"Well, you came to the right place." He hands me the card back. "Ten minutes with a good coffee can turn just about anything around."
I wish that were true.
I sit at my table and pull out my phone. Seventeen new messages since I left the office an hour ago, including twofrom potential clients, one vendor confirmation, and a few to-do reminders from Sophie.
The chaos of crisis management should feel overwhelming, but to me it's oddly comforting. This is what I'm good at—fixing the unfixable, making the impossible happen, turning disasters into triumphs. Unlike relationships, work has clear parameters. You deliver, clients pay handsomely, everyone's happy. No mysterious helicopters, no false identities, no emotional minefields disguised as romance.
My phone buzzes with another text from Sophie:Florist confirmed for next week’s event. Caterer wants to discuss menu changes. Should I handle or wait for you?
I type back quickly:Handle it. You know my standards.
Three dots appear immediately, then:Consider it done, Boss.
Jake delivers my latte with a nod, and I take a sip while opening my laptop. The Bolton-Martinez wedding budget spreadsheet loads, and I start reviewing line items. Florals are running over budget by two thousand, but I can offset that by negotiating down the linens.
My phone lights up again—Emma's name flashing across the screen. That makes twelve calls from her in the past week, not counting the texts. I've been sending brief responses to let her know I’m okay, but actual conversation? I’m not ready for that.
I let it ring.
The door opens and my eyes shift toward it before I can stop myself. A woman in workout clothes walks in, ponytail swinging. Wrong height. Wrong build. Wrong person entirely.
I look back at my screen, annoyed with myself. What am I doing? Waiting for someone I don’t even want to see?
My phone immediately starts ringing again. Emma. She's persistent; I'll give her that.
I stare at her name on the screen. She's on her honeymoon in Hawaii right now, should be lying on a beach with David,completely blissed out. Instead she's calling her disaster of an older sister over and over because I've been too much of a coward to actually talk to her.
I can't keep avoiding this; I don’t want to ruin her honeymoon.
I swipe to answer. "Hi, Em."
"Finally!" Emma sounds relieved. "Liv, I've been trying to reach you for a week. A whole week. All I get back are these short messages—'I'm fine,' 'Just busy,' 'Talk soon'—like I'm some client you're brushing off. What the hell is going on?"
"I'm sorry." I wrap my hand around my coffee cup, needing something to hold onto. "I didn't mean to worry you. I've just been slammed with work and?—"
"Stop. Just stop with the work excuse." Emma's tone softens slightly. "I know you, Liv. You're hiding. You've been hiding since you ran out of that brunch and flew back home without saying goodbye. So please, just tell me what happened."
"How's Hawaii?" I ask, deflecting. "How's the honeymoon?"
"Liv—"
"Please, Em. Just tell me about Hawaii. I need to hear something good right now."
She clears her throat. "Okay… Well, it's beautiful. The water is this insane shade of blue and we've been snorkeling and hiking and eating way too much poke." She pauses. "But I'm worried about my sister who disappeared without an explanation."
"I'm fine," I say, but my voice betrays me with a slight crack.
"You're not. This is about Sailor, isn't it?" Emma's voice loses its edge, going gentle. "What happened, Liv? She suddenly took off in a helicopter and then you vanished too."
I take a breath, then another. A knot forms in my throat and I have to swallow past it. Come on now. Don’t get emotional. Not over a stranger.
"Her name is Blair Davis," I say finally. "And nothing she told me was true. I mean, nothing I told you aboutherwas true either; I made her up."
“But… What?” Emma pauses. “But she was there.”
“Yeah. I hired her as my fake girlfriend to bring to the wedding. Sailor wasn’t real. I made her up.” I shake my head. “I feel so stupid, Em. For lying to you and Mom and Dad. That was unforgivable.”
Emma is quiet for a while, clearly confused. "That doesn't make sense though. The way she looked at you, the way you looked at each other…"
