Page 20 of Harrison's Wedding

Heather raises her face to kiss me softly before saying, “I love you, honey.”

I smile down at her beautiful face, and my love for her fills me completely, pushing away my frustration. She looks at me for a few seconds before she sits back up in her seat and looks down at the list in front of her.

“So, record executives, Harrison? Where did we land?” She turns to smile at me.

It takes the rest of the afternoon for us to narrow the guest list to two hundred and five people, and we take a gamble on at least a few people not being able to make the party. We run through the decorations that Heather has organized already, as well as looking through the invitation designs. We decide on an invitation that fits our black-and-white theme for the party, and Heather looks very pleased with it.

“Well, I’ll get those sent to the printer tomorrow, and they should send them off this week. Do you need any help with dinner, Sarah?” Heather asks my mom as we’re cleaning all the engagement party paperwork off the table.

“Sure, thanks, Heather. Robert should be home soon, and we can eat.”

I watch Heather as she stands up and walks out of the room with my mom. I smile at the sight of the two women I love the most in the world. Heather’s practically as much my parents’ child as I am; she’s been a part of our family since we were teens. My parents still live in the same house we moved into when we first moved to Chicago, and even before we got together, Heather would spend hours here studying with me.

God, I had the biggest crush on her. I would write songs and play them for her on my guitar. She would tell me what she thought of them, and I cared about her opinion way too much. Nothing’s changed, really.

Which is why this Gabriel and Ariana issue is bugging me. Heather is normally so reasonable; she’s opinionated, but not usually this stubborn. The frustrating thing is that there’s no chance Sebastian will come around if Heather doesn’t. Despite what he said about never forgiving Ariana, I know that Heather could talk sense into him. With her taking the same line, though, there’s no reason for him to come around, because he’s got Heather to side with him.

I’m getting concerned about what this is going to mean for the band in the long run. Our lives, both personal and professional, are so closely entangled that I’m stressed about how it could all blow up.

Lillian pulls me from my thoughts by saying, “I’m excited for the engagement party.”

“Me, too.” I turn to smile at her. “Hopefully five people won’t be able to make it.”

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed, I guess,” she laughs.

The same way Heather came to my house in our teens, I spent plenty of time in her parents’ home. Lillian is my second mom, and I’m unsurprised by her next question.

“So, what was going on between you and Heather before? There’s obviously some issue between her and Ariana.” She raises an eyebrow at me.

I sigh and nod. “Correct.”

Lillian continues to look at me with her bright blue eyes that are so much like Heather’s. She clearly wants more information, but I don’t really know how much to give, so I stay silent.

“Sebastian doesn’t like her, either,” she says, watching my reaction carefully.

I give her a wry grin. “Has the Cruise Control mom group chat been going off, Lillian?”

“Well, I guess you could say that,” she laughs.

Our moms formed a group chat together many years ago. Lillian was in the chat before Heather and I even got together because she was organizing getting Heather to and from our gigs with us. Over the years, they’ve become friends, and I can imagine that there’s been a lot of talk about Gabriel and Ariana in there.

“I see. No, Seb isn’t a fan, either. You know how Seb is.” I shrug.

“Ariana seemed lovely when I met her at your birthday.” Lillian frowns at me, clearly having no clue of the history there.

I’m uncomfortable with this conversation. I don’t know how much to say, and I know that everything I say is almost certainly going to be passed back to not only my mom, but Gabriel, Seb, and Hayden’s moms as well.

“She is lovely. She just”—I consider my words carefully for a second before continuing—“did something that upset Seb and Heather. They don’t seem to want to forgive her, and I’m worried about how it’s going to affect the band.”

Lillian reaches across the empty chair that Heather was sitting in to place her hand on my arm and smile at me. “You and the boys have been friends for a very long time. I don’t think that anything could ever break you up.”

I wish I had her confidence.

Instead of saying that, I just nod and smile at her. “Of course.”

“I’m sure it will all blow over.” Lillian gives me a reassuring smile.

I can’t help but scoff, “Do you even know Heather and Sebastian, Lillian?”

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