“Shut up, Piper!”

“No, I don’t think I will,” Piper said. “Since we’re spilling the tea, I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to know that he said you reminded him of a praying mantis, an unwieldy freak of nature.”

“You’re lying,” Trisha accused. She was furious. Her chest was heaving and I wondered if she was going to take a swing at Piper with the wine bottle. Piper must have had the same thought because she neatly stepped out of range.

“I’m not,” Piper said. “Lying is your specialty and now everyone knows it. Do you honestly think anyone here believes that Dooney would have had an affair with Sunny?”

“He did!” Trisha snapped.

“No, he didn’t,” Piper said. With every word, she became the force of nature she was known to be. She stood taller, her chin lifted, and she glared down at Trisha. “You should be ashamed of yourself. If Sunny is pregnant, it’s not with Dooney’s child, and it’s her business and hers alone. You had no right to cause such a scene, using her to humiliate me because you’re consumed with jealousy.”

“I’m not!” Trisha insisted.

“Please.” Piper’s gaze ran over her in a look of such scathing contempt, I was surprised Trisha didn’t blister with third-degree burns. “If anyone is a suspect in Dooney’s murder, it’s the woman who’s been carrying a torch for him who just can’t bear to watch him marry another. Now take your lies and get out of my sight.”

Trisha must have seen something truly scary in Piper’s expression because she put down the bottle of wine and her glass on the nearest table and headed for the exit, sobbing as she went. Piper’s parents rose from their seats and flanked her, and the three of them left the dining room as one. As soon as the door shut behind them, it took only half a beat for the room to erupt into chatter.

“I don’t think I’ve ever endured a more uncomfortable social situation in my entire life,” Andre said.

“Me either,” I said. “And I’m the party crasher.”

“What? Did you say you’re the party crasher?” one of the May cousins asked.

Uh-oh.

I laughed. It sounded forced. “I’m just teasing him.”

I needed to shut this down immediately. I hadn’t spent the past few years trying to distance myself from the viral video that had made me infamous only to have it come back to haunt me because of my own big mouth.

“But you’re American and a redhead,” the woman said. “I thought you looked familiar.”

She was in her twenties with mousy brown hair, glasses and a slight overbite.