At the engagement dinner, my future mother in aw s…

Maybe I could give her something to feel hopeful about. That was the first time a small, sharp feeling moved through my chest. The feeling was not anger.

It was a kind of recognition, the way you recognize a song you have not heard in years and cannot quite place. The engagement dinner was set for the second Saturday in October. Cordelia insisted on hosting it at her house.

She insisted on choosing the menu. She insisted on the guest list, which included her own siblings and cousins and three of her closest friends, but only two of mine. I had wanted to invite eight people from my side.

My father. My younger brother Hector and his wife. My best friend, Renata.

And a handful of close coworkers who had become family to me over the years. Cordelia said the dining room could only seat eighteen, and family had to come first, and surely my coworkers would understand. Lawrence shrugged and said it was just one dinner.