I took great care in choosing my outfit today. Since I didn’t know what kind of person I’d meet—what he’d like best—I had no choice but to dress to my own tastes. I knew this would be the right move: Grandpa Ray loved Gloria exactly as she was, too. I have on my favorite jeans, a sweetly feminine blouse, my black leather jacket that feels like a second skin, a printed silk scarf swirled with red to match my lips and nails, and Gloria’s own pearl bracelet, the one she had given me on my eighteenth birthday.

The woman washing her hands in the adjacent sink eyes me curiously. She’s dressed casually in leggings and a T-shirt; her face is bare and her hair is in a lopsided ponytail.

“Hot date?” she asks, grinning.

I can’t help but beam. “Something like that, yeah.”

I finally take a seat at Gate 53. My knee bounces as I open the family group text, catching up on the chatter. Our parents secretly traveled from Westchester and New York City to Maine already. Rae thinks she’s there to visit friends who settled down in Portland.

Has it happened yet???? Rae wrote in our group chat with Shireen, our best friend since we were babies in playgroup together.

As inseparable kids, we called ourselves the triplets. Shireen always felt more like family than a friend; we were constantly helping ourselves to snacks straight out of each other’s kitchens. Even after we scattered to different colleges, the three of us reunited for a study abroad semester in Paris (Rae had wanted to go to Buenos Aires, but Shireen wanted to practice her French and I wanted to live in the fashion capital of the world—we out-voted her two to one). These days, Shireen works in the New York office of a French executive search company. She’s the only friend we’ve told about Gloria’s gift.

Wishing you good luck, not that you need it. Whoever this man is doesn’t know how ridiculously lucky he is to have you in his life.

Ahhhhhhhhhh

How are you feeling?!

Nervous. No sightings yet.

He’ll show up. And if not, *I’ll* marry you.

We’ve had this contingency plan in place ever since the Kyle Washington fiasco. She was dumped by Isaac Berman the same week.

Love you.