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The distance is still there, but so is he. For now, I choose to trust the difference.
Bliss stands near the cake table arguing with Kellen about whether removing a strawberry from the top constitutes tampering with the wedding design.
“It’s fruit,” Kellen says.
“It’s structural.”
“It was sitting in frosting.”
“Load-bearing frosting.”
Aura picks up two champagne glasses and hands one to me. “Ready?”
“No.”
“Perfect.”
We corner Bliss before she can prosecute her brother. Kellen takes advantage of the distraction and steals the strawberry.
“I saw that,” Bliss calls after him.
“No witnesses!” he shouts, disappearing behind Knox.
Aura taps one fingernail against her glass. “We require everyone’s attention before our bride commits a felony over fruit.”
The conversations filling the pavilion gradually soften. Bliss turns toward us with immediate suspicion.
“You told me this wasn’t your real toast.”
“It isn’t,” I say. “Tomorrow is sentimental and devastating. Tonight is informational.”
“That sounds threatening.”
“It should,” Aura tells her.
Ryan leans against the bar beside Rider, holding a glass of liquor while watching us. Cade stands near the front with both hands inside his pockets and an expression suggesting he has already accepted that we are about to make Bliss cry.
Aura raises her champagne. “For those of you who don’t know, Bliss has been trapped between Charm and me since we were twelve.”
“Held lovingly,” I correct.
“Trapped expensively.”
Laughter moves through the crowd as Aura continues. “I have known her since birth because our daddies are best friends and it was expected. When Charm moved to Kimball Falls when we were twelve it became inevitable.”
Daniel smiles beside Ray, Becky, and my mother while Bliss’s brothers gather around them. Every man in the group, including Lance, wears the exhausted affection of someone who has spent years losing arguments to the three of us.
Aura continues. “People assume ABC exists because our names fall conveniently into alphabetical order. Aura, Bliss, Charm. That is technically true, but it fails to explain the system.”
“There’s a system?” Bliss asks.
“Yes. I identify the problem, you panic beautifully in the middle, and Charm finds a way to make the solution require new clothes and a spa day.”
“I resent how accurate that is,” I say.
“You once solved my breakup by taking us to Chicago and purchasing three coats.”
“We were cold.”
