She joined everyone at the kitchen counter, where they’d gathered around the appetizers like vultures.

“Em, any update on your apartment?” Jake asked.

“Nope, but it’s not my problem anymore,” Emma said, picking up an olive. “My renter’s insurance check is in the mail, and I gave notice to my landlord, so even if it is all fixed up, I won’t be moving back in. I was month to month anyway, so it was an easy out.”

“Thank God,” Riley muttered. “Can you imagine the smell? Like rot and mildew and upstairs neighbor’s dirty water and mud—”

“So what’s next?” Grace asked, ignoring Riley’s rant.

Emma shrugged. “Camille’s not back for another two months, so I’ve got awhile to figure it out.”

“You better not leave the Uppers,” Julie said. “I need solidarity up here in classy-town while these hip friends of ours hang out in the Village and Tribeca.”

“Um, sorry, but whose lease in the Village did I take over?” Riley said tapping her lip. “Was that yours, Jules?”

Julie changed the subject. “Hey, Cassidy, Mitchell has something to ask you,” she said in a loud voice, quieting all other conversation.

Mitchell glared at her. “Not here I don’t.”

“Yeah, of course here,” Julie chirped, tilting her head. “He can’t say no to you here.”

“Oh, I absolutely can,” Cassidy said, raising his glass in Mitchell’s direction. “But you might as well get it over with. Is it about the triathlon we talked about, because I’m totally in—”

“Shut it, Cassidy,” Riley said, stuffing a piece of baguette in his mouth. “Let Mitchell do the talking.”

“Because he’s so good at that,” Jake said, earning the middle finger from his friend.

Mitchell ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I, well, the thing is—”

“Oh, I’ll do it,” Julie interrupted. “So, Cassidy, you know we get married in a few weeks….”

Cassidy slowly chewed the bread Riley had stuffed in his mouth before replying. “I am aware of this.”

“Well, Mitchell here has, like, zero friends, because he’s antisocial.”

“Introverted,” Mitchell ground out. “The word you’re looking for is introverted, and we introverts have small, selective circles of friends.”

“Hear, hear,” Emma said.

Mitchell winked at her.

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” Julie said, waving this aside. “Anyway, one of the people in his ‘selective friend group’ ”—Julie put this last part in air quotes—“is this guy from college. Whose baby was just born.”

“Oh, yay!” Grace said.

“Well, yes. Yay. Except the wee one was four weeks premature, and though she’s just fine, she’ll need to be in the hospital for a bit while her lungs develop. So no flying from California to New York on this family’s agenda. So…”

Julie glanced between Mitchell and Cassidy and wiggled her eyebrows.

Cassidy stared at her blankly. As did Jake and Sam. All four women rolled their eyes at the sheer density of the male mind.

“He wants you to be a groomsman, stupid,” Riley said. “Probably would have asked before if Emma hadn’t been a bridesmaid and the whole thing hadn’t smelled awkward back then.”

“Oh, and it’s not awkward now?” Sam muttered.

Julie glanced from Emma to Cassidy. “Well, we understand how things are now. And we know they’re not weird. Right?”

Emma didn’t look at Cassidy. He didn’t look at her. But they answered in unison. “Right.”

“So, Cassidy…you in?” Julie asked.

Everyone looked at him. He grinned. “Hell, yes, I’m in.”

Emma watched as Cassidy and Mitchell man-hugged and wondered how she felt about this little development.

She, Grace, and Riley were all bridesmaids in the wedding. Actually, Grace was maid of honor, thanks to a rousing round of rock-paper-scissors. And Jake and Sam were groomsmen, thanks to the fast friendship that had formed among the men, as well as Mitchell’s otherwise limited friend group.

Emma had never thought much about the fact that Cassidy hadn’t been asked before now. She knew that Mitchell was perhaps closer with Jake and Sam thanks to the “coupley” things they did with Grace and Riley.

But she also knew that Cassidy and Mitchell were running buddies, had been to a couple Yankees games, and had the same sort of quiet alpha vibe going on.

It made sense that he’d ask Cassidy, albeit a bit late in the game.

But it also meant that she and Cassidy would be standing up at the altar.

Together.

Something they’d never done on their own wedding day.

Emma swallowed.

She could do this.

She could stand next to her best friend on her special day without remembering that day.

Couldn’t she?

By the time everyone sat down to dinner, Emma had more or less pushed the thought out of her mind. Right up until the conversation came back to Julie’s wedding.

“Cassidy, do you own a tux? Or do want me to set you up at the same place I made an appointment for Sam and Jake?” Julie asked.

“I still can’t believe I have to wear a penguin suit,” Sam muttered around a piece of chicken.

Riley chucked him under the chin. “I’ll make it worth your while.”