“Well, no,” Meredith said, “I didn’t mean for the wedding to be the motivating factor. Maybe she has a plus-one; maybe she doesn’t. She’ll have an amazing time at the wedding either way. I think the overarching goal should be for Mads to gain some valuable experience and have some fun as she searches for—”
“That message does not translate well into an Instagram story series, Meredith,” Reese interrupted. “Amanda’s is much catchier.” She tipped her rosé at me. “Let’s get you a wedding date, yes?”
Hesitating, I glanced around at the other bridesmaids.
Yasmin winked at me. “I’m in.”
“Me too.” Courtney nodded. “Definitely.”
My mind swirled. Was I in? Was I actually going to do this?
“Me three,” Paige said, and then there was only the Bride. Her eyes still shone, but I couldn’t read Katie’s expression; unlike her college roommates, she had some acting chops. Or a poker face, at least. My heart hammered.
I’ll say yes, I thought.If she wants me to do it, I’ll say yes.
Because then we wouldreallyhave the chance to bond, and if we finally clicked, maybe she wouldn’t be so dead set on keeping her distance from my family anymore—or worse, so dead set on taking Austin away from us.
And I wanted Katie to like me. I admit, I did.
“How about it, bride-to-be?” Meredith asked. “Is there room in this party for another journey to love?”
One heartbeat.
Two heartbeats.
Three.
And then Katie smiled and raised her rosé to me. “Yes,” she said, “as long as she’s doing it for the right reasons.”
Five
Katie drove me home late the next morning. As promised by Mrs. Gallant, our slumber party had woken up to a breakfast spread of French toast, bacon, fruit salad, yogurt, and bagels with various spreads. The coffee smelled delicious, and two big carafes of fresh orange juice sat on the kitchen table. Katie’s dad was even running an omelet bar at the eight-burner stove. Again, the place was like a boutique hotel.
After breakfast, the bridesmaids hit the road. Amanda, who lived in Princeton, drove the rest of the group to the train station. Reese would return to New York with Courtney and Paige while Yasmin trained down to DC. Meredith and Wit were airport bound.
“What do they do?” I asked Katie as we crossed the bridge over into Pennsylvania.
She turned down the music. We hadn’t been talking; the only sound in the car up until now had been Spotify. Katie was a country fan. “Who does what?” she said.
“Meredith and Wit,” I clarified. “What do they do that allows them to travel and live wherever?”
“They’re computer nerds,” Katie said, not unkindly. “Mer does something for Netflix; Wit does something for Apple.” She smiled a bit, like she knew what I was going to ask next. “They got married three years ago but have been together for as long as I’ve known them.”
“Did you go to their wedding?”
Katie nodded. “They eloped like a week after we graduated college. Only their best friends and families were there.”
“That’s cool,” I said, and Katiemm-hmm-ed before turning the music back up to Carrie Underwood midchorus. I turned and looked out the window. Country was not my favorite.
Arthur and Francine were the first to greet us when we got back to the farmhouse. “Just knee him down,” I said when Arthur jumped up on Katie. She always saidNo!orStop!but never in a firm enough voice. I guess it was hard when you hadn’t grown up with dogs.
Arthur finally let up when Da whistled sharply from the porch. “How was the slumber party?” he called, Arthur bounding toward him. He scratched the Newfoundland’s head before descending the porch steps and walking over to meet us on the driveway.
“Lots of fun,” Katie replied as I said, “An experience.”
Katie wordlessly folded her arms over her chest, and my father gave me a familiar raise of the eyebrow.I didn’t mean to be sarcastic,I wanted to say.
Ithadbeen an experience!
