It was the week after Lily’s birthday and engagement, and the final day of her internship. Flowers were draped on her desk, and fashion editors swarmed from all areas of the office to hug her and ask her what she was up to next. “Besides marrying Liam Reynolds, of course!” one particularly jealous woman a few years older than her said, her eyes shining. There had been a small yet explosive write-up about Lily and Liam’s engagement in one tabloid or another, and social media had run wild with it. Plenty of women had reached out to Lily via social media, expressing their anger, their congratulations, or both. “You aren’t good enough for him” seemed to be the ominous chorus. Lily wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“Invite us to the wedding!” people at the magazine begged as she left. “And match us up with some of the guests!” Lily and Liam hadn’t discussed the guest list yet, but she knew it would be a veritable who’s who of elite Manhattanites and Nantucketers. That was the world she was marrying into, after all.
Lily finished her final work for the day and left at three thirty, eager to sit in a calm, cool spot in her apartment and reflect on the next few months. Although she planned to continue her matchmaking services, she’d spoken to Liam at length aboutpotential futures for both of them and decided, after much discussion, that he was right. It was better to leave the city and return to Nantucket Island for the time being. There, she could save money, plan the wedding, and consider the next steps. They both wanted to have children at some point—not now, but maybe four or five years from now—and do it on Nantucket Island, surrounded by family. Already, Lily had alerted her landlord and given up her apartment. She’d be moved out by the first of September, which was a little more than a week away.
Nostalgia tugged at her heartstrings. It was hard to believe that four years of city living were over, that she was twenty-three, and things were moving ahead. Oh, but she was grateful that she’d be able to spend so much time with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, and mother. After losing her father, family meant so much to her. She wouldn’t take it for granted.
As Lily drifted off into a much-deserved nap, her phone buzzed and forced her back to consciousness. It was her mother, calling from the road. “Hi, honey!” she called. “How was your last day?”
Lily rolled out of bed and put her feet on the floor. Out the window, she could see the lush expanse of Central Park. “It was good. Bittersweet. How’s the drive?”
“We’re two hours away! Say hi, Chad. Say hi, Shelby!” Rebecca laughed as Lily’s younger siblings grumbled their hellos from the passenger side and the back seat. “Oh, by the way,” Rebecca continued. “I was talking to a few Nantucketers about your matchmaking services. I think you might have a few clients already.”
Lily brightened at that. “Divorced people?” So far, she’d only really worked with twentysomethings on the dating scene, and she craved the messiness of matching up two people who’d had an entire marriage before their next dating attempt. To Lily,assessing those sorts of people—people deep in their own story—felt more fascinating. It was like reading a denser novel.
“A few divorced people, sure,” Rebecca said. “But there are plenty of younger people on the island these days. Summer workers, staying into autumn and winter. They’re like me. They can’t tug themselves away now that they’ve fallen in love with the place. And anyway, they want love to keep the winter doldrums away! Romcom love. And that’s what my beautiful matchmaker daughter can bring them.”
“Can’t blame them for wanting that,” Lily said, taking a breath. She’d try to unite as many people as she could, bringing happiness to a blustery and frigid winter.
Ending the call, Rebecca wished her daughter well and said they’d see her soon. “Tonight’s going to be amazing!” Rebecca said. Lily winced. She was dreading it and didn’t know why.
Tonight’s main event was a celebration of Yoko Reynolds, Liam’s multi-award-winning tennis player mother. Lily had only met her once. But during their April lunch, Lily had been struck by how chic and sophisticated Yoko was. Everything from her silk blouse to the way she ordered her food to the way she brushed the dark hair out of her eyes felt like a poem. Lily had eaten as delicately as possible, praying she wouldn’t get any crumbs on her dress. Yoko and Kendall, Liam’s father, were attractive and moneyed and almost professional with Liam, as though he were an intern they’d hired rather than a boy they’d birthed into the world. Last night, Lily had asked Liam what his parents said about their engagement, and Liam had said, “They’re so happy! They love you!” Lily wasn’t sure why, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe him.
