The world seemed right, her happiness still a fuzzy remnant making waking up less of a chore and more of a good start to two blessed days off.

“Oh, Justine. I’m so glad I caught you.”

“What time is it?”

“Um, nine o’clock. Sorry, nine-fifteen.”

“In the morning?”

“Very funny, dear.” Her mother sighed. “I’ve been waiting on you forever, and I just had to make the commitment. I’ve added Cal as your plus-one for the wedding. We needed even numbers, you know. Now you—”

“You can’t,” Justine blurted, so opposed to being made to do something she didn’t want to—at the ripe age of twenty-nine, for God’s sake.

“Honey, we’ve told you over and over again you need someone to accompany you. We’re all coupled up, and it would be odd if you weren’t. Now, if you’d rather go with Nick, we can fit him in instead. The girls and I thought you seemed more comfortable with Cal, but if—”

“I already have a date.” She couldn’t stop the lie from tumbling from her mouth.

“Oh?”

Too late to take it back now. “Yes. We met and hit it off, but I was waiting to make sure he had the date free before letting you know.”

“Well that’s wonderful.” Her mother’s voice warmed. “Who is it?”

Names raced through her mind, but only one made any kind of sense. “His name’s Xavier. He’s a really nice guy, and we’ve been taking it slow while dating.”

I’m going to hell for this.

“Does Xavier have a last name?”

Her mind raced. “Hanover.”

“Xavier Hanover. Perfect. Does he have any dietary restrictions?”

“Huh?”

“For the meal, Justine. We have to get the meals settled by tomorrow. Though I’m sure we can fiddle a bit with the catering with the prices we’re paying,” Jeanine muttered.

“Uh, what I had. The steak, I think.”

“Okay. He will be dressed appropriately, I assume.”

“A suit and tie is fine, Mom. He doesn’t need a tux.”

“He’s not in the wedding party, so no. But I don’t want him to be outshone too much by my beautiful girl.”

Justine wanted to embrace the compliment, but it felt more like a warning. She could never be sure Jeanine meant to make Justine feel good or to make herself feel good for having given birth to such beauty.

“Okay, honey. That’s all I needed. Have a nice weekend! I’ll call if we need you to do anything else.”

The call disconnected, and Justine lay in bed, aware she’d just made a colossal mistake. She went through the motions of showering and cleaning up, the mint of her toothpaste barely there as she realized the impact of what she’d done.

Now she’d have to drag Xavier into her family drama... That was if he’d even go.

So nervous, she had no idea what to do about Xavier as she dressed in the first thing she dragged out of her closet, a pale blue tee-shirt dress, perfect to run a few errands. She worked on getting her head on straight while she dithered over how to break the news to Xavier.