I look up from my phone to see Willa grinning down at me. She towers over me on a normal day, but when you add in five inch heels, I need a ladder to meet her eyes.

“I was just… adding to my Instacart order.”

“Damn, those delivery fees must really get you going,” she laughs.

“On the contrary,” I say. “It’s the free delivery promo codes that do it for me.”

“Okay, I feel that,” she says. “You planned a really amazing party.”

I smile. “Thanks, I just played a small part.”

“I’ve been coming to these things for, like, ever and there has never been a cupcake bar,” she says. “That was all you.”

“I mean, I take dessert pretty seriously.”

“As everyone should,” Willa laughs.

She talks my ear off about how Ollie is a stage-five clinger and how she not-so-secretly misses him. The only reason she hasn’t caught a flight back to London is because she doesn’t want to miss Lily’s first Christmas.

To be young and in love!

As if I’m not young and kinda in love.

Willa eventually ditches me when she gets a call from Ollie, so I find myself standing at the crêpe station with a group of children, who are all somehow taller than me. I hold an empty plate against my chest as I wait patiently for my turn. I take a quick sweep of the room, mostly to make sure Levi isn’t anywhere near me.

He’s not.

But I do see Bree sneak off, her metallic gold dress reflecting off the Christmas lights. We haven’t spoken since she stormed out of the children’s hospital. She called in sick yesterday and today.

I’m trying to pretend it doesn’t bother me, but it does. All I ever wanted was to be her friend. And I thought we were… for a while. I’m still not sure what happened, but I have a hunch that it runs deeper than my relationship with Asher.

“Olivia,” Ana’s voice is rushed and distant, like she’s not really here. “Have you seen Asher?”

“He ran back to the office.”

“Oh, okay,” she says. “When you see him, can you let him know I’m looking for him?”

“Of course.”

She looks distressed and that’s not good for pregnancy, so I take my two Nutella crêpes and head to the exit after begging the caterer for some aluminum foil.

After spending the past few days sulking about my short spout of unemployment, I’m happy to be back in the chaos of last-minute shoppers. I offer smiles to those who bump into me. I stop to admire the storefronts. Maybe, just maybe, I’m trying to delay my arrival to the office.