Chapter 2

Ethan picked up my bag after the reception and reached to put an arm around my shoulders. I shifted away.

“You’ve been drinking,” I said. “I’ll call a car.”

“Sure.” He tapped through his phone as the car pulled into the night.

“Chloe got the bouquet first,” he said after a while. “She just wanted some wedding luck. Don’t take it personally.”

He rubbed the back of my neck. “Our wedding will be even better than Sophie’s. You can have as many bouquets as you want.”

He always offered me some future version of what I wanted.

“Sophie and I made a promise when we were kids,” I said. “Whichever one of us married first, the other would marry within a week. We’d be each other’s bridesmaids.”

He laughed. “You still believe that childhood joke? Planning a wedding takes a year.”

He had no answer for why he couldn’t say he’d marry me in front of our friends. He just jumped ahead to planning a perfect ceremony someday.

When Sophie tried on the champagne-colored dress she’d designed for me, she’d promised to make my wedding gown, too. Ethan had looked up from work long enough to say it was nice.

The car stopped at our building. Ethan leaned in to kiss me.

“I’m tired,” I said, placing a hand on his chest.