Page 89 of Take Me to the Wedding

I prayed that would be enough.

* * *

Caleb

The rehearsal dinner ended, but Sam and Mia had gathered around Ani and then left with her. I took out my phone and hovered my fingers over a blank message box. The thing was, Sam had said in no uncertain terms that she was taking a step back. She didn’t want us to be public. Was she running scared, or had she simply decided that she didn’t care enough?

Needing to get my own head on straight, I pocketed my phone, yanked my tie off for good and shoved that in my pocket too, shrugged off my stifling coat, and started walking. I ended up outside a nineteenth-century glass greenhouse not far from the gardens. Twinkle lights lit up small trees that were inside. Nearby, there was a grassy knoll and a bench. I sat down, bending over, tenting my fingers, thinking. How had things gotten so messed up?

A little while later, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to find my mother. How she found me there, I had no idea.

“Hi, Ma,” I said, but my heart wasn’t in it. “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow.”

“We came early. I just ran into Mia and Wynn, and Mia asked me to find you. How are you doing?” she asked, patting my knee.

That was the thing with Beth. She should’ve been a therapist, because she was so nonthreatening that she made nearly everyone she came into contact with want to spill their deepest secrets. She’d definitely had my number—from birth. The woman could tell when something wasn’t right with me from miles away. I blew out a big breath. “Why did Mia send you to find me?”

“Ani’s not doing well.”

“Oh. How serious?”

“She’s having second thoughts. The girls are all with her.”

“I’d better go check on Tyler.”

She held me back with her hand. “Yes, but first talk to me about Sam.”

“I have a feeling you might already know what happened.” If Mia had gotten to her, I was sure of it, and her shrug confirmed it. “Lilly somehow thinks she’s in love with me. But Sam told me she wanted to step back—from us. I guess she needs some time. Or maybe she’s run scared. Or just done with me. So… I’m not really sure how I’m doing.”

“There isa lotgoing on at this wedding.”

“Yes.” My voice sounded deadpan. Which was what I was inside.

“Can I tell you my thoughts?”

I gave my mother a wry smile. “Was there ever a time when you didn’t?”

She patted my knee again. “And I hope there’s never a time when I can’t. There’s something I’ve held back from saying all these years.”

“You? Hold back? How unusual.”

“The thing about Lilly is that she never supported you. Instead, she demanded support from you at a time when you were fighting for your life, so to speak. I’m exaggerating, but you understand what I mean about your first year of med school.”

“I guess I thought that by having her at my side, we could weather anything.”

“I always thought it was a dumb idea for you two to move in together as new college grads but whatever.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“No matter what happened between you two, you never faulted Lilly. You always said thatyouled her to Milwaukee, thatyoudidn’t have enough time for her, et cetera. Your impulse is always to protect. To see the best in everyone. To be positive and optimistic. I think you learned that from protecting Gracie. And of course Mia afterward.”

“I think you might be right on that. But Sam doesn’t need my protection. And she doesn’t believe in fairy tales.”

“Sam’s called your bluff,” she said softly. “Maybe she doesn’t need things in the way that Lilly was needy. Maybe she’s more your equal. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want someone to be there for her and show her that things can work out occasionally.”

“She was pretty unreasonable when I asked her to act like a couple. Why didn’t she stand up for us?”

“I look at it a little differently. Letting you figure all this out for yourself is not running away.”

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