Page 54 of The Wedding Favor

“Don’t look down. Look at the horizon. The sun’s setting. It’s beautiful. I always thought a Texas sunset looked like a watercolor painting. Come on, open your eyes.”

With a shaky breath, I slowly peeled my eyes open. The town of Two Harts spread out in front of us but beyond that, fields replaced the houses and shops. Brilliant orange shot with streaks of yellow filled the entire sky. From up here, the sky looked both impossibly big and yet close enough to touch.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

Abe smiled and squeezed my hand in response.

The Ferris wheel lurched to life. “At least this will be the last thing I see before I die.”

“You aren’t going to die,” he said, and then so quietly I wasn’t sure I’d heard him, “I’ll keep you safe.”

TWENTY

“I called home once a week and… I lied.

I didn’t want anyone to worry about me.”

—excerpt from the unpublished memoir,

Darling, I Must Say by Gloria Hayes

The Wednesday after the Fourth of July, when I picked Hallie up, she was vibrating with excitement. “Today’s the meeting. You didn’t forget, did you?”

“Of course not.” How could I possibly forget? Hallie had a running countdown. She was weirdly excited for this pageant meet-and-greet.

“I don’t want to be late.”

“We won’t be late.”

“’Cause if we’re late, Audrina said we can’t come in.” Audrina said a lot of things, it seemed.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure they’ll let us in if we’re late. But we won’t be late.”

Megan Tillman’s house was one of those McMansions in a new subdivision built on the outskirts of Two Harts. These planned communities were popping up more and more between Houston and Two Harts, like an encroaching plague. With them, they brought an army of leggings-clad moms and more drive-thru coffee huts than seemed reasonable.

I bet Megan fit in very well here. She was probably their leader.

“It’s not too late to leave and go do pretty much anything else. We could take a trip to Disneyland. It’s only a twenty-hour drive,” I said, after parking the car on the street a good block from the house. It appeared that a lot of people were going to be at this meeting, more than I’d expected.

“No way.” Hallie climbed out of the car and slammed the door. By the time I met up with her, she’d already started down the sidewalk.

“Too far? Okay, what about Sea World?”

“Where they torture whales? No, thanks.” Hallie slipped her hand into mine, her palm small and sweaty. “I am kind of nervous. Everyone is going to be there.”

I glanced down in surprise, my heart melting at the slight tremor in her voice. The kid just wanted friends. I squeezed her hand.

“Not a thing to be worried about. Except that you might have to help me lug my purse back to the car.” I patted the oversized black crossbody bag. Some might call it an overnight bag; they might be right. “I’m taking all the food I can’t eat.”

Hallie giggled, the sound making me smile. We climbed the steps to the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting for what felt like forever. Finally, Megan opened the door and gasped in surprise, although her forehead didn’t move an inch.

“I didn’t think you’d be coming,” she said.

I opened my mouth to answer and paused when I got a good look at her outfit. Her knee-length dress was snow white with a lace overlay. On it, a brooch of what looked like the profile of a dog. And there was the hat. It was huge, white, and feathered, tilted at a jaunty angle.

“Um,” I said slowly, unable to take my eyes off that hat. “You said it started at four. We’re ten minutes early.”

Megan frowned. “You must be mistaken. I’m sure I told you it started at three thirty.”