27. Emma
27
EMMA
" A re you sure about this?" I asked, smoothing my dress for the tenth time. The rehearsal dinner would start in twenty minutes, and my stomach was already in knots.
"The dress looks amazing, Em,”James said, adjusting his tie in the mirror.
“Thank you, but I mean the plan… are you sure we should be doing this?”
"We're not forcing anything. Just... creating an opportunity."
Our plan was simple. I'd already modified the rehearsal dinner seating to put Marcus between Lily and a famous client of hers who just arrived this morning—a social media influencer who'd helped launch Pawsh Pets into viral fame. According to Lily, this particular celebrity was obsessed with business strategy, and hadn’t stopped offering to help give her advice on expanding and “maxing your biz, girl.”
Meanwhile, James had made sure Richard and Dick were seated within earshot but at a different table. Close enough to hear discussion of Lily's business, but not close enough to intervene.
"The pressure has to be building with the wedding getting close,” James said. “I’m sure he’s already thinking about coming clean before the big day. We’ll just be creating an environment to make that confession feel a little more… front of mind.”
"And if it's not?"
He turned to face me, expression serious. "Then we try something else. We're not letting Richard and Dick manipulate their way into controlling your sister's business."
I stepped closer to fix his tie, though it didn't need fixing. I just wanted an excuse to touch him. "When did you get so protective of my sister?"
"Maybe I'm tired of watching families get destroyed by secrets. It might be nice to save a marriage instead of blowing one up for a change."
I gave a crooked smile. “Listen to you. Mr. Reformed Wedding Wrecker.”
“Easy,” James said. “Let’s not get carried away. I still have a business to maintain.”
“Mhm,” I said. Then I bit my lip and rose my tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.
He looked bemused. “What was that for?”
“For caring enough to help my sister. Thank you. But we should probably go," I said. "I need to check the table settings one last time."
"Of course you do." But his smile was fond. "Control freak."
"You know you love it."
His expression went gentle in a way that made my heart skip. "Maybe a little bit."
The rehearsal dinner went exactly as planned—at first. Lily's client, Sophie, dominated conversation at their table with enthusiastic plans for franchise opportunities. She had connections with several major retail chains interested in adding pet spa services.
"The potential is incredible," Sophie gushed. "You could have a Pawsh Pets in every high-end mall in America!"
I watched Marcus's face carefully. He kept glancing at his father, who was practically vibrating with poorly concealed interest.
"I don't know," Lily said, "I'd want to be really careful about maintaining quality. These are people's pets, not just..."
"Investment opportunities?" Dick cut in from the next table. "Sometimes you have to think bigger, sweetheart. Take risks."
James's hand found mine under the table, squeezing gently.
So much for seating them too far to intervene in the conversation. I guess we underestimated how pushy Dick would be.
"I like thinking small," Lily said firmly. "Quality over quantity."
Dinner dragged on as Richard and Dick barged into the conversation, practically drowning Lily in what seemed like unwanted business advice. To her credit, she was keeping calm and didn’t look outwardly bothered. But Marcus was obviously uncomfortable, and getting more-so the longer it went on.
"But think of the possibilities," Sophie continued. "With the right investors?—"
Marcus stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. "Lily, can we... can we talk? Privately?"
A hush fell over the table.
"Of course," Lily said, looking concerned. She followed Marcus out onto the terrace, leaving the rest of us in awkward silence.
"Well," Dick said loudly, "who wants another drink?"
The next hour seemed to stretch on forever. James and I tried to maintain normal conversation while watching the terrace doors. The food was amazing, but it was hard to really concentrate on the taste.
Dick had slithered into the seat beside Sophie and had the nerve to talk about Pawsh Pets with her as if he was somehow part of the business. Once she got past the “who the hell are you” part, she had been happy enough to talk strategy with him, too.
Desserts were being set down in front of guests by the time Lily and Marcus returned to the room. Marcus fixed his suit, approached his dad, and actually lifted him by the arm and told him they needed to talk before practically dragging him out of the room. Richard gave a bemused smile, then played along before disappearing from view.
Lily’s eyes were red, but her spine was straight. She caught my eye and jerked her head toward the hallway.
"Excuse me," I murmured to James, "sister emergency."
I found Lily in the ladies' room, pacing the marble floor.
“Everything okay?” I asked carefully.
“No? Yes?” Lily made a sound that was somewhere between laughing and crying. “Marcus just admitted his family is in massive debt. They’re currently selling off properties at a rate they can’t sustain to maintain appearances, but they’re going to hit rock bottom soon.”
“Oh,” I said slowly. “Lily…”
She frowned, tilted her head, and then took a step closer. “You already knew? What? How?”
I carefully explained everything, from how I actually knew James to how I’d only found out yesterday about Marcus.
