Oh no—I was beginning to sound like Georgie.
“Sorry,” I drawled as I resurfaced from my haze. “Did we have something scheduled?”
Serena sighed, looking uncharacteristically frustrated. “No, and I apologize for the inconvenience. There are so many things to get done over at the country club, and Jesse is with his groomsmen.” She hesitated before adding, “I really don’t want to go alone.”
I pressed my lips together. Trying to be a better, less selfish friend, meant showing up for Serena and cancelling my day with Teddy.
“Okay,” I replied. “Let’s do it.”
Her face lit up as she pulled me toward the rental car. Inside, I sent an explanation to Teddy before shoving my phone in my purse and setting it at my feet. She turned the radio on, humming to an impossibly cheery song by Carole King. We rolled up Main Street, stopping intermittently for different crowds of tourists, before finally turning onto the little two-lane road out of town.
“So, what’s Jesse up to with his groomsmen?” I asked, suddenly realizing that I was alone with her for the first time since we were teenagers.
Serena’s jaw tensed for a split second before she responded. “Oh, I don’t know. They ‘kidnapped’ him last night.” She put up finger quotes. “Bachelor party secrets, I suppose.”
The color drained from my face. Where there were bachelor parties, there were typicallybacheloretteparties. I swallowed the lump of guilt in my throat and attempted subtlety as I murmured, “Did you ever tell us who your maid-of-honor is?”
“It was supposed to be Jesse’s older sister,” Serena replied. “But she just had a baby, so the timing wasn’t right.”
“Right,” I muttered.
Waiting a stifling five minutes to avoid suspicion, I ripped my purse open and tapped out an urgent message to Georgie:Bachelorette party. Tonight. Stuck at the country club with Serena. SOS.If anyone could pull together a spectacular last-minute event, it was Georgie. I’d have to rush through with Serena as fast as I could.
My plans were foiled the minute we stepped into the glossy, marble-floored foyer.
Bellboys rushed by pulling gilded carts laden with suitcases, clusters of people milled through the lobby and waited in line at the front desk, and staff members carrying clipboards passed us without a second glance. Serena looked like a baby giraffe trying to balance on a rocking boat.
“Fallfest is the day after your wedding,” I explained. Georgie’s words rang in my ears—the country club was all booked up. The final wave of tourists had officially descended.
I followed Serena as she waded through the crowd and attempted to flag down her coordinator. The chatter, combined with ringing bells and rolling wheels, formed a low roar that drowned out her quiet voice. We’d never get home at that rate.
“What’s her name?” I asked, motioning to the woman with jet black hair and razor-sharp eyeliner.
“Minerva.”
“Seriously?”
Serena gave me a look.
Throwing up my hands, I shouted, “Minerva!”
The conversations rapidly fell to a hush. Several eyes caught on us, some whispering as they did. Serena, horrified, dipped her chin and blushed. I grimaced and shooed them away, pushing her by the back as we approached the woman studying me with obvious affront.
This was going to be afunday.
???
I groaned and cradled my stomach. “I can’t fit anymore in here, S.”
Serena arched her brow as if to say, “You can stop when I tell you to stop.” Not that she’d ever say it out loud. She slid the next plate to me, a slice with an ornate placard beside it thatread “black forest gateau” in calligraphy. Apparently, one of the many things she required another person for was to consume all the calories she refused. I told her not indulging for her own wedding was ridiculous, but she excused it—something about couture—and shoved another piece of cake at me.
When my phone rang, I was sure it was Georgie.
“I need to get this,” I said, standing. “And possibly give my stomach some recovery time before it decides to implode in protest.”
As I left, she delved into another conversation about table settings with the coordinator, who’d been hovering behind me the entire time like some sort of Scooby-Doo villain.
I quickly found my way to the ocean view terrace, shrugging on my coat as I blindly answered the call. “Hey, Georgie—look, I’m in the middle of cake tastings, so I don’t have long. But—”
