“Please help me with the vision, Bailey. In addition to being a bridesmaid.” I sat down. Her request stunned me. In all the years of thinking about commas and prepositional phrases in relation to my name, it never occurred to me that “bridesmaid” would be a part of that. Life, like interesting food, holds delicious surprises.

“So. What did Griffin think of his condo?” Reggie asked.

“He loved it. It made him so happy.”

“How ever did he show his thanks?” Elle asked.

I looked at both girls and shook my head. “He’s practically like a brother. Did you forget about Elliott?”

“‘Practically’ is not related. Somebody is going to snatch him up. But Elliott is a great guy too.” Both of them hugged me and left to celebrate New Year’s with their guys. I needed to get to Elliott, but my mind kept coming back to willowy Alex.

I headed toward Midtown to Elliott’s place. I still rang the doorbell.

He looked awful when he greeted me at the door.

“Bailey, you are a sight for sore eyes,” he said as he embraced me. He had on jeans but no shirt. He kissed me on the cheek as though we had not been apart for more than three weeks. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“No offense, but you look horrible. What’s the matter?” I noticed that his apartment was dark. The drapes were drawn, and there was only one lamp on.

“Not the welcome home you imagined, huh? I’m sorry, sweetie. My back is killing me. I just took some pain meds and a muscle relaxer. Would you be too disappointed if we just did takeout tonight? I really need to take a nap.” He kissed me again as an apology.

“No worries. Just be careful which muscle gets relaxed. We have been apart for three weeks, you know.” I grinned.

“There’s the clever girl I love. Thanks, love, for letting me take a nap. Then you can tell me if sex with a free man is better than with a married one!” Elliott disappeared into the darkened bedroom. I put my stuff down on the floor, and then I ordered Chinese from around the corner. I decided to do some work. I wanted to find some interesting pieces for Ipanema. I texted Penny. I had seen a cool wooden surfboard with her in an upscale outdoor store.

Penny replied, “I’ll be back in the office by the middle of next week. It is New Year’s Eve, honey. Take the night off with that cute fella of yours.”

To Griffin I sent: “I appreciate your check.”

But the text to Griffin sounded very businesslike and so serious. I quickly sent a second one. “What are you doing for New Year’s Eve? Thank you for letting me stay with you over Christmas.”