Zoey’s jaw dropped. “Wait. You won the cool moms over? The child yoga instructor? Thecalligrapher?”
“Turns out they were just intimidated by me,” Claire said breezily, tearing off a strip of tape. “Which makes sense. They’re not sharks or meerkats at all. They’re actually kind of the best, apart from you guys. I invited them to hang and found out they get together once a week to drink wine and talk about how to self-actualize while occupying traditional roles like wife and mother. Except during the dry months, obviously—then it’s just self-actualization.”
“Look at you.” Annie nodded approvingly. “Reaching outside your comfort zone.”
“Gee. Thanks, Mom.”
Mac nodded at Ted. “You know, Stoner, we werejustthinking about doing a cleanse.”
“Oh, yeah,” Ted said, taking the risk of scratching behind Al’s ears. “We were talking about getting healthy over the holidays, dropping some weight. A new lease on life.”
“Less than two months of dating and you’re already an old married couple,” Claire muttered.
“I want to do what everyone else is doing,” Zoey piped in. She shot a glance at Annie. “Though I recognize that can sometimes be my insecurity talking.”
“No, let’s do it.” Annie stepped away from the fireplace. “It couldn’t hurt to take a break from booze in the lead-up to the wedding.”
All my friends looked at me.
Whowerethese people?
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “The same women who call any wedding, bar mitzvah, baptism, child’s birthday party or Wednesday afternoon without boozea sheer waste of our brief mortal livesare rallying around not drinking? During the holidays?”
Claire shrugged. “We have layers. So sue us. But don’t, because I will defeat you.”
Annie tugged on my sleeve. “Hey,” she said, voice low, “I know your head’s kind of spinning, but will you come with me for a sec? I have something to ask you in private.”
Curiosity got the best of me. I set my mug down and scrambled out of the armchair, following Annie into my bedroom.
She bounced onto my bed. “Close the door.”
“What’s with the mystery?” I shut the door and leaned against it, trying not to think about the fact that Ben and I had lain side by side right where Annie’s feet were dangling.
Her face glowed. “It’s about the wedding.”
“Oh?”Stoner, we’d like to ask that you not attend, so as not to contaminate the wedding with your negative energy. Your particular extra-strength brand of love-repellent. Your full-fledged marriage-Grinchness.I steeled myself.
“You’ve been my best friend since grad school,” Annie said. “And I love you. So...” She laughed. “God, it feels like proposing again. Here I go, out with it. Will you be our maid of honor? Zoey’s older sister is going to be our matron of honor, just so you know.”
Um. What?
“You wantme?” I was glad I was leaning against the door, otherwise I might have fallen over.
“Yes.” Annie grinned. “Of course.”
“But...I’m terrible at relationships. Almost everyone I know has either cheated on someone or been cheated on. Most of them both. And...I kind of don’t believe in love, remember? That has to be the world’s worst résumé for a maid of honor. What if my mere presence inadvertently curses your marriage?”
Annie waved a hand. “Oh, you believe in love. Stop being silly.”
“Excuseme? Have you not been listening to me for the past five years?”
Annie cocked a brow that said,Are you kidding, how could I escape it?“Yes. I have. And what I’ve heard is the pain of a very tenderhearted person wholovedlove, who was a terrible romantic, and who got hurt. Deeply. By people she trusted. You developed a defense mechanism, Stoner, which is very understandable. You were doing the best you could with the information at hand. But your shield isn’t working for you anymore. Actually, I think it stopped quite a while ago. Right around the time a certain someone came back into your life.”
I pushed off the door. “If you’re talking about Ben—”
“Of course I’m talking about Ben.” Annie’s face was gently exasperated—which, for her, was practically outraged. “Finally, I’m talking about Ben. We haven’t been allowed to talk about him since he left, even though it’s obvious he’s haunted you for five years. I held my tongue when he came back and you lit up like a Christmas tree.” She saw my dubious look. “Okay, not a Clifford-the-Christmas-tree kind of tree. A normal one, not in need of rescue by Zoey. It’s obvious you love him, is what I’m trying to say. It’s been obvious for a while.”
“Joke’s on you.” I fell into bed next to her. “I fully cop to being in love with Ben. I told him so. But it’s not enough to make a relationship work.”
