The besotted actor pulled Edna away and I saw one more couple I’d brought together, Oswald and Lily. In a slate gray suit that intensified the silver-gray of his clear eyes, he looked like the successful professional he was. Lily was lovely in a shimmery lavender dress and a wrap around her ivory shoulders.

They held hands and came to me. “Best wishes,” Lily said. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you, Lily, and thanks for bringing the roses from the ranch.”

“I’m learning more about them,” she said. “Oh, and I’ve got some questions about planting for late summer blooms.”

“I’ll give you a call and we’ll talk.”

“Maybe you could come up sometime,” she said, and then Oswald glanced at her. “Or we can have a just-girls lunch until things are more settled.”

“That would be fine. I’ll save up my gardening catalogs for you.”

“Great. Excuse me, because I’ve got to try a margarita,” Lily said.

Then she left us, and I was staring at Oswald and remembering so many things.

My former fiancé looked solemn. “I’ve never seen you look so happy and beautiful. You got the wedding you wanted—the club, the music, the food, the dress …”

“This is more my style than a formal wedding. You know that.”

“Yes, but I kept hoping you’d change.”

“Funny, I kept hoping that about me, too. Ian once told me, ‘You’re Milagro de Los Santos, why would you ever want to be anything else?’”

“He was right. Goddamn Ian Ducharme. Before, during, and after, it was always Ian.”

“Why did you try with me, then, Oz?”

“Because you’re so damn hot and I was in love with you. Why did you try with me?”

“Because you’re the perfect partner for a sincere and serious young woman, but I’m not that woman,” I said with an apologetic smile. “I never knew when I met you what my life would be—secret cabals and vampire maniacs, werewolves and incubi, zombies and mad scientists.”

“And amazing sex,” Oswald said, and touched my hand. “We had a wild ride, didn’t we, babe?”

“It was astonishing,” I said. “Thank you, Oswald, for everything—for all the incredible memories.”

“If we could go back in time …”

“But we can’t,” I said.

One side of his mouth went up in the crooked smile that I would always love. “If we could, I would do it all over again, in a heartbeat, because I wouldn’t have missed any of it—I wouldn’t have missed you, Milagro, for anything in the world.”

“Someday, Oz, we’ll be the best of friends.”

“Sure we will, babe.”