“I didn’t think it was my place to tell you before he had a chance, Lily. But I promise, I would’ve warned you before the wedding if we couldn’t encourage him to come clean by then.”
Lily was quiet for a few seconds, as if trying to take it all in. “Okay,” she said.
“Okay?”
“It’s okay. Thank you for letting Marcus tell me. And I knew something was weird about you and James. But I can’t believe you’re dating the wedding wrecker. Did you lose your mind?”
“Maybe,” I admitted with a small laugh.
Lily rushed in and hugged me tight, then let go with a heavy breath. “Well, I’m grateful you handled this the way you did. I think it would have been harder to forgive Marcus if it came from you.” She picked at the fabric of her dress, shrugging a little as she leaned against a bathroom sink. “Him coming clean shows me he cares. It shows he’s willing to face the consequences of his actions and learn from it.”
I nodded.
“And I think that’s why we’re still going to work. All I care about is that he stays open and honest with me, and I can understand why he was so scared to tell me the truth about this. Apparently, he’s been trying to find the right time to tell me for weeks."
"Are you sure you’re okay?"
"You know what's crazy?" She stopped pacing to face me. "I'm actually relieved. I knew something was wrong. He's been so stressed lately, always on his phone, having these intense conversations with his father..." She shrugged. "I was starting to wonder if he was having second thoughts about us."
"And now?"
"Now I know he was just scared. Scared I wouldn't want him if I knew his family wasn't what everyone thinks. Scared of disappointing his father." She smiled, and this time it reached her eyes. "But mostly scared of losing me."
"What did you tell him?"
"That he's an idiot," she laughed. "And that I don't care about his family's money. I care about him." She twisted her engagement ring. "I told him we'd figure it out together, but that he had to promise to always be honest with me from now on."
"And?"
"And he promised. He’s going to tell his father to stay out of my business decisions or he'd make sure the whole world knew exactly how broke they really are."
I blinked. "He’s going to say that to the Richard Wellington?”
"You should have seen him talking about it, Em. He was... magnificent." She grinned. "Also kind of hot."
"Gross." But I was smiling too. "So the wedding's still on?"
"Of course it is. If anything, I'm more sure now than ever." She hugged me tight. "I love him. The real him, not some perfect fantasy version. And he loves me enough to risk everything to be honest with me."
I held her close. As happy as I was for Lily and Marcus, I couldn’t help finding my own thoughts drifting to James—about how we both seemed to be holding our real truths locked away because we were too scared of where they might lead. Seeing how happy Lily was now that her and Marcus’ truth was out in the open made it hard not to wonder…
"I'm happy for you," I said, and meant it.
"Speaking of happiness..." Lily pulled back to study my face. "Where are you and James, exactly? It sounds like you’ve got the chemistry down. But what happens after the wedding? Do you two just go your separate ways?”
“I… don’t know,” I admitted.
She gripped my shoulders softly, expression lined with sympathy. “Em. I say this because I love you. You’re being a coward. You want to see where this thing goes with him. So see. Heartbreak is temporary. Regret is forever.”
I snorted. “I’m not sure either of those statements are objectively true.”
“Well, they’re true to me. So you had better take my advice to heart.”
“I’ll try,” I said, giving her another hug before we headed for the door.
I found James waiting in the hallway to the bathrooms, concern clear on his face. "Everything okay?"
I told him what happened—the parts about Lily and Marcus, at least—watching relief spread across his features.
"So… mission accomplished? Just like that?”
“Who knew people could fix their own mistakes?” I asked with a bratty grin.
“To be fair, our brilliant and subtle plan was what spurred this moment into existence. Sure, maybe Marcus was going to find a time to come clean before the wedding, but now we get credit. We did this,” he said, gesturing between us.
“You sound awfully concerned with taking credit. Are you sniffing out a new way to pivot your business if wedding wrecking doesn’t work out? The wedding fixer?”
He made a sour face. "Let’s just make sure this wedding goes well. I’m too invested now to see it fail.”
“That’s a plan I can agree with. Come on. We should get back before people notice we're missing."
He caught my hand as I turned to go. "Emma?"
"Hmm?"
“It… felt good to work with you on this. I’ve spent a long time looking for problems. So long, in fact, that I stopped asking myself if there was another way. I saw them all as fatal. But… it does feel nice to help a couple overcome an issue. So, sure, I’m not about to start calling myself the wedding fixer, but this was nice.”
My smile was wide, and for a moment, I wondered if maybe there really was a chance of things between us working out. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said, eyes lifting to something over my shoulder. “Dick’s coming. Quick. Casual kiss.”
I didn’t question him as I let him cup my face and kiss me in a way that was anything but casual. After a few moments, I pulled away, then risked a glance over my shoulder. The hallway was empty.
I frowned up at him.
“Whoops,” he said. “Must’ve been seeing things.”