“Don’t,” I hissed at Colin. Too late, I pulled back.
“What?” he said, giving me a bemused smile.
Nothing’s changed,Ben had said to me earlier. I’d disputed it. To Colin, however, I would always be his to claim. It wasn’t all his fault. Of the book that was us, I’d always made sure to be on his same page. If I wanted a different ending, that, too, was up to me.
The rehearsal dinner was held at the Tides. By the time I arrived with my mom—Colin had been enlisted to drive some of Jonathan’s aunts—it was already crowded. We’d barely come in when I felt a hand grip my arm.
“There you are.” It was Liz, looking frazzled. “I need a favor.”
“Name it,” I said.
“Can you go get the dollhouse?”
I blinked. “Now?”
“Anne’s decided she wants to have it here.” She sighed.“There’s some book she read about preserving your voice in wedding planning—”
“Your Day, Your Way,”I said.
She gave me an odd look. “Right. Anyway, apparently it’s very important that both sides of the family be represented in the décor. Even if it is, you know, in miniature.” She ran a hand through her hair, making it stick up. Reflexively, I reached over, patting it down like I’d seen Kasey do. She handed me her keys. “Just pack up what’s in there and bring it. I’m sorry. It’s just so important. I couldn’t ask just anyone.”
Her van was hot as I climbed in, several travel mugs crowding the console. A picture of her and Travis, both in football jerseys and leaning into each other, was propped behind the speedometer. I cranked the engine and pulled out of the lot.
While I’d never attempted the driveway before, I’d been a passenger enough times to know to slow down and keep to the right, although not too much so. Still, there was a dicey moment when one wheel sank suddenly. In the next moment, thankfully, I bounced back out, spitting gravel.
Once inside, I began packing up the dollhouse. As I took out the table, the piano, and everything else, I had a flash of that day up in the attic, seeing it for the first time. Putting the beds in Juvie and my room. And finally, Anne and Jonathan turning it to show the scene so similar to the one now just behind me. Big moments, all made of such tiny things.
Back at the Tides, I got a few odd looks as I carried it over to Liz, who then motioned me toward a nearby table that held several of Kasey’s bouquets. I cleared a space for the house,arranging them around it. For such a rush job, it looked surprisingly like it belonged there. MaybeYour Day, Your Waywas onto something.
“How cute!” A redheaded woman in a green cocktail dress, a drink wrapped in a napkin in one hand, had appeared beside me. She bent closer, peering at it. “Was this Anne’s?”
“Um, no,” I said. “But it was made by her grandfather. For her aunt, his eldest daughter.”
“So lovely,” she murmured. She put her finger to the door, pushing it open. “Look at that little hallway and kitchen. Such detail!”
“It's actually the family’s house in miniature scale,” I added. “The real one is just across the lake.”
“Well. It sounds like you all have a lot of history here.” She smiled at me. “Aren’t you lucky.”
I’d said “the family”—not “my family.” Clearly, she’d misheard me. Not surprising, considering the sizeable crowd surrounding us.
Then again, she wasn’t wrong. Maybe, like a shared memory, I just needed to claim this.
“We do,” I agreed. “Quite a bit of history. Especially when it comes to weddings.”
Just then, someone began tapping a glass. I looked over to see Kathy and her husband were about to make a toast. Then Colin was beside me, carrying two glasses with limes on the rim. Ginger ale with a splash of sparking water. What we always got at formal events.
At dinner, he chatted with everyone at our table. Then therewere more toasts. Dessert. There was my mom, Kasey, Clark, and… Colin. Outside, the karaoke machine that had been set up for after-dinner entertainment and… Colin. Before, he’d been as distant as my phone, sinking deeper into sand at the bottom of the lake. Now I couldn’t look anywhere without seeing him.
Ben, however, was not there as more toasts were made, glasses poured, and (at times long) stories told. I’d just assumed he would follow the rest of us over to the Tides after the rehearsal. But I had been wrong about a lot of things.
“Damn, cheer up,” Lana said from her seat on my other side. “It’s a celebration, remember?”
I could only imagine how my face looked for her to notice so completely. “Sorry,” I said. “Distracted.”
“Makes sense. The thing with Ben seems pretty intense.”
At first, I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly. Which was why I said, “What?”
