Lizzie put her hands over her heart and gave me a sappy smile.

“Oh, and I also wanted to formally suggest that since you two will be gone on your honeymoon for a week, Jonas could give all of us the week off.”

There was cheering from my co-workers and laughter from everyone else. Jonas looked like he was actually considering it, and Lizzie whispered something to him.

“Granted!” he shouted.

The cheering doubled, and I was smiling right along with everyone else until Alec Pollard stood up.

“I’d like to say something, if that’s alright,” he said.

Jonas shrugged and someone took the mic from me and walked it over to Alec.

Everyone grew quieter. The man just had an aura about him that made me feel like we’d reached the part in the movie where the bad guy announces he has put a bomb under everyone’s table and he has also been cleaning the toilets with our toothbrushes all week.

“I wanted to say that trust is critical. Paramount, actually, to a successful business. And business, at its essence, is a relationship. A business built on false truths is a business doomed to fail. And a business partner formed through lies is a partner better left behind.”

“I ain’t heard this Dr. Seuss book, but it sucks!” Lane shouted. There was a quick and subdued round of country-flavored laughter.

There was some murmuring and clear confusion. Jonas got to his feet and started walking toward Alec like he was going to take the little cordless microphone away from him.

“That’s why I think it’s important we all know Pearl and Dean have been lying to all of us. For reasons I don’t understand–”

There was loud, angry murmuring. Maxwell Pollard got to his feet and shouted, “Enough, Alec! This is hardly the time.”

“This is exactly the time,” Alec said, holding Jonas at bay. “For months, I’ve been trying to talk sense into the two of you. Maxwell, you’ve been enamored by that man so fully that you can’t see reason anymore. Jonas, you’ve been half-assing your duty ever since you met that woman. This is our company. Our vision. Our dream. And you’re both letting it slip away, no matter how many times I’ve tried to bring it up. So I decided to get your attention once and for all.” He spread his arms, looking around the room at everyone who was glaring at him like the 90’s movie bad guy I’d known he was from the moment I saw him. “I don’t know why Dean and Pearl they’ve been lying to all of us, but I assure you, they have. You’ll find a printed copy of a text conversation between the two of them from six months ago. I’ve taken the liberty of posting it near the front doors, for anyone curious. They clearly admit…”

The chaos of Jonas and Maxwell taking the microphone from Alec and whatever he was shouting were drowned out as I joined a few people moving to the entrance. Jonas was yelling about the outrage of Alec trying to ruin his wedding with his “petty drama”. Maxwell was shouting, too, but I couldn’t make out what the words were. Most of the guests didn’t seem to care about the revelation that my relationship to Dean was fake. Hardly anyone was stopping to look at the papers hung on the wall, but I knew a handful of people would care, and those handful would be deeply hurt.