The woman steps all the way in. “I’m Maria—I’m the on-site coordinator here at the winery.”
“Maid of honor," I say. “Nice to meet you. Now… what bad news?”
Maria winces just a little. “Good news: the band is here, set up, and they sound amazing.”
“And the bad news?”Come on, lady!
“I just found a message from the photographer on our answering machine,” she says. “She was in an accident on Thursday. Broke her leg. She said she would have called you, but somewhere on the way to the hospital, she lost her phone.”
“Oh no! That’s awful. Is she okay?” Luna asks.
“She’ll be fine. But… That leaves you without professional photography.”
For a second, all I can see is Luna in a dull Providence office—no dress, no flowers, maybe no pictures at all. And now…
This. This was supposed to be the big one, the real one, the one with all the memories.
I press my hands over my face. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t get a hold of her this week, and then with so much going on, I just… forgot to follow up.”
“Ash.” Luna’s voice is calm. Freakishly calm. “Hey. Look at me.”
I drop my hands. Her eyes are steady, not even close to panicked.
“It’s okay,” she says. “Seriously. It is okay. We’re still getting married.” she winces, biting her lip. “We have great food, music, wine… It’s fine. Really.”
I can’t believe I dropped the ball on this one. I’ve been so distracted…
She squints at me. “I just wish you weren’t—you know—because you really look like you could use a drink right now.”
I drop my hands.
“For the love of—Luna,” I move closer and lower my voice. “I amnotpregnant. I told you, whatever Babs heard was a misunderstanding.”
“You’re not? But then… what didn’t you want to tell me?”
I freeze. Because we’re kind of whispering over here and everyone else in the room is just… watching.
“It’s—not important right now.God, Luna,” I say and then lean a little closer. “Can we just… drop it?” I’m smiling but I’m also gritting my teeth.
Things are already way too complicated and I just… can’t right now.
She studies me and I know she knows there’s more. Of course she does.
But instead of pushing, she just says, “My sister needs champagne. Stat. And make it a tall one.”
I pivot around in time to see the room jump to action.
Tay gathering champagne flutes. Babs organizing the bouquet table, and Helen, who I hadn’t even realized was sitting in one of the corners, pops up.
“Roger’ll do it!” Helen chirps. “The photography, I mean. He brought enough film to document a royal wedding. And betweenyou and me, Minny hasn’t had a job this exciting since prom night ’78.”
I’m totally lost. “Minny?”
“His old camera. Short for Minolta,” Tay explains. “It’s like, an antique.”
“New isn’t always better,” Helen says, already heading for the door. “What do you say?”
Luna laughs. “Honestly? That feels exactly right.”
