I’m sure there are a million and one logical reasons why I should be afraid right now—and maybe Sophie is currently holed up in the back room making a list of all of them—but I don’t feel that way. Forget that pre-wedding checklist. I just checked off the most important item of all. I’m fully aware that what Raj and I are about to do is unorthodox, to say the least, but I feel relieved to be taking this next step with a person I feel so comfortable around. I’m grateful that Raj and I are on the same page here. He knows that I don’t need a promise of forever. I only need a promise that we’ll take our relationship one day at a time.

Sophie and Jess emerge from the back of the shop with tentative expressions on their faces.

“You did it?” Sophie asks haltingly.

“They did it!” Jess shouts. “Look at them! Look at the lovebirds!”

Raj holds up my hand and kisses my Ring Pop. “We did it.”

Bewildered, I look from Raj to Sophie. “What?”

“I may have had some help getting into the shop while you were at lunch,” Raj admits. “And I needed someone to tell me your favorite flavor of Ring Pop.”

“I knew strawberry was your favorite,” Sophie says, sighing like this admission cost her a lot.

“But you were so—you were so negative,” I point out.

She shrugs. “You’re so far into this rabbit hole, I can’t imagine another way out. If this is what you want, so be it. He’s a nice guy.”

That’s as much of a ringing endorsement as I can ever expect from Sophie.

“Come sit and hang out here?” I offer Raj. “I’m just going through the pre-wedding checklist.”

“Sure,” he says. “Let me help.”

“Well, first, you can start by inviting your friends and family,” I point out.

He laughs. “You want to meet my parents?”

“It wouldn’t be a wedding without them, right?” I ask.

“I’ll see if they can make it,” he says, pulling out his phone.

I take a seat behind the counter with a newfound appreciation for the fact that this place might not be in jeopardy any longer.

• Chapter 29 •

I never imagined I’d scarf down a semi-stale bagel straight out of a paper bag on the morning of my wedding, but these days I’m learning it’s good to roll with the punches. So I’m marrying my boyfriend of nine days in a sham ceremony to save the fate of my company. Whatever. So I’m eating carbs on my wedding day, and I forgot my Spanx at home. Whatever. Carmen tosses me the bagel she picked up on her way over to the bridal suite at the Wythe Hotel; who am I to refuse food?