Page 120 of The Wedding Favor

So, we had dinner and I told her every single detail. Because that’s what friends did.

FORTY-NINE

“Regrets are worthless things.”

—excerpt from the unpublished memoir,

Darling, I Must Say by Gloria Hayes

The rest of the week went something like this:

Ali invited every class at Two Harts Elementary School to a special presentation at the public library. She even arranged permission slips and chaperones. The only thing she didn’t do was tell Mae.

Mae “accidentally” put out a city-wide email asking if anyone had seen the missing library copy of What to Expect While You’re Expecting because Mayor Goodnight wanted to check it out. As far as a gossip fodder, that one took off immediately. For the record, Ali was not expecting anything, but her mother was still not convinced.

Not to be outdone, Ali visited the library office after hours and accessed Mae’s work computer. (She had no problem guessing her password, either.) She took a screenshot of the desktop, then set that as the computer wallpaper and hid all her icons. Mae spent hours trying to open her files.

In retaliation, Mae managed to get into Ali’s office and covered any available surface, including all doors and desk handles, with Vaseline, followed by feathers.

Every morning, the crowd at the Sit-n-Eat debated who would do what next. Ellie had been right; everyone was taking sides.

“Are you really dating that boy?” one of my oldest customers asked. To be fair, he was in his nineties, and everyone was younger than him.

“I plead the fifth.”

“The only people who say that are guilty,” he said. “Hashtag Team Mae.”

Even going to see Gloria was dicey. I had to sneak in lest I get waylaid by anyone. But I was trying to stop by every night now. She’d been napping more and was noticeably weaker, but she still refused to tell me anything. And that damn Death Cat was here almost every time I went to visit. Plus, even though she didn’t say it, there was a sense of urgency for me to find this Warren guy. That was proving to be more challenging than I expected. But no one could truly hide anymore. I just had to keep at it.

“I think everyone’s an idiot in this story,” she said after I told her what Mae and Ali had been up to.

“I know. How long are they going to keep this up? It’s ridiculous.” I paced the small patch of floor in her room. “And it’s none of their business on top of it.”

“True, darling. Although your sister does love you.”

“Ha. She has a terrible way of showing it.”

“You have been lying to her for months so I’m not sure your method is any better.”

I threw myself in her throne-chair and glared at her.

She started to laugh but it turned into a ragged cough. I jumped up to help her, but she put up a hand to stop me. “I’m fine. Just hand me my water.”

No, nothing was wrong with her. “Please tell me what is going on with you.”

“I’m fine. Leave it be.” She handed back the water bottle. “What I said was you’re all idiots. That includes you and Abe. Looking love right in the face and pretending it doesn’t exist.”

“I explained that. It’s too complicated.”

“People make things complicated when it doesn’t have to be.”

“Or sometimes love isn’t enough.”

“Oh, good grief. Are you the voice of the bitter aunt in a Hallmark movie now?”

“I don’t know what I am.” Abe and I were doing an admirable job of keeping our distance from each other. We were polite and friendly. He was still helping me with my song, but Hallie always stayed in the room with us like a chaperone at the high school prom. Was he afraid I was going to tackle him to the ground and have my way with him?

“Darling.” She held a hand out to me. The bones were fragile, the skin pale and thin. It was the hand of an old woman, and a wave of sadness punched me in the gut. I was not used to seeing Gloria as frail and weak. She was always so vibrant and full of life. “Hand me that photo album there and come sit on the bed next to me.”