Chapter 26
LEIGH
“Istill can’t believe you’re making us do this,” I said, adjusting the sparkly sash Delaney had insisted I wear that read “Sister of the Groom.”
“Every bride deserves a bachelorette party,” Blake said, already two drinks in and radiating chaotic energy. “And every bridesmaid deserves to celebrate with her.”
We were at a wine bar in the next town over.
Apparently Willowbrook was too small for the kind of party Blake had planned, and this place was definitely packed with Friday night energy.
Our corner booth was loud with laughter, cluttered with glasses, and decorated with the most ridiculous penis-shaped straws I’d ever seen.
“Where did you even find these?” I asked, holding up the offending straw.
“The internet is a beautiful and terrible place,” Blake said with a grin. “You can find anything if you look hard enough.”
Delaney, wearing a white sash and a little plastic crown, was blushing but laughing. “I specifically said nothing embarrassing.”
“And I specifically ignored you,” Blake countered. “This is your bachelorette party. Embarrassing is literally the point.”
Around the table, the rest of the women were in various states of amusement. Reece sat beside Delaney, calm and happy as always, nursing a glass of white wine. Billie was already planning some drinking game involving cards and increasingly ridiculous dares. And my mom...
My mom was sitting next to me, looking more relaxed and joyful than I’d seen her in years. She and Jasper had been inseparable lately, stealing glances at each other across rooms, holding hands when they thought no one was looking. It was adorable and slightly nauseating in equal measure.
“So,” Blake said, pointing her ridiculous straw at me with the precision of someone who was tipsy but not quite drunk. “Let’s talk about Dex.”
I groaned. “Let’s not.”
“Let’s absolutely do that,” Billie countered. “Because we’ve all been dying to properly interrogate you, and now that it’s official, you can’t escape.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I said, taking a long sip of my wine.
“Liar,” Blake sing-songed. “You’re glowing. You’re different. You’re stupidly, adorably happy, and we want details.”
Was I that obvious?
“Okay, fine. I’m happy. He makes me happy. Can we move on now?”
“Not even close,” Reece said with a small smile. I’d learned that when Reece spoke up, it meant something important was coming. “We want details. How serious is this?”
“We’re...” I searched for the right words. “Seeing where it goes.”
“That’s a very careful answer,” Mom observed, studying me over the rim of her wine glass.
I looked at her, then at the other women, all watching me with varying degrees of concern and curiosity. These women who’d become my family in the span of a summer. Who’d welcomed me without hesitation, who’d included me in everything, who genuinely seemed to care what happened to me.
“It’s complicated,” I said finally. “We’re just... taking it day by day.”
“Because of August,” Delaney said gently. Not a question.
There it was. The thing we weren’t supposed to be talking about. The thing Dex and I had agreed not to stress over. The deadline racing toward us like a freight train we were both pretending not to see.
“We’re not thinking about August right now,” I said, more firmly than I felt. “We’re just enjoying being together.”
“But eventually you’ll have to think about it,” Billie pointed out. “August is in two days.”
Two days. The wedding was Sunday. And Monday...
Monday I was supposed to pack up and drive back to Blue Point Bay. Back to my apartment, my studio, my life. Away from Dex, away from this family, away from everything I’d found here. Claire would be going back to work and Wren would be alone without me.
The thought made my chest ache.
“Eventually,” I agreed, trying to keep my voice steady. “But not tonight. Tonight is about Delaney getting married to my brother, and how absolutely insane it still is that I even have brothers, let alone one getting married.”
Delaney reached over and squeezed my hand. “Thank you for doing this with me. For being here, for being part of this. It means more than you know.”
“Of course.” My throat felt tight. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“But seriously,” Blake wouldn’t let it go, because subtlety had never been her strong suit. “You and Dex. It’s real, right? Like, really real?”
I thought about the past week. About our date last night, walking through town with his hand in mine, no more hiding. About family dinners where we sat together, his hand on my knee under the table. About the way he looked at me like I was the answer to a question he’d been asking his whole life.
“Yeah,” I admitted softly. “It’s real.”
“And you love him,” Mom said. Not a question.
“Mom…”
“You do. I can see it in your face when you talk about him. The way your whole expression softens. The way you get this little smile.” She reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, the gesture so familiar and maternal that it made my eyes sting.
