“Not yet.” Lily dug inside for the inhaler never far from reach. Her phone buzzed with a new message. She opened the notification, noting the unknown number. Curiously, Lily tapped the picture to enlarge it.
Her heart stopped.
The noise in the room—the chattering, the giggles of her nieces—faded. Blood roared in her ears as she stared at the photo, her hands trembling.
“Lily.” Evie’s voice penetrated the buzzing in her ears, and Lily looked up at her sister in shock.
Her brain refused to process more than a few details at a time of what she was seeing.
A mirror selfie, taken in what looked like a hotel bathroom—white, sterile, with miniature toiletries neatly reflected on the sink.
Tucker—shirtless, his red underwear digging into his hips, emphasizing the extra padding there from too much beer over the years.
It was a new pair of underwear, she noticed, slightly hysterical. Bright red, silky, and expensive looking.
Her breath hitched in her chest. She knew that pair. Not because she’d seen it before—no, this wasn’t one of the threadbare undies she’d washed and folded for years. They were new. A style she’d secretly wished he cared enough to wear for her.
And there, pressed to his side, her towel barely clinging to her bare skin, was Madison.
His assistant.
She slammed her eyes shut, trying to erase the image of another woman wrapped around Tucker, her lips pressed to his cheek, her hand curled possessively around his bare chest, but it was burned into her mind.
The realization hit Lily like a gut punch, knocking her breathless. Her stomach lurched violently. The future she’d imagined since she was a little girl—the white dress, the house they would build, and the family they would fill it with—shattered by a photo. Her throat tightened, and she let out a choked sound.
A firm knock on the door jolted Lily from her thoughts. Her brother-in-law, Davis, leaned in, shaking a few stray snowflakes from the shoulders of his tuxedo. “The storm slowed things down, but we’re all here now. Everyone ready?”
The roomful of people turned their eyes on her, smiling expectantly.
Lily froze. For one long, horrible moment, she considered slipping the phone back into her purse, swallowing the jagged rock in her throat, and pretending as if she hadn’t seen the photo.
Her body moved on its own, one shaky step forward, her vision tunneling as she wobbled on her four-inch white satin heels. Davis straightened up, his smile replaced with a frown when he caught sight of her.
“Wait.” Evie’s hand shot out and gripped Lily’s arm like a lifeline. The familiar touch scraped against the lace of her sleeve. “What’s wrong?”
Suddenly, the dress was too hot and too tight. Lily wanted to tear it off. She glanced at Evie, the one person who had always been able to read her.
Lily’s lips parted, but no sound came out. The image of Tucker in his pristine new underwear, a pair she wasn’t meant to see, burned in her mind.
Fire rose in her chest, her lungs twisting and expanding to get air. The serenity she had been hanging onto with her fingernails all day was replaced with something else decidedly not harmonious.
“Girls, what’s going on?” Annette moved closer, her sharp eyes locking on Lily’s. Lily looked down. She could never hide her emotions well. “Lily, what’s wrong?”
“I—” Lily gasped, her lungs tightening painfully. “I—can’t—” Her breaths came in sharp, wheezing gasps now.
“Take your inhaler,” Evie said urgently, thrusting it at her. Lily fumbled for it, her sweaty palms slipping against the smooth plastic before taking a puff.
Allie and Amber surrounded her, shielding her. Her family, always watching out for her, always taking care of her.
How could she disappoint them? Embarrass them in front of their family and friends in Northfield? How could she leteveryone down? Lily had spent her entire life smoothing things over, making sure that everyone was happy around her.
“You okay, honey?” Allie asked, concern etching her face.
Angela wedged herself into the circle of women and placed a firm hand on Lily’s back. “Let’s not keep Tucker waiting. The guests are ready.”
She pressed the bouquet of lilies into Lily’s hands and nudged her toward the door.
“Back off, Angela,” Amber snapped, stepping in front of Lily, her belly protruding like a brick wall. “Lily goes when she’s ready.”
