FOURTEEN #3
Most of the big decisions had been made and locked into place.
She had watched Caitlin choose her wedding dress, and she knew that Gemma had bought her suit.
The four of them had sampled countless appetizers, dinners, and desserts until they found the perfect menu.
The live band, the caterers, the bartenders, and the florist had all confirmed.
Even she and Hayley had their outfits ready.
Everything was falling perfectly into place.
With hair and makeup trials successfully checked off that morning, only three things stood between Gemma and Caitlin and the altar—the seating chart, the marriage license, and one final dress fitting.
Tonight, Maddie was gathered around the kitchen island with the two brides to tackle the seating chart. She had assumed it would be one of the easier tasks, especially with only thirty-eight guests and one long table out on the terrace. She could not have been more wrong.
Gemma poured three heavy-handed glasses of chardonnay as they circled around the thick poster board spread across the countertop. It contained a mockup of the wedding table, and beside it sat a neat stack of printed name tags for each confirmed guest.
Maddie looked at Caitlin warily. “You did this?”
“Yes! Kind of… Well, no,” she admitted sheepishly. “Lara did.”
“You could have, though, babe, if you’d wanted to.”
Maddie held back a smile at the way Gemma always tried to lift Caitlin up.
“Drinking without me, then?”
Maddie nearly choked on her sip of wine as Hayley strode into the room.
“Hay!” Gemma rushed over to give her friend a peck on the cheek. “I figured you’d be working, so I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Nonsense. You could never be a bother, Gem.” Hayley met Maddie’s eyes across the marble island. “You’re my favorite person.”
Maddie’s heart thumped against her chest.
Caitlin poured a fourth glass of wine and held it out. “Always happy to have you here, Hay.”
Maddie’s back ached by the time they had configured the little pins and name tags around the board in a way that satisfied the brides.
There’d been far more complications than she could have ever guessed—who knew whom, who hated whom, who had slept with whom.
It was one of the hardest puzzles she had ever encountered.
The result left Maddie two seats away from Hayley, and she tried to hide her disappointment. It made complete sense in hindsight. Caitlin and Gemma both wanted their maids of honor at their side.
“Should I open another bottle of wine, and we can move this into the living room?” Gemma asked, looking mainly at Hayley. “There was a new Summer House this week,” she said in a singsong voice, knowing Hayley’s weakness.
Hayley agreed to stay, and Maddie reminded herself that it was for Gemma, not her.
But as they funneled toward the couch with fresh glasses of wine in hand, Maddie felt like she was free-falling—and she knew no net was waiting to catch her.
Intentional or not, she hadn’t spoken to Hayley since they’d returned from the Hamptons, and she couldn’t begin to guess at where they stood.
Gemma and Caitlin curled into each other on the long sectional as usual, leaving Maddie and Hayley to sit on the smaller side.
Maddie tried not to overthink each inch between them. But by the time they were halfway through the episode, she felt a shift next to her.
“Is this okay?” Hayley asked, now resting gently against her shoulder.
Maddie could only nod, and Hayley nestled closer, threading their fingers together. Maddie closed her eyes and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Hayley’s head.
The four of them fell into a lighthearted debate for a while about who was Team Lindsay and who was Team Carl. Maddie and Hayley naturally landed on opposite sides, disagreeing even on the cast of a reality show.
When Kyle’s birthday episode ended, Gemma sat up suddenly. “Hay, what are we doing for your birthday? You are the resident elder, after all,” Gemma teased.
“Don’t remind me,” Hayley groaned, stiffening slightly. “And nothing.”
“We have to do something,” Gemma whined, and Maddie mentally agreed with her. She never let a birthday go by uncelebrated.
“No, we really don’t,” Hayley countered. “There’s nothing special about turning thirty-two. We can do exactly what we’re doing now, and that would be perfect.” She relaxed back into Maddie.
They watched another episode, and at some point, Gemma and Caitlin had drifted off to sleep. Against her, Maddie could feel Hayley fighting to keep her eyes open as her head grew heavier against her shoulder.
“Babe, let’s go to bed,” Maddie whispered. The word slipped out before she could stop it, and she froze in fear that Hayley would pull away.
“Okay,” Hayley murmured.
Relief washed through Maddie, and she exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Hayley wanted to stay, and she hadn’t panicked at the accidental endearment. That alone felt like a small miracle.
They woke up Gemma and Caitlin, and the four of them drifted toward their respective bedrooms.
Inside the guest bathroom, Maddie pulled an unopened toothbrush from the bottom drawer where her hosts kept extras for guests. She handed it to Hayley and was shocked when Hayley stepped up to the sink beside her and started brushing too.
Their eyes met in the mirror, and Maddie stuck her tongue out teasingly. These small moments of domesticity were starting to pile up, and she wasn’t sure Hayley even noticed. It made Maddie’s heart lift, only to sink again when she reminded herself that she was the only one living in the fantasy.
They crawled into bed facing one another, and the moonlight slipping through the half-closed blinds lit Hayley’s features just enough for Maddie to drink her in.
“Go out with me,” she blurted. “On a real date.”
Hayley’s eyes widened. “Maddie.” Her voice was barely a breath, and Maddie felt her stomach twist.
“Please. Let me take you to dinner.” Maddie wasn’t above begging, if that’s what it took.
“We can’t.”
“We can. One date, Hayley.” Maddie propped herself on her elbow, needing Hayley to see how serious she was. “I don’t want to just be someone casual to you. I want a shot at something real.”
There was a long stretch of silence, and Maddie’s heart pounded hard against her chest as she held her ground.
“I’m scared,” Hayley finally whispered, so soft Maddie could barely hear her.
“Me too.”
The quiet lingered as Hayley looked deep into Maddie’s eyes, searching for reassurance.
“Okay. One date.”