Outside, the door eased shut behind me. Tessa and Malik were around the side of the building near the parking lot, partly hidden by a row of tall planters. I saw Malik put his hand against her cheek. She pulled him close, and they kissed.
It lasted long enough that there was no mistaking it for a bad angle or a hug. I stood there holding the door handle, feeling stupid for still searching for another explanation.
Malik saw me first. He dropped his hand. Tessa turned, and for a second none of us spoke. A car rolled past the end of the lot, tires crackling over loose gravel.
“You just told me there was nothing,” I said to Malik.
He looked at Tessa. “Rowan, I’m sorry.”
“Were you sorry when you said it?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it. I had known him long enough to recognize the look he got when he wanted someone else to take over a conversation. This time I couldn’t stand it.
I turned to Tessa. “How long?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“I saw you kiss him.”
She pressed her palms together. “We didn’t mean for you to find out like this.”
The words made me cold. I asked again, and she finally said it had been going on for months. She and Malik had been having an affair while she was engaged to me.
I thought of all the times the three of us had sat together, how often I’d left them alone without a second thought. I wanted a list of dates. I wanted her to tell me there had been one kiss and that she was lying now. Instead, I heard myself ask whether either of them had planned to tell me.
Tessa said, “I was trying to figure out how.”
“With a transfer form?” I said.
She flinched. Malik stepped toward me, but I held up my hand. He stopped.
“Tessa, we’re done. I’m not marrying you.”
She looked at her ring, then at me. “Can we talk somewhere else?”
“No. Not today.”
I went back inside with both of them behind me. June was still at the desk. I told her I wasn’t signing the transfer, and she put the blank form away. Tessa called my name as I reached the door, but I kept walking.
The reservation was still in my name. I hadn’t decided what to do with it, and I couldn’t bear to stand there with them while I tried to think.
The next morning, I called June from my car. I had the contract open on the passenger seat, but I kept reading the same line without taking it in.
“Did Tessa tell you why she wanted the transfer?” I asked.
June hesitated. “She asked me whether Malik could replace you as the groom on the booking.”
I gripped the phone so hard my fingers hurt. “When?”
“Before you came in yesterday. I told her we couldn’t change the reservation without your consent. The contract is still exactly as it was.”
I stared through the windshield at my neighbor carrying a bag of groceries up her steps. I’d been trying to tell myself that the transfer was something Tessa had thought of after things got complicated. She had asked June about Malik before she put the form in front of me.
“She brought me there to sign it,” I said.
“I can’t speak for her,” June said. “But nothing has been transferred.”
I thanked her and hung up. Then I pulled the contract onto my lap and found the cancellation clause. If I canceled before Friday, the full deposit was refundable. I could take my money back and be finished with the venue. I almost called June again right then.
Instead, I sat there thinking about Tessa choosing chairs with me in that room. I hated that I still cared what happened to the date. I also hated that she had expected me to hand it over without knowing who would be standing beside her.
Malik called that evening. I let it ring twice before answering.
“Rowan, can we talk about the venue?” he said.
