The invitation said:
Ian and Guest.
They knew I was single.
Somehow, even that felt deliberate.
I RSVP’d yes anyway.
I had my reasons.
The wedding was being held at an expensive vineyard upstate.
The kind of place with endless rows of grapes, polished wood, overpriced flowers, and guests pretending they could identify wines by smell.
When I arrived, an usher handed me my place card.
“Table nineteen.”
I thanked him and headed inside.
Then I found table nineteen.
It was shoved into the far corner of the reception hall beside the speakers.
And it was full of children.
Actual children.
Not teenagers.
One kid was coloring directly on the paper covering the table.
Another was stacking dinner rolls into some kind of fortress.
I just stood there.
Then I felt that familiar heat creep behind my ears.
The humiliation I thought I had outgrown.
Across the room, I spotted Dad holding a drink and talking to my uncle.
They looked toward me.
Dad gave me that tight little smile I had seen a thousand times.
Then he casually walked over.
He leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“Try not to ruin anything tonight.”
I looked at him.
He continued.
“Like you ruin everything else.”
My uncle laughed quietly behind him.
Mom caught my eye from across the room.
Then looked away.
I didn’t argue.
I didn’t make a scene.
I just smiled.
Because there was something none of them knew.
For the previous few months, Elise had been preparing for the wedding.
Flowers.
Seating charts.
Menus.
Decorations.
And somewhere along the way, she had asked me to make a wedding slideshow.
Not the official wedding film.
She and Carson had already hired some artistic filmmaking couple for thousands of dollars.
This was supposed to be something informal.
Something to play during the speeches.
“Just make it cute,” Elise had told me.
Childhood clips.
College memories.
Old family videos.
Funny moments.
I smiled and agreed.
Then I started working.
At first, I genuinely intended to make exactly what she requested.
I searched through years of old footage.
