert table with a plate balanced in one hand. “Victoria’s speaking soon,” she said. “Can we watch?”

They found a place near the back. Victoria stood at a microphone beneath the far chandelier. She thanked the staff who had kept the hotel operating during construction, then named the restoration firms and the people who had led the work.

Nathan watched her refer to the program when she reached the craftsmen. She named Cole Woodcraft, Mae Porter, and Harlow & Finch with the same clear attention. There was no special glance toward him.

He was grateful for that. When her speech ended, Victoria found him across the room and smiled. He smiled back.

Emma saw it. “I’m going to show her the box.”

“Wait until she’s finished talking to the guests.”

“I can see that.”

She moved toward the dessert table to wait. Nathan spoke with Mae for a few minutes, then looked up to find Victoria crossing the floor alone.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hello.”

She glanced at the window panels. “You finally get to see them without work lights.”

“I nearly reached for a pencil when I came in.”

“I saw you check the east doorway.”

“I was admiring Luis’s work.”

“Of course.”

Emma appeared between them, holding up the box. “I finished it.”

Victoria took it carefully. The carved star on the lid was slightly uneven. Inside, Emma had sanded the corners smooth enough that the lining lay flat.

“You did the carving yourself?” Victoria asked.

“Yes. Dad made me practice on scrap wood first.”

“He made me practice too,” Victoria said. “I was less patient than you.”

Emma grinned. “You went against the grain.”

“I remember.”

Victoria handed back the box. Emma looked from one adult to the other.

“I need to tell Grandma where we are,” she said. “She’s supposed to meet us by the entrance.”

Nathan watched her go. His mother had already texted that she was parking. Emma had given them a moment on purpose.

“I’m glad you came,” Victoria said.

“I wanted Emma to see it. I wanted to see you too.”

Victoria held his gaze.

Nathan drew a breath. “I meant what I said at dinner. I’m sorry I made you feel that helping me was something you had to apologize for.”

“You explained why it hurt.”

“I did. But I also let you think there was no way for us to be together while I figured it out.” He glanced toward the doorway, where Luis was laughing with his wife. “I asked you to wait without knowing what I was asking you to wait for.”

“I could have said no.”

“You could have. You gave me room instead.”

“I cared about you, Nathan.”

“Past tense?”

“I still do.”

The band began setting up for the evening’s first dance. Around them, guests shifted toward the tables. Nathan could feel the familiar urge to choose his next words perfectly. He let it pass.

“I want to see you after tonight,” he said. “I want you to come back to the workshop. Emma does too. I know people will still have things to say, and I’ll probably have bad days with it. When that happens, I’ll tell you. I won’t disappear on you.”

Victoria’s eyes shone. “I can work with that.”

“What do you need from me?”

“A place in your life that we choose together. I don’t want to arrive as a solution to a problem or leave whenever someone looks at us.”

“You have that place, if you still want it.”

“I do.”

Nathan reached for her hand. She took it, then looked past him toward the dance floor.

“The band is about to start,” she said.

“I noticed.”

“Emma told me you practiced before the wedding.”

“She also told you I was terrible, didn’t she?”

“She said you got better after the first minute.”

“That was generous.”

Victoria’s thumb moved against his palm. They stayed where they were while the first notes filled the room.