She passed the bottle over to Cleo, the champagne-opening expert in the group. We shrieked as the cork popped, laughing at ourselves as Cleo filled our wineglasses with bubbly. Eventually we’d all own champagne flutes. But not today.

Cleo kicked things off. “A toast, to the last person any of us thought would get married first.”

“Hey!” Lola protested as Cleo gave her a knowing look. “I mean, no one is more surprised than me,” she conceded with a grin.

“We are so happy for you, Lo,” Cleo continued, her voice now serious.

“We are, and we love you more than anything in the whole world,” I said. “To Lola, and love.”

“And to friendship,” Lola added, lifting her glass. “To us.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Hayes

Lola and Perrine had rented out the entire floor of Adelphi and Willoughby, a buzzed-about new restaurant in Brooklyn. Walking in, I made my way to the bar—all white marble lit up with votives—and asked for a double scotch on the rocks, something to calm my nerves.

When Perrine and Lola had asked me to give a toast at their engagement party, I had said yes immediately. It had taken three different drafts and some coaching from Eleanor, but I’d finally landed on something that felt personal. I just hoped I’d be able to get the words out of my mouth in front of all these people.

In front of Franny.

I tried to push the thought of her out of my mind as I walked toward the crowded room, even though I was checking out every face I passed to see if it was her. Not that I didn’t like thinking about her. I visited her in my mind almost every night, remembered how just the touch of her body had made me ache with need, her soft skin against my hands as they tried to touch every inch of her. I imagined what it would be like to go to sleep next to her on a regular old work night, to wake up with her the next day, going about our mundane morning routines, together.

But tonight was about Perrine and Lola, and their love. It was time to put on my game face. So I grabbed some sparkling water from a passed tray of drinks and brought it over to where Eleanor and Henry were chatting with some of Perrine’s doctor friends.

“Hey,” I said as they opened up their circle to include me. “I got this for you in case you were thirsty.”

“Will you look at this guy?” Eleanor said, taking the glass of water out of my hand with an adoring smile. “The best work husband in the world.”

She turned toward me as Henry entertained the group with a story about the time he broke his leg while skiing with Perrine, Eleanor, and me.

“You look nice,” she said, eyeing my outfit.