My mind drifts from the chaos around me to hours ago when I found Mel Moore on my porch carrying her 80s-style makeup Caboodle and an oversized bright red purse with a hair straightener peeking out. Seeing her was, for once, a relief. On her wedding day, a bride should have an entourage of old friends and family fussing over her, but I didn’t. This only made my small house feel quiet and empty. So, in the throes of my lonely morning, I reminded myself—it will never be like this again after today.

After today, I’ll have a family.

After today, I’ll belong to someone.

Mel interrupted my hopeful mutterings and a long-winded game of pretend in front of my full-length mirror.

“This is my husband, Ashe.”

“This is Marnie, my partner, my lover, my best friend, my wife,” said in my deep-man-voice.

I giggled over my game, remembering the sweet satisfaction I felt when he first introduced me as his girlfriend at a ritzy charity event—that’s how I knew I was his girlfriend. I couldn’t wait to hear him call me his wife.

When I opened the door to Mel, I was blushing. Gawking, too—seeing Mel was a surprise. We aren’t exactly friends.

“Mel, hi. What’re you doing here?”

“What’s it look like?” she bit back, eyes rolling like two bowling balls released down the lane at the same time. If she were a dog, she’d be a bulldog, gruff but warm under all those layers—not that I’ve ever gotten close to the warm parts. But she was good to my mother and let me sweep up around her salon for extra money sometimes when I was a teen. “It’s your wedding day, Marnie. Your mom would haunt me if I let you DIY it.”

My heart palpitated and sped up, hearing those words. “This isn’t your terrible way of telling me she’s dead, right?”

“No, but I see your curse ideas are alive and well,” she scoffed. “Why agree to a wedding on your birthday if you think you’re cursed?”

“Because… it’s what Ashe wanted.”

“Marina,” Grady’s voice stirs me awake again—no one ever calls me by my full first name. It’s always Marnie. But I like hearing him say it. It makes me feel important. We’re in the ambulance now, and it bounces down the road. It’s weird being in a vehicle without seeing the outside. I crave a window. My plants. My cats. “Marina.”