“Ah,” Jesse drawled. The derisive smirk on his mouth told me everything he didn’t say.
I clenched my hands under the table.
Across the terrace, the flash went off again. I didn’t have to look to know Teddy’s lens was angled in our direction.
The rest of the meal passed in a blur of polite laughter and golden flutes of sparkling wine, no doubt with a heftier price tag than my entire closet. Serena lovingly waxed on about the time they met and their first date. Jesse interrupted to correct minute details. His parents nodded along in practiced unison.
I picked at my filet mignon, laughing in the right places, my mind a whirl of camera shutters and simmering retorts.
Finally, the clink of a knife against glass silenced both tables. Jesse rose, one hand on Serena’s shoulder, the other holding his glass aloft.
“If I could have everyone’s attention,” he began, his voice carrying with that practiced blend of charm and authority. “I just want to take a moment to thank you all for being here—and to thank thisincrediblewoman for saying yes to a lifetime of my nonsense.”
Polite laughter rippled through the crowd. Serena ducked her head, blushing.
“And,” Jesse continued, “to thank our families. Especially my parents, for setting the standard for what love and partnership can look like when it’s built on shared ambition and values.”
His mother dabbed at her eyes. His father raised a glass.
“And to Serena’s beautiful friends,” Jesse added, turning toward me with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Serena tells me you two are more like family to her—though I suppose not everyone feels the need to stick around.”
A hush fell over the terrace. I felt Georgie’s hand brush my knee under the table—warning or commiseration, I couldn’t be too sure.
“Well, that’s the thing about family.” I smiled tightly. “No matter where you are, you can always come back.” My eyes caught Serena’s across the table, and she pressed a hand to her heart, mouthing, “Thank you.”
He chuckled, oblivious to the exchange. “Of course. Though, between you and me and everyone here, I’d kill for the kind of storybook charm you all grew up with. I mean, the beach, the holiday fairs… It’s practicallytooperfect. One might say, even hard to believe.”
He lifted his glass toward the terrace edge—and toward Teddy, who dropped his camera as a deep scowl colored his features.
“To authenticity and nostalgia,” he said.
That’s when it hit me, with the weight of a piano dropped on my head: Jesse knew. Heknewabout the exposé. And maybe, he was even the puppet master.
The wine soured in my throat.
Polite, scattered applause ensued. The jazz trio struck up a cheerful waltz to mask the tension, but it clung to me like static. I felt the heat of a hundred curious faces glued to mine, though each time I scanned the terrace, no one looked my way.
I excused myself under the guise of finding the restroom, brushing past Georgie’s reach as I slipped through the terrace and into the restaurant. The waitstaff murmured as I frantically maneuvered the cocktail tables, pulse hammering as I ran up the steps and out the front door.
Since Oyster & Oak was closed for the private event, the valet booth was blessedly vacant and the night air beneath the porte-cochère seemed as if I’d entered a parallel universe. It filled my lungs, cold and fresh, somehow fuller than the terrace merely a handful of yards away.
I braced my palms against the column, forcing slow, even breaths.
To authenticity and nostalgia.
The words drilled into my skull with stunning accuracy.
Jesse had meant to humiliate me—maybe not outright, but enough to sting. I couldn’t figure out why, but he appeared to resent me and Georgie and the town that helped raise Serena. And Teddy— he just stood there, camera positioned right on me, documenting the moment like he was cataloging the precise second the fatal blow was dealt.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
“I figured you’d escape out here,” Teddy murmured quietly.
I didn’t turn. “Leave me alone.”
“Margot.” His voice was slow and measured. “I don’t know what he was talking about.”
“Really? Do you knowanythingabout your own job?” I snapped.
