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  “This is Olivia,” he said, reaching a hand to snag me, pull me close. “My fiancée.”

  He didn’t stumble on the words, and with his hand in mine the world that had shifted a little beneath my feet grew solid again. Alex tugged me to his side, his arm sliding around my waist. “Olivia, this is Jamie. My best fucking friend.”

  “Olivia,” Jamie said solemnly. “How the hell did this bastard ever trick you into saying yes?”

  And then…it was all right, so far as I could tell. Whatever had passed between them remained there. Jamie pumped my hand thoroughly and slapped Alex’s back a few more times as they traded insults.

  “Everyone’s here,” Jamie said. “Come on out in the back and say hi.”

  “Everyone?” Alex asked.

  Jamie laughed and clapped his shoulder once more. “Yeah, even my mom. Make sure to give her a hug.”

  Alex glanced at me. “His mom loves the fuck out of me.”

  “Fuck yeah, she does.”

  I blinked a little at the f-bombs being dropped all over the place, but laughed. “What’s not to love?”

  Jamie gave me another solemn look. “What’s not to love, indeed?”

  Outside on the back deck, small groups of guests with plates of food in their hands greeted us. They all knew Alex. None of them seemed as surprised as Jamie had that I was there, or that he introduced me as his fiancée. I also got the impression most of these people might have known him long ago, but not that well.

  “There’s Anne,” Jamie said from behind us as Alex led me down the short flight of steps to the yard. “She’s wading with Cam.”

  Alex’s hand tightened in mine. “Let me introduce you to Jamie’s wife.”

  Anne Kinney wasn’t paying attention to anything but her son as he kicked and splashed in the shallow water at the lake’s edge. She wore faded jeans that looked as if they might have been her husband’s, rolled up to the calf and belted tight around her waist with a bright scarf. Her red hair hung in a long wavy braid down her back, and her striped oxford shirt was wet from splashing.

  “Go with Grammy,” she said as we walked up, and the little boy took off in the opposite direction, toward an older woman in a large sun hat who held out her arms to catch him.

  “Anne.”

  She turned slowly at the sound of Alex’s voice, as if she had all the time in the world, and when she saw him, she smiled. “Hello, Alex.”

  Unlike her husband, Anne didn’t seem to be surprised to meet me at all. She wiped her hands on the seat of her jeans and looked from me to Alex. She raised a brow.

  “This is Olivia,” Alex said. “My…We’re getting married.”

  “Congratulations,” Anne said.

  She sounded as if she meant it. She did not step forward to hug him, the way Jamie had. Nor did she hold out a hand to shake. She didn’t touch Alex at all.

  “Olivia,” she said warmly, “did my husband get you something to drink or eat? No? What a brat. C’mon, let’s find something before that pack of locusts he calls a family eats it all.”

  And just like that, she took my elbow and led me off toward the house.

  “Don’t worry about Alex. He’ll be with James,” she said with fond resignation. “Those two together are a force of nature. It’s best just to stand out of the way.”

  In the kitchen she pulled cool bottles of cola from the fridge and handed me one. She unscrewed the top and drank back hers with a gulp. I took a little longer with mine, gave a dainty sip. I hadn’t said much.

  “It was nice of Alex to bring you,” Anne said quietly.

  Outside, the music played and the party went on. People laughed. I heard the rev of an engine and a baby’s cry. I looked out the bay windows overlooking the deck. I could see Alex and Jamie standing side by side at the railing, both holding beers. The wind blew Alex’s hair off his face. He was laughing. Had I ever seen him laugh like that? Stand like that? Had I ever watched him lean toward another person the way I thought he’d only ever lean toward me?

  “They’ve been…friends…a long time?” I said at last.

  “Oh, yeah. Since junior high.” Anne crossed her arms over her belly, hands cupping her elbows. She looked out the window, too. “They are very, very good friends.”

  Before I could say more—uncertain if I even wanted to—the back door opened and a younger woman tumbled through it with Anne’s son squirming in her arms. “Mama, this stinky little boy needs a change.”

  “Thanks, Claire. My sister,” Anne said, as Claire heaved the boy over her shoulder and spanked his diapered bottom fondly. “Claire, have you met Olivia? Alex’s fiancée.”

  “No fucking way,” Claire said.

  “Fuggingway!” a small voice crowed from over her shoulder.

  Anne sighed. “Claire.”

  “Sorry.” Her sister grinned and turned the boy right side up on her hip. “Change this kid, gross. Olivia. Hello.”

  She held out a hand and I shook it. She studied me up and down, checking out every inch. I wasn’t sure if I’d passed inspection until she let out a low whistle and shook her head.

  “You’re marrying Alex?”

  “That’s the plan,” I said as lightly as I could.

  “Claire!” Anne sounded exasperated.

  An impish face peeked at me from behind his hands. He had blond hair like his daddy, his mother’s fair skin. He had big gray eyes. I looked at him for a very long time.

  “What?” Claire shrugged. “Sheesh. Any woman who agrees to marry that guy has to have a sense of humor, at least.”

  I laughed, not feeling judged. “I try.”

  “See?” Claire made a face at Anne and wiggled the boy on her hip until he giggled. “Look, I’ll take this Mr. Stinkybutt here and change him, okay? Am I forgiven my social fox pass?”

  “Fox pass!” the little boy cried, laughing.

  “Faux pas,” Anne murmured, and rolled her eyes. “Yes, please change Cam’s diaper. Thank you.”

  “Nice meeting you, Olivia. Don’t let anyone here scare you off. We’re not a bad bunch.”

  “I’m not scared,” I said.

  Claire took Cam back down the hallway and I could hear their laughter even out here. Anne tore a paper towel from the rack and used it to wipe up some barely there crumbs from the counter. She tossed the towel in the trash and drank another gulp of her soda.

  “How old is your son?”

  “Cam’s almost three.”

  Outside, Alex and Jamie had disappeared from the deck.

  “I’m starving,” she said. “Let’s go outside and get something to eat, all right? And I’m sure someone’s doing something crazy, like playing lawn darts or getting ready to sing karaoke.”

  My own stomach rumbled, and I thought eating, if nothing else, would give me something to do, since I’d been abandoned by my boyfriend. “Food would be good.”

  “C’mon,” Anne said. “I’ll show you where it is.”

  I’ve been to parties where I knew every person and had an awful time, and to ones where I didn’t know a soul and had a blast. This party was a mix. I didn’t need Alex by my side every second, but I spent more time waving at him from across the yard and watching him play lawn darts or drink beer after beer than I did talking to him. He didn’t ignore me—he checked in on me every hour or so, and I saw him looking for me a few times. But he wasn’t with me.

  He was with Jamie, whom everyone else called James.

  The other people at the party were all very nice. They included me in their conversations as if they’d known me for years. Some of us set up a rousing game of Balderdash, one of my favorite board games, and we all laughed a lot. Claire and her husband, Dean, took me out on the little sailboat while their daughter Penny stayed behind with Anne’s parents. We ate a lot, danced a bit, even sang a little karaoke.

  Darkness fell, and someone lit a few tiki torches along the edge of the water and some paper lanterns strung along the deck. Guests with small children began to leave.