47. Emily
EMILY
"Can I take it off yet?" I’ve got my hands on top of the blindfold, and I’m doing the best I can to pretend I don’t know what’s about to happen.
But Lil knows me well enough to know how much I hate surprises.
She said it’s adorable and that they did it all on their own.
I had to school my face really hard to make sure I didn’t look overexcited about.
She kept the details to herself, other than that there really are no strippers. Which is a relief.
"Not yet. You need to wait. There’s a door to your right; move right," Lil hollers, but I don’t. There’s a thud on my left shoulder; it sends me bouncing into a wall on the other side.
"Ouch," I say and rub my shoulders. I’m about to rip the blindfold off when Lil grabs both of my hands and leads me. She must be walking backwards.
"You good? Three more steps and we’re there."
"Yes, but where the heck is there?" I reach for her but swat at empty air. I’m glad I never joined a secret society. I’m not meant for hazing.
"Two more steps."
I honestly have no idea where I am. I didn’t even know Havenwood Hall had an elevator until I felt the floor moving.
It’s sweet-smelling but a little musty. Like a museum or a—
Lil rips the blindfold from my head, taking a few attached hairs with it. But I’m too in awe to react to being plucked.
"This is the attic? How did I not know this is here?" It’s two stories tall. And lined with bookshelves. "There’s a library."
"Not a proper library," Lilith says, mimicking Thayer’s voice, and I laugh.
No, it’s not. It’s better. Not as stuffy.
The vaulted ceiling, while insulated, is unfinished.
Twinkle lights and a wildflower garland are wound around the rough-hewn beams. The shelves are walnut and carved intricately, like the ones from the den.
But the floors are wide pine planks. It’s as if Havenwood and a barn had a baby.
On the far wall, there’s a sheet hanging down and piles of pillows with lap tables holding miniature charcuterie boards.
"Surprise!" echoes around the room.
Whitney, Sutton, and another woman jump out from behind the sheet.
Whitney charges at me, wrapping me in her arms. "I can’t believe you’re getting married." She squeezes me hard.
"Careful!" Lilith says, and Whit lets me go.
"I’m Elena. It’s nice to meet you."
And my brain fizzes for a second. She’s wearing pajamas with my childhood cat’s cute face.
"Elena told me how she changed seats with Thayer at my wedding. I can’t believe it." Whitney takes my hand and jumps. Whitney has Easton’s dog Penny, my favorite niece dog, on her nightgown.
"Oh, that was you." I smile. I don’t know if I should hit her or thank her. I wouldn’t have Anders, Ryder, and Oliver in my life without her switching seats. But then, I wouldn’t have to marry Thayer to stay out of James's crosshairs if she hadn’t switched seats.
"Thanks for having me. I’ve heard wonderful things about you from both Thayer and Whitney," Elena says.
I glance at Whitney, who has a lot of dirt on me, and raise my eyebrows.
"Only the good Pine Green stories, for real. I saved the juicy ones for you to tell yourself."
And it’s the first time I look down at the pajama set Lil had me put on. There are pictures of me from my chubby baby cheeks to my college graduation.
"Whoa. These are something."
Lil’s have the two of us from our high school dance, and Sutton has cameras on hers.
There’s a crack of lightning. The sheet lights up, and the lights flicker.
"Anders was right," Sutton says. "He said it was going to rain."
"The tent for the wedding was supposed to be set up today. When it wasn’t, we—they had us switch locations for tonight.
" Lil loops her arm around my shoulders. "Let me show you around. Here we have the snack bar.” Lil spins me around, facing a table I hadn’t noticed.
There’s every candy ever made. Or at least all my favorites.
"There are pizzas under the warming boxes.
Ice cream in the freezer." She shuffles down the table. “This is the sundae bar."
"You really want to have to alter the dress a second time. Is Callie here?" Lil asked me about inviting her, and I said yes.
"Her boyfriend gave her a guilt trip about how he hasn’t seen her in days. She’s coming to the wedding. He gave up concert tickets for them to come, and now she feels guilty."
