Page 45 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

Simone takes the towel off her neck. “You think so?”

There’s an odd beat of tension I can’t place, and then it clearslike the clouds racing across the sun. And maybe that’s all it was—a shadow.

But—and I know I’ve said this already—there’s a storm coming.

You can feel it in the air like an electric current.

“How do you think the movie will turn out?” I ask Simone.

“What? Oh, great, of course.”

“The dailies I saw looked good.”

I hate to admit it, but it’s true.

Simone’s cinematographer has a real eye, and the acting was good.

Not that Ihaveadmitted it to Simone. Just to you. And you’ll keep my secret, right?

“They sent you dailies?” Simone’s voice rises an octave.

“I’m an executive producer.”

She gives me a hard stare. “And you went to film school?”

“No.”

“So you watched the dailies why, exactly?”

“Was I not supposed to watch them?”

“You can do whatever you want, Eleanor, as has always been the case.”

I’m about to say something when Harper puts her hand on my arm to stop me.

Which is for the best. It’s Emma’s wedding, and whatever feud I have with Simone needs to be buried.

At least for this weekend.

Then we can go back to ignoring each other.

“I’d love to cool off,” I say, “so I think I’m going in the cold pool first, if you don’t mind, Emma?”

“I’m right behind you.”

“Suit yourself,” Simone says.

I turn my back on Simone’s disapproval and Harper follows me to the edge of the pool that is marked asCOLD.

We strip off our cover-ups, and then something occurs that feels like it goes in slow motion but has to have happened in real time because we’re not in a Marvel movie.

Harper’s holding her cover-up, and the way she folds it releases her phone from her pocket.

Emma snatches it up from the ground and playfully holds it away from Harper over the water.

Harper snatches at it, but all she does is bat it from Emma’s hand.

Harper tries to catch it before it hits the water, but doesn’t quite make it.

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