She forced her feet to move toward Ally, who was running through the menu again with the servers. She also forced herself not to pay attention to the pair of eyes that followed her from the stage to the deck.

Eyes the color of chocolate pudding that made her heart do a backflip.

“What is wrong with you?” Ally took Louisa by the shoulders and turned her away from the rest of them. They walked a few steps toward the water.

“I’m afraid everyone will find out I have no idea what I’m doing. And when they find out, I’ll be wearing the equivalent of a grown-up prom dress.”

“You have every idea what you’re doing,” Ally said.

Why did Louisa sometimes need this reminder?

“People are starting to show up,” Ally said. “So pull yourself together.”

And that’s exactly what she did. She pulled herself together. She greeted guests, made snide yet funny remarks about getting their checkbooks ready, kept the staff on task, and managed to avoid running into Cody even once.

It wasn’t hard, after all. He seemed intent on taking up the same square of space off to the side, away from everyone else, and yet she (hardly) noticed that he was rarely alone back there. Between the other guardsmen and a steady stream of bubbly, beautiful women, Cody had plenty of company.

She was still angry, but at the moment she couldn’t remember why. She couldn’t deny there was a part of her that wanted to walk right up to him and act like nothing was wrong. How would it feel to joke with him about the fact that Mrs. Drummond had brought a tiny dog in her purse or that Martine Gullenbacher’s false eyelashes were flicking up at the edges like spiders at a hoedown?

But the part of her that wanted that laid-back, easygoing friendship with him was quickly put in its place by the part that finally did recall Cody’s harsh words toward her. If he thought she was trying to ease her guilty conscience, then he didn’t know her at all.

Or maybe he knew her too well, and that was really what had upset her.

A ball of angst wound itself up and curled into a comfy position inside her stomach like a kitten in front of a fireplace. If he was never going to forgive her, she wished he’d just leave. It would be easier to move on if she didn’t have to see him every day.

“You ready?” Ally was standing beside her, and she held a stack of cards. “These are all the fun facts about each Coastie. Some of them are cheesy—I’m not going to lie—but they’re cute, and I think the crowd will get a kick out of them.”