"Who were they supposed to see?" Whitney takes a piece of red licorice and hands me one. The red string dangling out of her mouth brings sophomore year rushing back to me.
"Gold Painted Sky," Lil says, taking a peanut butter cup for herself. "You love them, don’t you, Em? Or at least you used to."
"I still do." The fruity-sweet flavor hits my tongue, and I wiggle a happy dance. "I’d be upset, and it’s my wedding. Man, I love licorice. This is so perfect.” With a candy-filled bowl, I head to the fluffy pillows and flop down.
They’re not just air but different wedges and body pillows, along with soft blankets. "Ohh, this is nice."
Whitney and Lil make nests of their own.
I crane my neck and find Sutton standing at the candy table.
"You good, Sutton?" I ask.
"Oh, I’m coming; I’m a little overwhelmed by the options." Her hand’s on her baby belly. "I can have some but not too much; my glucose levels were iffy when they checked them. And I want them all."
Lil glances at my scone belly and I shrug. Other than the no drinking and fake doctor, I haven’t made allowances for my fake baby. She nods. She hasn’t said anything that makes me think she suspects the baby isn’t real. She’s far wearier about Oliver, Ryder, and Anders.
Sutton considers the placement of each of her pillows, blankets, and wedges with considerable care before she collapses into the pile. "This is heaven." Her neck tilts back. "We’re just napping, right?" Her eyes drift closed, and she laughs.
"No, we have a list." Lil pops up and comes back with a clipboard.
I cock an eyebrow at it. "Anders?"
"You know it. He gave me a list of activities with the times that each should happen. We’re already off schedule."
"Oh no. We can’t have that," Whitney gasps. Lil’s, Elena’s, and my heads snap to her, and we moan.
"I’m sensing a story." Sutton laughs.
"Whitney’s lists have lists. Her lists were so long she kept some of them in my apartment during the wedding." Elena wiggles her eyebrows at Whitney.
"Her to-do list for applying to colleges had the time she was going to push send on the common app," I add.
"She’s scheduled when she’s going to the bathroom on her calendar before."
"Hey, that was finals week, and I wanted to wash my hair." Whitney flops her long ponytail around to her front.
"It’s worked out well for her, though. Whitney was rated as a woman in business to watch three years in a row," Lil says and grabs Whitney’s hand. "Though it should be ‘a badass to watch.’"
Whitney smiles. "It's nice. It doesn’t bother me as much as it does you. It should. But I’m the third generation of women who kick ass in business in my family. Not kicking ass never crosses my mind."
Lil pops up. "That deserves a toast. I have Boyland Bottling Company black cherry soda to toast with."
"No way? How did you get this here?" Bubbles hit my nose as I take a sip. “This is only available in Vermont.”
"Wait for the toast." Lil passes a soda to everyone. "I apologize in advance," she says to Elena and Sutton.
"No apologies necessary. I love black cherry soda, Em. It’s the right amount of sweetness mixed with bitter,” Elena says.
Sutton stares at the glass like it’s going to reach out and sting her.
"To amazing ass-kicking women, to running our empires whatever they may be," Lil says, raising her glass.
"Hear, hear. To Emily, the most compassionate, caring, and kind person I’ve ever met," Whitney adds.
"Prost! Cheers," Sutton adds.
I smile and clink bottles with each of them. The fakeness of this whole marriage is starting to wane. I hate that I’ve dragged these amazing women in with me.
"You’re not going to cry on me, are you?" Lil bumps shoulders with me.
"No, I’m not going to cry." The soda slides down my throat and sits in my stomach like a fizzling rock on a mountain of candy.
"Toast done. It’s time for you to pick the movie. And we’re running twenty minutes behind schedule." Lil checks off a box and holds the clipboard to her chest.
"Can I see that?" Sutton asks.
"Sure." Lil passes her the clipboard, and Sutton throws it over her shoulder.
"I think we can handle this on our own," Sutton says. There’s cheering, but I’m laughing so hard I can’t catch my breath. I fall back onto the cushions.
"If you love me, you won’t make me pick the movie." I bat my eyelashes at Lil.