Two hours later, dressed in a svelte black dress and a pair of heels, Lily waited outside her building in the August heat, watching for her mother and siblings. Ordinarily, when they visited the city, Rebecca parked at a lot about three blocks fromthe apartment and walked over to pick Lily up. Today was no different. When Lily saw the three of them, ambling in their fancy clothes through the glittering mirage over the sidewalk, she took off as swiftly as she could in heels and threw her arms around them. They laughed, making a big scene in front of the New Yorkers around them. Lily wasn’t sure if such joy was allowed. She wanted to tell them that they’d lost their father, that love meant more to them because of what they were missing. But she also didn’t really care what the passersby thought.
First, they went to a little coffee shop not far from Lily’s apartment, where they drank cappuccinos and shared slices of cake. Although Lily had only just seen them a couple of weeks ago, it felt as though Chad was a few inches taller and his voice was deeper.
“We were watching videos of Yoko this morning.” Shelby’s eyes widened. “She was so good. Like she could get to every single shot.”
“I think we’re supposed to call her Mrs. Reynolds,” Chad interjected.
Lily realized she had no idea what was correct and felt a lurch of fear. She didn’t want to make her future mother-in-law angry before the full-scale wedding preparations had even begun. But before she could express this anxiety, the coffee shop door burst open, and in came Liam.
His enormous smile took up his entire face. The minute Lily saw him, her heart filled, and she fought her instinct to think she wasn’t good enough for him, that she was nothing compared to what he offered the world. But suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her and swirled her in a circle and cried out, “You’ll never believe this, baby!”
Lily swallowed her laughter and shifted out of his grip. She didn’t want to act like this in front of her mother and siblings—so loved-up (although it was true). “Say hello to my family!” she said.
Liam’s eyes widened, as though he’d forgotten the plan of meeting up with them in the first place. He bowed low, then reached out to hug first Rebecca, then Chad, then Shelby. “I’m sorry to come in like this,” he said. “I’ve just received some pretty insane news.”
Rebecca looked at Liam with a mix of distrust and intrigue. Lily knew that Rebecca liked Liam, but she also knew that Liam seemed like an overwhelmingly handsome rich kid who’d been given the world. That didn’t always go over well with her mother, who’d left Nantucket for many reasons, one of them being that super-wealthy people like Liam’s family weren’t her cup of tea.
“What’s going on?” Lily asked, still standing, rubbing her palms together.
Liam threw up his hands. “I got the part!”
Lily felt a strange crinkling in her heart. Swiftly, she searched through the dictionary of her mind, trying to remember which part, exactly, he was referring to. He’d been to what seemed like twenty auditions in the past two months—Shakespearean plays. Indie films. Music videos. She searched his eyes for some sign, something mirrored there she could grab onto.
And then, her mother came to the rescue. “That’s incredible, Liam. Really. What’s the gig?”
Liam smacked his thigh. “It’s a teenage drama! Fantasy-adjacent. Lots of intrigue. We start filming in a few weeks out in LA. And get this. I’m not the lead, but I’m fifth on the call sheet.” He smiled in a way that showed all of his teeth.
Lily’s knees threatened to give out on her. “Wow, baby. Fifth.” But her heart beat like a drum. She remembered how it had been Liam’s idea that they move back to Nantucket, that they leave the city together. She’d been convinced of it, thinking that no matter what, she wanted to be with him. But now, Liam’sjob called him out to Los Angeles. Where did she fit into that equation?
After Rebecca squeezed Liam in a hug that felt, to Lily, vaguely performative, Liam hugged Shelby and Chad and ordered the three over-twenty-one-year-olds glasses of champagne. It was the kind of coffee shop that transitioned into a bar with a 1920s feel after five thirty. Lily, Rebecca, and Liam clinked their glasses of champagne with Shelby’s and Chad’s sodas, and Liam explained everything that had happened on his phone call with his agent. “I mean, I hadn’t heard from her in weeks,” Liam said. “You can imagine that I was sweating about it. Nervous as heck. But she said it came down to Benson Albright and me, and they decided on me.” He stabbed his chest with his thumb.
“You’re amazing.” Lily gave him a side-hug, avoiding her mother’s gaze.
“How long will you be out in LA?” Rebecca asked. “And is Lily coming with you? Oh, but I’m sure this is all stuff you’ll discuss later on. It’s all so fresh.”
