I laughed when she reached over and ruffled my hair. Ever the stylist, Nana had given me a “Kate Middleton” blowout.
In a surprising turn of events, today’s bridal shower was not being held at the Álvarez family’s Two Fish, but at Katie’s aunt’s house. Austin had given me all the tea. “Yeah, according to Kates, Aunt Celestereallywanted to give Katie a shower,” he’d said during our camping trip. Every summer, we “camped” in our Christmas tree farm for a weekend. Tent, sleeping bags, lanterns, campfire—the whole enchilada. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Mmm,” had been my diplomatic reaction. It was clear that Mrs. Gallant, as kind and caring as she was, was type A and wanted to be in control. Everything needed to be perfect.
Katie’s aunt Celeste—otherwise known as “Cousin Paige’s mom”—lived in Ardmore, a cute town on Philadelphia’s Main Line. “Didn’t you play in several tournaments around here?” Nana asked once we’d exited the highway and slowed to a stop at a red light.
“Yes,” I answered. “I did a couple camps, too.”
She glanced over and smiled at me. “I’m so happy everything is finally settled. And I’m so, so proud of you, honey.”
I grinned back. Three weeks ago, I’d officially committed to Penn for field hockey. My visit there had been the complete opposite of my Princeton visit. Unlike awful Shelly, the freshmanmidfielder they’d paired me with barely let me out of her sight. The team organized a throwback murder mystery dinner instead of taking me to a wild party, and Coach Hart let me play in their scrimmage instead of watching from the bleachers. Not only was there serious chemistry on the field, but I felt like I’d fit in off the field, too. Almost every player had hugged me goodbye and given me their phone number. Honestly, it felt like gigantic knot had untangled itself in my chest.
Out of nowhere, I thought about Marco.Congratulations!he’d texted after the news hit social media (i.e., after Da wrote the ultimate proud-parent post on Instagram), but I hadn’t responded for a couple days. I wasn’tmadat him, but I also wasn’thappywith him, either. I guess I was just pissed. We hadn’t seen each other since he’d walked me to the Gallants’ house, only making it halfway before Katie’s dad found us in his car. Our goodbye had been super awkward. He’d gone in for a hug while I stepped away and gave him a half wave.
Thanks, I’d messaged back, and after he sent a long apology on Shelly’s behalf (I doubted she had any clue he’d written it), I thought,Fuck it, and wrote:Get out of that situationship, Marco. She’s the worst.
He had yet to respond.
Nana turned onto a leafy green tree-lined street, and we pulled into the driveway whose mailbox had white and gold balloons tied to it. “Here we are!” my grandmother said cheerfully once we’d parked near a long row of cars. “Grab the gifts!”
The gifts, neither of which were on Austin and Katie’s registry, were quintessential Nana gifts. She had gotten them a complete set of Barefoot Contessa cookbooks—“Ina’s recipes will never go out of style”—and I’d dragged Connor to Anthropologie the other day to help me pick out a cute pair of oversized mugs. One with anAand another with aK(or maybe I should’ve gotten aC?). In any case, they were more of a rib against Austin than anything else. He always complained about how many mugs Katie owned. “We don’t have enough storage space for an entire mug cabinet, yet we somehow have an entire mug cabinet.”
Aunt Celeste’s house was pretty; Dad would describe it as a stately 1911 Georgian Revival adorned with brick and huge white multipaned windows. Big pots of flowers and herbs sat on the front stoop, and dried lavender wreaths hung on the front double doors. Despite the chorus of voices inside, I rang the doorbell. Nana pretended to cough, and when I looked at her, she pointed to a chalkboard that had been propped up on the stoop’s rocking chair.Welcome to Katie’s Shower,it read.Door is open!
Five minutes later, Nana and I introduced ourselves to Katie’s aunt before Mrs. Gallant poached us from her sister and took us on a promenade around the house. We met everyone from Katie’s grandmother to a few work friends to her childhood babysitter. Eventually, my fellow bridesmaids and I congregated at a white cloth-covered table on the deck. The centerpiece was a small vase of blue hydrangeas. “Mads!” Meredith, her tan glowing and hair sun-streaked from St. Croix, had wrapped me in a hugehug. “How’s everything? How’s your family? Congratulations on Penn!”
I learned that she and Wit had moved back to the States temporarily. They were in Boston with friends now but planned to spend the summer on Martha’s Vineyard with her family.
I should get a remote job someday, I thought to myself.
Lunch was delicious. As the artist in her family, Paige had hand painted a beautiful menu: sweet chili salmon and a tomato, peach, and burrata kale salad, along with brioche rolls and a variety of gourmet quiches, lorraine, mushroom, and caprese. There also was a mimosa bar. “Okay, Mads,” Reese said while sipping on her second one. “We’re all here—”
“Katie isn’t here,” Courtney pointed out through a mouthful of quiche lorraine.
“Court, Katie’snevergonna be here,” Amanda said. “She’s too busy beingshowered.”
The table giggled. Katie had been swirling from circle to circle today, accepting guests’ congratulations and thanking them for coming. She was also showing off the glacier-sized engagement ring Austin had bought her. I thought I’d be used to it by now, but I wasn’t. It just lookedwrong.
“True,” Reese agreed with the maid of honor. “All of us who can be here are here, so as I was saying…” She gave me a look. “How was the date, Mads?”
“Yes!” Yasmin said. “How’d it go?”
Amanda playfully wiggled her eyebrows. Even though mymost recent admirer had been her suggestion, she promised she’d do no digging on how the date had gone. Based on her excitement level, I knew she’d kept her word.
I inwardly groaned, knowing I had to share—orfinallyshare. The most recent installment of Ready-Set-Date had been a couple weeks ago, and all the bridesmaids had texted me the next morning asking how it went. I hadn’t wanted to relive it, so I said I’d tell them at Katie’s shower.
And surprise! Now here we were!
My opening line was tantalizing. “I saw Davis there with his girlfriend.”
Reese rolled her eyes as the others booed. “He got back with Natalie?”
I nodded. “She seems cool. She apologized to me for being such a bitch that night. She was already regretting the breakup, and seeing me with Davis made herreallyregret it. She said she could’ve handled it way better.” I shrugged. “I’m going to go with them to a concert this summer.”
“That’s great, Mads,” Paige said. “But this has nothing to do with your date.”
“Yes, it does,” I lightly countered. “They were at the ice rink, too.”