"There are three preloaded. But we can go rogue if we want to. Clueless, Secondhand Lions, or Princess Diaries."
"Oh, I love all three of those," I say.
"I’ve never seen Princess Diaries," Sutton says.
"Really? I mean, I guess I can understand why. Too close to home. But then you knew you were—"
"Spoilers," Elena and Whitney shout.
"The movie literally has princess and diary in the title. Sutton hasn’t lived in a cave. I don’t think she has?" Lil turns to Sutton.
"Castle, not cave. I’ve seen clips. It’s Emily’s night; she gets to pick." Sutton’s blue eyes glow in the twinkle lights.
"Princess Diaries," I declare, and the four of them cheer.
I’m on my second slice of pizza and my third bowl of candy when the new princess Mia falls off the bleachers at school. Then the movie goes dark and the lights shut off. The lightning illuminates the screen and the room for a flash. No one’s moved.
"Everyone okay?" Whitney asks.
"Yup," I say, not thinking about the dark.
"I’m sure the power will come on soon. There must be a backup generator; it happens at home all the time." There’s comfort in Sutton’s confidence.
"We should stay put. I came up the spiral staircase once and I’m not going down it in the dark," Lil says and grabs my hand.
"Do you hear that?" Elena asks.
"What?" My heart trills in my chest.
"We’ve got incoming."
"Everyone okay?" Anders asks as a flashlight scans over us.
There are more thuds behind me.
"We’re okay. Get out," Lil says.
"The power might be off for a minute. We brought a few battery banks to get you back up and running." Ryder strides across the room, and the twinkle lights come on. "It’s not enough for the fridge and warming trays. But we can get the movie started again."
"What did you pick?" Oliver drops to a squat, his ass on display in the dappled light.
"That’s my brother," Sutton says, leaning over to Elena. Elena must be staring as much as I am. There’s a twist in my stomach when I realize there’s nothing I can say to stop her from staring. Nothing that wouldn’t put my secret in jeopardy.
"That’s my sister," Oliver says, oblivious to what’s going on. "And this is the rest of your movie. What did you pick?" The startup screen shoots a blue glow into the room.
Lil’s on her phone getting the movie back on when I shake my head. "What are you wearing?"
"We didn’t want to be left out." Ryder stands as the rest of the lights come on. There’s a picture of me on his tight white T-shirt, a selfie I took with the two of us last fall.
I’d put a napkin over my head, pretending to be an old lady.
There was some wine involved, but I look happy.
Anders’s shirt has a picture of me in profile as I’m gazing out at the Miami harbor.
On Oliver’s, I’m wearing a clown nose. I don’t remember it at all.
He plops down next to Sutton. "What are we watching?"
"We are watching Princess Diaries. And you are leaving."
Oliver throws his arm over his sister’s shoulder. "Educational material. Excellent, I’m in."
"You are not in, Damien Oliver George Arthur Whitehall."
"Oh, pulling out all the names, that’s harsh," Elena says, handing Oliver her bowl of candy.
"Thank you. See, you can learn something from Emily’s friends, sis." Oliver rests his head on her shoulder.
Sutton glares at Oliver. "It’s up to Emily."
"We’re never going to be able to eat everything . . ." I say.
"Waste is bad. Boys, good." Ryder plops down between me and Elena.
"Anders, sit there." Lil points at an open spot on the other side of Elena instead of me. There’s a twist in my stomach when I watch Lil in the dim light. She’s got her matchmaker hat on, and I don’t like it at all.
"He’s not a dog, Lil. You can’t . . . order him around." My voice trails up at the end in an attempt to make my irritation less noticeable. "Start the movie."
Lil doesn’t, glaring at me.
“Please,” I add.
Blue light fills the room. As the two fictional characters on screen make up, there’s a realization that things could go really wrong if I don’t keep my senses about me. I told Thayer I wasn’t giving them up. And I’m not, but I need to be smarter.
I can’t focus on the rest of the movie. There’s a buzz in my ear that has my focus glued to watching Elena. She’s not the kind of woman I would ever worry about with my boyfriend, but she doesn’t know he’s mine. And I hate it.