The room went silent.

My face burned so hot I thought I might faint.

A few people turned toward me.

Someone whispered.

Mark stared at me with wide eyes, and for one awful moment, I saw the same doubt on his face that had ended our marriage.

Miriam tilted her head, pretending sympathy.

“Oh, Claire,” she said into the microphone. “Still trying so hard to be admired.”

Something inside me cracked.

Not because she had exposed the lie.

Because she had done it with the same voice she used twenty years earlier.

The voice that said, You are nothing, and everyone knows it.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

Then Norton squeezed my hand.

He led me forward, right toward Miriam.

My knees shook with every step.

Norton Takes the Microphone

Norton stopped in front of the stage and held out his hand.

“May I?”

Miriam hesitated.

She had expected me to run.

She had not expected him to speak.

Reluctantly, she gave him the microphone.

Norton turned to the room.

“Miriam is telling the truth,” he said.

A wave of whispers moved through the gym.

I wanted the floor to open beneath me.

“Yes,” he continued, calm and clear. “Claire hired me.”

My throat closed.

Then he turned toward me, and his expression softened.

“But not because she is pathetic. Not because she needed to impress anyone. She hired me because the last time she stood in this gym, many of you taught her that being alone made her unsafe.”

The room went still.

Norton looked around slowly.

“She paid for support,” he said. “For courage. For someone to stand beside her while she faced people who hurt her, ignored her, mocked her, or believed lies about her.”

My eyes filled with tears.

Miriam crossed her arms. “That is very dramatic.”

Norton nodded. “I’m an actor. Dramatic is part of the package.”

A few people laughed nervously.

“But tonight,” he said, “I’m not acting.”

Then he reached into his jacket and took out a folded paper.

“I asked Claire’s permission earlier this week to contact a few people from the class page,” he said. “I told them I was helping prepare something for the reunion. I asked one question: What do you remember about Claire?”

My breath caught.

I had no idea he had done that.

Norton looked at me. “I didn’t show you because I didn’t want you to talk yourself out of hearing it.”