I can’t believeTheo went to jail for Chandler.
My mind is blown.
It’s blown over something both men—and my best friends—have known for over a decade. Something they all got over—mostly—a long time ago. I need to let it go.
It would be easier, though, if Chandler didn’t look like he’s carrying the weight of a thousand moons, which isn’t something I’ve noticed about him before, but now I’m wondering if weddings stress him out, like Theo said, or if he’s always been like this and I had blinders on because I knew how much Emma adored him.
And he’s never made me mad the way Theo did.
I know Emma’s complained about him more this past year, but that felt pretty normal. Don’t all couples fight more when they’re planning a wedding?
I’ve been on enough phone calls at work with happily engaged couples breaking down over misplaced expectations with their custom orders to have a firm belief that planning a wedding is the true test of a couple’s commitment to each other.
But should I have looked closer?
I’m struggling to smile through hugging Emma and Chandler as they reach us when I’d rather be hugging Theo and telling him that he’s not a bad person, and that I’m sorry for every time I acted like a stuck-up snot-bucket to him, that I wish I could’ve removed mygood people do good things and bad people do bad thingsblack-and-white opinions years ago.
Decadesago.
“Could’ve saved a lot of money if we just hugged everyone every time we saw them back home,” Chandler says to Emma, who laughs and hushes him.
Theo’s cheek twitches.
The two men don’t hug.
Or shake hands.
Or acknowledge each other at all, which is frankly weird.
Theo’s smiled ateveryonethis week. Me. Sabrina. Claire. His dad and uncle. The triplets. The resort staff.
He even smiled at Aunt Brenda while he was taking her down a notch last night.
“Any hints on what’s at the end of the scavenger hunt?” I ask Emma, hoping to distract her from the tension between her fiancé and her brother.
“I don’t even know,” she tells me. “It was an option from the resort. They put it all together. Oh, honey, look—Cecelia made it!”
They dash off to greet their newest arrival, and I look at Theo.
Not because Emma was clearly trying to find any excuse to not have the two men stand together a minute longer, but becausethe resort put it together.
“Do you have a bad feeling about this?” I whisper.
“It’s fine.”
He doesn’t elaborate while he scans the room.
I look around too, wondering exactly what he’s looking for.
“Theo, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but—”
“I noticed. Took care of it.”
“You—”
“Scavenger hunt’s set.”
“It—”
