At 9:00 AM the plaintiffs' lawyer held my face up to the judge.
It was Exhibit A, blown up and mounted on foam board.
"Defendant accepted twenty-five thousand dollars, Your Honor."
"Forty witnesses."
"One photograph."
Courtroom 407 had eleven rows of benches.
Three people sat in them.
Dawn wore her good coat.
Marisol had come on her day off.
Wes sat in the back row with his hands folded.
He hadn't said a word since the parking ramp.
He'd told me he wouldn't.
Curt and Patrice sat at the plaintiffs' table with their lawyer.
Patrice wore pearls.
Curt had his invoice face on.
I sat alone at the other table with my accordion folder.
The judge turned a page and found my name.
"Ms. Marchetti, you're representing yourself."
"Yes, Your Honor."
"It's your motion."
"Go ahead."
I stood up.
My hands were steady.
I've given report at seven in the morning after worse nights.
"Everything I have is already on file."
"Tab one is the Ashworth ledger."
"Eleven payments."
"Every one on Visa 8206."
"The last one was Friday, September 25, 2026."
"The card is mine."
"Tab two is my bank statements."
"November and December 2024."
"There's no deposit of twenty-five thousand dollars."
"Tab three is a text from Bryce Brueckner."
"November 18, 2024, 6:12 PM."
The judge found it in her copy.
She read it into the record in a flat voice.
Dad voided the check. Don't be weird.
Patrice turned her head to Curt.
Curt studied the flag behind the bench.
The lawyer stood up.
"Your Honor, that's a text from a non-party."
"Out of context."
"The photograph speaks for itself."
"Mr. Brueckner verified this complaint," I said.
"Under oath."
"I'd like to ask him about his verification."
The judge thought about it.
"Briefly."
"On the verification only."
"Mr. Brueckner, please stand."
Curt stood and buttoned his jacket.
He looked at the judge, not at me.
"Mr. Brueckner, on November eighteenth, 2024, did you void check 2207?"
His jaw moved once.
"She had that check in her hands."
"Forty people saw it."
"For nine days," I said.
"Did it ever leave your account?"
Curt looked at the foam board.
At me, smiling, holding his paper.
He didn't answer.
The lawyer half rose.
"Your Honor—"
"He can answer, counsel."
Curt still didn't.
The quiet went on long enough to hear the radiator.
Behind me, Dawn couldn't stand it.
"Make him answer, Leah!"
The bailiff turned around.
"Ma'am," the judge said.
Dawn sat back down.
I didn't need anyone to make him.
I asked again, in the same words.
"Did it ever leave your account?"
"No."
"I voided it."
Patrice's chair scraped.
"You told me she cashed it."
She said it at full volume, the way she said everything.
"You told me she paid the hotel with it."
"You told me in our kitchen."
"Patrice," Curt said.
"Sit down."
"I sat down in the box."
The lawyer put a hand on her sleeve.
She shook it off.
I didn't move.
I didn't need to.
"You paid for the photo," I said.
"I paid for the wedding."
The judge took her glasses off.
"Thank you, Mr. Brueckner."
"You can sit."
He sat.
Patrice stayed standing until the bailiff looked at her.
"The motion for summary judgment is granted."
"The complaint is dismissed with prejudice."
The clerk typed.
"On the sanctions motion."
"Plaintiff verified a claim his own records contradict."
"He kept it standing after twenty-one days' notice."
"The motion is granted."
"Three thousand dollars to Ms. Marchetti."
"For her documented lost shifts and costs."
"Due January 13."
"We're adjourned."
The lawyer packed his foam board face down.
Curt and Patrice walked out a full yard apart.
Neither of them looked at me.
I put the tabs back in my folder in order.
Wes was holding the door.
Bryce sat on a bench by the elevators.
He was in the gray suit he wore to sell boilers.
He hadn't come inside.
He stood up when he saw me.
"Lee."
"I should've told them — when Dad took it, I should've just — I didn't think it would get to — Lee, I miss —"
"No."
He stood there with his mouth still open.
His mother's voice came up the stairwell, loud.
He went to it.
I took out my phone.
The makeup artist's video was still there.
4:22 PM
I'd never played it on my phone.
I held my thumb on it.
Delete Video
I pressed it.
Wes held out his arm, bent at the elbow.
I put mine through it.
I walked out on the arm I chose.