“You look at him the way I... the way I used to look at Jasper. The way I’m starting to again. ”
“Speaking of which,” Blake pivoted smoothly, her natural nosiness finding a new target, “Caroline, are you really staying? Like, permanently?”
Mom nodded, and there was something almost shy in her smile. “I am. I gave my two weeks’ notice at work last week. I’ll be moving here for good at the end of the month.”
“That’s incredible,” Reece said warmly.
“And terrifying,” Mom added with a nervous laugh. “I’m fifty years old, starting completely over. New job, new town, new relationship. If you’d told me six months ago that I’d be doing this, I would have said you were insane.”
“What changed?” Billie asked.
Mom was quiet for a moment, turning her wine glass in her hands.
“I got tired of living with regret. Tired of playing it safe. Tired of wondering what if.” She looked at me when she said it, and I knew the words were meant for both the table and for me specifically.
“Life’s too short to spend it being afraid of what might happen.
Sometimes you just have to take the leap and trust you’ll figure out how to fly on the way down. ”
“That’s beautiful, Caroline,” Delaney said, her eyes a little misty.
“That’s terrifying is what that is,” I muttered.
“It is terrifying,” Mom agreed. “But it’s also exciting. And right. For the first time in years, I’m choosing what I want instead of what’s safe or expected or ‘practical.’“ She emphasized the last word with finger quotes. “I’m choosing love. I’m choosing a second chance. I’m choosing to be brave.”
The implication hung in the air between us. You should too.
“Okay, enough heavy talk,” Blake announced, clearly sensing the mood was getting too serious. “It’s time for games. Billie, break out the embarrassing cards.”
The next hour was a blur of ridiculous bachelorette party games.
We played “How Well Do You Know the Groom?” where Delaney proved she knew Trace better than he probably knew himself, answering questions about his favorite childhood memory (fishing with Jasper at age eight), his biggest fear (losing family), and what he’d wanted to be when he grew up (a cowboy astronaut).
Then we moved on to “Never Have I Ever,” which started innocent enough but quickly devolved into increasingly embarrassing revelations.
I learned that Reece had once accidentally walked into the men’s bathroom at a fancy restaurant and pretended she was supposed to be there rather than admit her mistake.
That Blake had kissed three different boys at the same party in high school.
That Billie had a secret tattoo that even Gage didn’t know about yet because she had it lasered off.
“It was supposed to be a set of balanced scales,” she admitted, blushing. “On my hip. I got it after I finished med school.”
“But?” Billie asked, barely containing her excitement.
“But… it looked like a pair of shrivelled up testicles,” she admitted and we all burst out laughing.
Everyone was stuck in a neverending burst of giggles, and I felt that warm glow of belonging. These women. This family. It had all happened so fast, but it felt so real.
Blake made us all write marriage advice on cards for Delaney.
Some were sweet (“Never go to bed angry”), some were practical (“Have separate bathrooms if possible”), and some were absolutely filthy (Blake’s contribution, naturally, which made Delaney turn bright red and the rest of us cry with laughter).
Around ten, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out, trying to be subtle, but Blake caught me.
“Is that Dex?” she asked with a knowing grin.
“Maybe.”
“What does he say?”
I showed her the message.
“You’re smiling at your phone like a teenager,” Mom observed, reading my expression with the accuracy only a mother could have.
“I am not.”
“You absolutely are,” Billie laughed. “It’s adorable.”
“Can we please go back to embarrassing Delaney instead of me?”
But Delaney was watching me with those soft, knowing eyes of hers. “You know, when Trace and I first got together, I was so scared. Everything felt too big, too fast, too complicated. I was a single mom, he was dealing with family drama, we had history that was messy. It felt impossible.”
“But you made it work,” I said.
“We did. But not because we had it all figured out. We made it work because we decided it was worth fighting for. That the love we had was more important than the obstacles in our way.” She paused.
“Love doesn’t have to make sense, Leigh.
It just has to be real. And if it’s real, you fight for it. No matter how complicated it gets.”
The table went quiet, everyone processing her words.
“That’s beautiful,” Reece said softly.
“And also very applicable to your current situation,” Blake added, because subtlety really wasn’t her thing.
“I don’t…” I started.