Page 94 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

It’s definitely my fault she knows Connor.

“So, you’re saying I shouldn’t play with her today?” Oliver asks.

“I wouldn’t.”

“Hey! It’s not up for negotiation. It’s forEmma. And it’s just for fun.”

“You’ve never played tennisjust for funin your life.” She puts air quotes around those last words to drive her point home.

Sisters can be theworst.

“I’ll have you know that—”

“Is this the way?” Allison says, coming up behind us. She’s wearing a cute Lululemon tennis dress and looks like she should be starring in a movie about a woman making a tennis comeback in her forties.

“Almost there, I think,” Harper says. “Hey, Allison. Hey, David.”

“Why is it up here, anyway?” David asks, out of breath and redder in the face than all of us. I guess he doesn’t work out that much, what with the (re)writing and all.

“Only flat area, I guess,” I say, but my tone says, well,duh.

“Ah, yes. Even so...”

“There you all are!” Emma says, appearing at what I pray is the top of the path with her hands on her hips. “Let’s get a move on!”

“And you thinkI’mthe bossy one,” I say to Harper under my breath.

“I heard that! And that dance isbanned, El. Like, seriously, the umpire is docking you a point if you do it.”

“What umpire?”

“Get up here and see for yourself.”

I take a few more steps and get to the landing. In front of usis a beautiful tennis complex, with two red clay courts surrounded by a green chain-link fence. There’s stadium seating to one side that must have an incredible view of the ocean. Much of the cast and crew are seated there, all in some version of white tennis clothes, and it’s a bit blinding.

Simone’s sitting in the front row with Shawna and Mr. and Mrs. Winter, and Ken the stand-in is sitting just behind them. The photographer fromPeopleis off to the side with his camera aimed at the stands, taking shots. Fred’s on the court, holding a racquet and bouncing a ball up and down on it.

There’s a white umpire chair up on a platform like a lifeguard sits on in between the two courts, just like at a professional tennis match.

And I should’ve seen this coming, and you should’ve, too.

Because Connor’s sitting in the chair looking down on us with a devilish grin. He’s wearing a white bucket hat and a whistle around his neck.

He picks it up and blows a short, shrill bleat. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

Oliver shoots me a look, and I hope my tennis shoes can grip this surface well because if I know one thing it’s this: I’m skating on thin ice.

There’s a saying that football is life. Okay, it comes fromTed Lasso. Whatever. But I think the better analogy to life is tennis. And not just because I think soccer is boring, because,hello, that’s just watching people run back and forth on a grass field pretending they’re going to kick the ball into that enormous net.

Tennis covers all thephases. When you’re single, I mean playing singles, everything is on you. You have to make each shot andcover the entire court. There’s no backup. If you win, you did it. If you lost, you did that, too. No excuses. But when you play doubles, it’s like being in a couple. You have to work together. You have to share the court. You have to consider the other player and be there for them. You can’t make all the shots, but you have to be ready to. You can share your wins and console each other over your losses.

You get the idea.

Andifthis wedding happens, that’s what I’m going to say to Fred and Emma during my speech.

I’m going to tell them to treat their marriage like a doubles match. And even if it sounds corny to you right now, I promise there won’t be a dry eye in the house.

But right this minute, I’m not sure I’m going to need this speech. I mean, is this wedding even going to happen?

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