“Wait! Isn’t your brother’s wedding, like, tomorrow?” Rickie said before I could answer.
“Uh… Yeah.” I chuckled. “How’d you know?”
“I follow Finn, too. It’s all over his socials. The bride is like a micro, niche influencer, or something, right? She tags him in everything.”
I had forgotten she also followed Finn. “Something like that.”
“Oh girl, there’s some tea there. Spill.” Mae placed her hand on my knee and squeezed in a come on so overt it had to be a joke.
“No tea. She’s just… notmycup of tea, I guess.”
Rickie was on her phone, not paying attention. “Shouldn’t you be, like, getting ready? Isn’t there a rehearsal dinner tonight? I thought I saw…” Rickie’s face scrunched as she scrolled until she looked up with a snap. “OH! OH MY GOD! They’re getting married in the city? Should’ve known! Well, I’m glad you wanted to come see us!”
The color drained from my face. I didn’t want to outright lie, but how could I tell them? Why would I tell them? It wasn’t their business, or burden. It was mine.
Mae’s voice dropped the affect. “What’s wrong, hun. You look like a twice-baked shit-potato.”
“No, nothing.” I gulped my beer.
Mae pursed her lips and glared. Her makeup made the effect more dramatic. And convincing.
“No. Wait…” Rickie said, back to scrolling. “No. It’s not in the city. Somewhere called The Parkview Pavilion?” She glanced up at me. “So, whatareyou doing here?”
The three of them stared at me. Mae moved her hand on my shoulder. There was a kindness in her sparkly, gold-shrouded eyes that made my throat tight.
“I had a huge fight with Finn, my boyfriend, this morning, and I drove all the way here without meaning to.”
“The day before the wedding? The morning of the rehearsal dinner?” Rickie asked, still confused, but trending towards concern.
“Uh…” I chuckled and sipped my beer. They watched. “Sorry. You guys don’t need to hear this shit.” I laughed. “But thanks anyway.”
“Oh yes, we do, honey. We love other people’s drama. Tell Mama what’s putting a frown on thatgorgeousface.”
Rickie said, “If for nothing else, we’re super interested in why you’re here, now, right?” She glanced up at Kris, who nodded.
I sighed. “Just a lot.” I took another breath. Mae’s perfume was sweet with a sharp fruity note. “With my brother, Finn, and my future sister-in-law. I don’t have anyone in my life I can talk to. Not about this. Just kinda… lonely, I guess.”
Mae rubbed my shoulder again. Rickie caught my eye and frowned. “You’re not alone, for right now, at least.” She sounded more sincere than anything else she said that afternoon, or in Miami, from what I could remember.
There was so much. I didn’t want to rehash everything with a bunch of strangers. But the entire story flooded out of me anyway, like a patient expelling toxins. Laying it out like that sounded worse than it was, and I said, “It’s shitty, but it’s not the shittiest,” with a chuckle.
Rickie said, “Oh mygod. I don’t blame you at all! What an awful… everyone!”
Mae said, “With a body like that, you can revenge fuck me all day, hunty. Just saying.”
We laughed. Rickie asked, “Why didn’t you just tell Finn? He’s your boyfriend. He had the right to know all of that.”
I shifted on the stool as if my leg had gone numb. “I didn’t wanna… It’s not his shit to deal with. I shouldn’t make my problems his, you know? At least about the best man stuff. I was trying to figure out a way to tell him about how my family suspected he had a crush on me.”
Rickie’s eyes tensed. “So, like, why though? No offense, but that’s an excuse, not a reason.”
My back hurt, and I moved my shoulders. “Finn would end his friendship with my brother if he knew how shitty they treated me. But it means so much to him, Finn would end up more hurt than anyone. He’d also drop out of the wedding and ruin that, too.”
“Hmm,” Rickie said. “I call bullshit. And lemme tell you why.” She finished her drink and placed it on the bar. “Okay! So. I had this boyfriend freshman year in undergrad. Nice, great body, was a daddy in his twenties. Anyway! This one time, he took me to his family’s place down the vineyard. I’ve been going since birth, and learned to sail before I rode a bike, okay? And he knew all this.”
“We all know what that’s like. My toddler tiara fitting was a nightmare.” Mae’s royal accent was back as she fluffed her giant wig.
Rickie continued without acknowledging her. “Tell me why that man had to explain each thing on the boat to me like I was an infant? We had a huge fight about it because he was always doing stuff like that. He even talked to my professors about my grades behind my back.”
