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She lit up. “Perfect!”

Jane and her sister-in-law Briana were singing “I Got You Babe” while we put in our names. Then we waited over by the graze table for our turn.

“So what did you rate the bread?” I asked.

“The Hawaiian roll? I didn’t get to try it.”

I drew my brows down. “What do you mean?”

“There are nuts all over the menu.”

“Mike forgot to tell Joy about your allergy? She would have had something for you if she knew you were coming.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine. I can’t expect the world to accommodate me.”

No. But Mike should have.

“Mike didn’t eat either,” she said. “He’s taking me to get something in a bit. We’re leaving early.”

“Oh,” I said. “That sucks. I just got here.”

She put out her bottom lip. “Awwww, you gonna miss Mike?” she teased.

Not exactly.

Jane and Briana finished their song and everyone clapped. The DJ was waving us over. “Are you ready?” I asked.

“I am.”

When we were on the stage singing, I saw Mike at the bar getting his second drink.

23

LARISSA

Are you sure he won’t mind that we’re in here?” I asked, looking at the taxidermy on the shelves in Greg Maddox’s office.

“Greg doesn’t care,” Chris said, studying a raccoon in a tutu walking a tightrope. “He’s proud of it. He’d show you himself.”

The bathroom off the pool had a line and Mike was busy telling some animated story to his cousin Jacob over by the chocolate fountain, so Chris offered to take me to one in the house. When I was done, he asked if I wanted to see the famous taxidermy room. I was glad for the excuse not to be out there in the yard because I was getting a little annoyed with Mike.

He’d had three drinks.

I didn’t care if he drank or not. I mean, I did, because I didn’t like how he got when he drank too much, but it wasn’t my rule that he didn’t drink tonight, it was his. I didn’t mind having mocktails and volunteering to drive, but he’d told me he wasn’t having any—and now he was buzzed. That’s what bothered me. I only had half of my piña colada because once Mike hit drink number two, I’d stopped enjoying mine. I’d had a feeling this would happen for some reason.

Something about the breaking promises to himself thing put me on alert. The hint of a pattern I’d already seen way too many times in my life.

I was trying to tell myself it wasn’t a big deal. It was a party. It was only three drinks, and he hadn’t touched a drop since the cabin.

He’d been talking so loudly, people were starting to look at us. He’d kept grabbing me and kissing me. The last time he did it, he’d accidentally knocked the flower out of my hair. The second my hair got yanked, I got irrationally angry, and it was all I could do not to snap at him. Honestly, when Chris got me out of there, I’d felt like I was being rescued.

The karaoke was still going strong outside. Someone was rapping Salt-N-Pepa. The bass was shaking the taxidermy animals. Chris was examining a mounted skunk dressed in a Union Civil War costume.

“So Greg made all these?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He looked at me over his shoulder. “If you ever find fresh roadkill, let me know. I’ll bring it to him.”

“Text the drug dealer if I find any bodies. Got it,” I said. “Do you think we could go see the parrot?” I asked. “Before we go back out.”