This was when she should run—Dr. Kowecki would agree that flight was a legit response to all of this, right? But changing old habits was easier in theory back in Harbor City than it was when she was face to face with her mom. Yeah, the real reason why they said you couldn’t go back home again was because you automatically turned back into your preteen self around your family. And twelve-year-old Thea had been all about controlling the chaos by going along to get along.

Come to think about it, thirty-one-year-old Thea was, too.

Fine. She really wasn’t fine.

Still, did she yell about how ridiculous all of this was? Did she lift up her hoop skirt and make a run for it? Did she go ice maiden so her mom would reconsider that maybe all of this was a bit much?

No.

No.

Aaaaaaand no.

Instead, she turned around and headed back to the ultra-glam wedding party RV where she took the hat without rolling her eyes because that’s who she was in this family, the go-along-to-get-along introverted nerd sister. “Thanks, Mom.”

Bridesmaid dresses were often atrocious, this was an accepted part of being in a wedding, but Thea’s sister had taken the cliché and blown it up to Argentinosaurus sized. God knew the dress felt like it weighed the same two hundred thousand pounds as the one hundred and thirty-foot long sauropod. Of course, the Argentine lizard was in southwest Argentina and Thea was in Colter’s Hell, Wyoming.

As she marched toward the mouth of the Stinkingwater River Canyon, she couldn’t mistake the hint of rotten eggs hanging in the air from the hot spring’s natural sulfurous hot water vents. This was what happened when reality show producers had several million dollars riding on the cable TV celebrity wedding of the year and needed to dial up the drama by making everyone there miserable to make bank on their investment.

“Thea, honey,” her mom said as she came to stand beside her. “I know this is a bit much. But your sister, well, your sister is gonna do things her way, and you’re just so good about going with the flow and just making things work.”

Yeah, making it work for other people.

“Jackie just has her heart set on making this the perfect eighties-themed destination wedding like the TV people wanted, and I promised to do whatever I could to support her.” Her mom let out a blissful sigh and pressed her hand to her heart. “She is the star, after all.”