He clearly has no interest in listening to me or organizing the party.
Asshole.
Well, he’s not going to destroy my opportunity to publicly reinvent myself. Everyone’s going to see that I’m Katherine Jones’s perfect sister, and Hunter over here isn’t going to sully my brand-new reputation.
“Lucy!” my mother calls from across the lawn. I ditch Hunter and head over to where she’s looking fraught. “Lucy! Where is that girl?”
“Right here, Mom. You look lovely.” She’s wearing a powder-blue pantsuit.
She turns and takes in my outfit. “Oh, you went for the lemon in the end.”
I fan out my skirt with my thumb and fingers, waiting for a compliment that never arrives. “It’s pretty, right?”
She sighs. “It’s fine. I want you to move this stack of trays over to the table with the champagne on it.”
I glance down. “But I might get a stain on my dress.” Mom and Dad were desperate to host the engagement party in their very pretty garden. Ed and Katherine have had to wait five months since they got engaged for this official celebration, thanks to the weather, but at least Mom’s happy. It also means the wedding is only two months away. Massachusetts and I are going to get reacquainted. Despite being relatively close, I don’t get back much. Katherine often comes down to New York with Ed when he has business in the city, so I get to see her without coming back home. My school friends and I aren’t really in touch. There’s nothing much to pull me back.
“Wear an apron. Come on. Guests are going to be arriving any minute.”
Maybe I should go and change quickly into something more suitable for lugging around catering equipment. All Katherine’s friends from school will be here soon, along with Mom and Dad’s friends, who have known me since I was born. I don’t want to greet them looking like a disheveled mess. It’s exactly the opposite impression I’m trying to portray. I’m not the kid sister who used to go everywhere on a skateboard, wearing bashed-up sneakers and an oversize Nirvana tee. I’m a serious, sophisticated New Yorker. Okay, I’m not a banker. But I’m a paralegal. That’s a serious job.
“Lucy!” my mother scolds. “Come on. Get those trays moved.”
My shoulders drop as I realize I don’t have time to change.
Just as I’m about to pick up the huge stack of silver trays, Ed interrupts. “We’ll do that,” he says.
I turn and come face-to-face with Hunter. He still looks murderous and he doesn’t say anything, but at least he takes the stack of trays and ferries it over to the other side of the garden.
I turn and find my mother rolling her eyes at me. “I told you to be quick,” she says. “Now poor Ed has to do the donkey work.”
“Rather than me, the actual donkey, right?” I don’t wait for Mom’s response, which is sure to be an eye roll anyway. I’ve had enough. I need a couple of minutes to regroup before the guests arrive. I head to the bathroom and try to find my Massachusetts smile.
Chapter Two
Hunter
It’s not like I’m not happy for my best friend. I schlepped up here from New York to go to his engagement party, didn’t I?
“Can I get another shot?” I ask the bartender. I’m avoiding everyone. I don’t know Ed’s friends from home, and the only joint friend we have is working in Hong Kong. Making small talk with a bunch of people I don’t know is my idea of perfect hell. And everyone’s so goddamn happy. I can’t take any more “Don’t they make an adorable couple” and “Their children are going to be so beautiful.” It’s all a bleak reminder of my future being flushed down the drain as this party drifts on.
The bartender slides me the tequila bottle. I unscrew the cap and tip a generous pour into the lowball that one of the themed cocktails was served in. It might have been the Something Borrowed ... No, that was the strawberry one. It was gooood. Maybe it was the Bouquet Toss. No, that was lemon. I know ... It was definitely the To Have and To Hold. Bit of a spicy kick on that one.
I probably should have asked for a clean glass, but I’m not really tasting the alcohol as it goes down. I just want to obliterate reality for an hour or so until I can go back to my hotel and sleep, then get back to the city to do my job. And Ed’s job. Already he’s not as focused as he usually is. I swear he spent the entire week booking the honeymoon.
“Hey,” Katherine says as she approaches the bar, arm in arm with Ed.
“Looks like you found the bar, dude,” Ed says.
“What can I say? Nothing like the ocean air and a slug of tequila.”
“So ... what did you think of Lucy?” he asks.
Katherine playfully slaps him on the arm. “You gotta be more subtle than that!”
I get the feeling I’m missing something.
“Did you two vibe?”
