Maggie closed her eyes, the relief sharper than she wanted to admit.
Steam hissed softly from some hidden vent, the kind of sound that made Maggie’s body want to melt into the lounge chair forever. She was drifting, half dozing, when Kiera let out a long, audible sigh.
“Okay,” Kiera said, her voice muffled through the towel across her eyes. “I wasn’t going to bring this up, but… I’m anxious Izzy and I might never set a date for the wedding.”
Maggie’s eyes snapped open, staring at the ceiling.
Danica lifted her towel, blinking. “What? Why would you think that?”
Kiera shrugged, the fabric rustling. “I don’t know. We’ve been together long enough. And yes, we’re newly engaged, but it seems like she’s really dragging her feet about wedding planning. She says she wants forever, but sometimes it feels like… forever in Izzy-language is just a concept, not a plan.” Her voice wobbled, just slightly. “What if she just liked the idea of being engaged but didn’t think about the reality of it?”
Maggie pressed her lips together, her chest tightening. She thought of Izzy whispering her worries to them.
Danica reached out across the space between their chairs and found Kiera’s hand, squeezing gently. “She loves you. That’s obvious. Maybe you should talk to her.”
Kiera gave a soft, disbelieving laugh. “That sounds like something people say when they don’t know the answer. I just can’t help but worry that I’m too much. Divorced single mom carries a lot of baggage, you know?”
Maggie swallowed, forcing her voice steady. “Or maybe she’s just worried she’s not enough?” Her heart ached with guilt as she reached blindly for Kiera’s other hand, squeezing just as Danica had. “If there’s one thing I know about Izzy, it’s that she doesn’t do anything halfway. If she says forever, she means it. She’s just… Izzy about it.”
Kiera exhaled, tension bleeding out of her shoulders. “I really hope so. I love her so much.”
Maggie leaned back against the cushion, closing her eyes again, her heart pounding.Elowen will have a field day with this one.
Danica was still glowing, hands clasped like she was already at the champagne toast. Kiera, though — Kiera had pulled the towel fully back over her face, as if hiding might protect her from how much she wanted.
Maggie’s stomach turned.
She’d basically told Izzy love was a lie and not worth it. She’d meddled, like she always did, charging in with her ownread of the situation, certain she was protecting everyone from disaster.
But she’d been wrong.
What did that mean for the lie she’d also been telling her friends?
Her throat burned. She forced herself to breathe slowly, to lean back in the chair and let the esthetician paint another layer of mask across her skin.
It was the same pattern, wasn’t it? Charging in, thinking she knew best, only to make the wrong call. With her friends. With Gwen. With herself.
Maggie pressed her lips together under the cooling mask, fighting the sudden sting in her eyes. If Danica or Kiera looked too closely, they’d see it, and she couldn’t bear that. Not today. Not here.
So she stayed still, the perfect picture of spa-day calm, while inside she wanted to crawl out of her own skin.
Maggie had almost managed to settle into the quiet again — mask cooling, hands folded loosely in her lap — when Danica shifted on the next chair over, turning her head toward her.
“So,” Danica said, her voice soft, careful. “How are things with Gwen?”
Maggie’s eyes flew open. “What do you mean?”
Kiera tilted her head on her towel pillow, not unkind, just curious. “We mean… when we were there for your mom’s funeral, things felt… off. Between you two.”
Danica nodded gently. “Yeah. Obviously that was a tough time for you, but we just want to make sure it’s okay now.”
The room suddenly felt hotter under the robe. Maggie’s pulse picked up, trapped between the sting of memory and the fact that they were looking at her like theyknew.They kept using the wordwe, like they’d spent time discussing it.
She forced a smile, the kind she used to wear at corporate Christmas parties with Gwen — polite, polished, deflective. “Things are great,” she said lightly, waving a hand. “We’re fine.”
Kiera studied her for a second longer, like she was weighing whether to press. Then she nodded, settling back under her towel. “Good. That’s good.”
Danica closed her eyes again, relaxing into the warmth. “You both deserve that.”
