She would have sneaked out without speaking to Ivy at all if her friend hadn’t spotted her and called out, “Shay, wait. I need to talk to you about the wedding.”

Ivy got rid of the salesman and Richard in record time and all but dragged Shay into her office. It was disturbingly neat, that office.

“How have you been, Shay? Good heavens, I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“I’ve been…fine.”

Ivy’s gaze was level. “You don’t look fine. Is everything okay?”

“Please don’t start, Ivy. I get enough analysis from Mitch and Alice.”

Ivy grinned and lifted both hands, palms out. “Say no more.” She sat down in the chair behind the desk and Shay took a seat on the sofa and it all seemed strange. It was amazing that a person could jog along in the same rut for six years and then suddenly find herself living a whole different life. “When can you work in a fitting for your dress?”

Shay stared blankly for a moment and then realized that Ivy was talking about the gown she would wear as a bridesmaid in her friend’s wedding. “Flexibility is my middle name,” she said awkwardly. “Name a date.”

“How about tomorrow night, at my apartment? Bring Hank and Alice and we’ll have supper after the sewing fairies close their little tufted boxes and steal away into the night.”

Shay smiled, hoping that she didn’t look forlorn. “I think I can collar Hank for the occasion, but Alice has a big date with a knitting-needle salesman.”

That brought a grin from Ivy, though her eyes were serious. It was obvious that she wanted to ask how things were going with Mitch. Shay was grateful that she didn’t. “How’s the catering business?”

“Hectic,” Shay replied without thinking. She felt foolish, sitting there in Ivy’s office when she should have been in her own, working. “Do you like your new job?”

Ivy smiled pensively. “Most of the time, I thrive on it.”

“And the rest of the time?”

Ivy glanced toward the office door, as if to make certain that it was tightly closed, leaned forward and whispered, “Shay, I think—I think—”

“What, Ivy?”

“I think I’m pregnant,” Ivy answered in a low rush of words, and it was impossible to tell whether she was happy or not.

Shay knew what she felt, and that was plain, old-fashioned envy. “Have you discussed this with Todd?”

Ivy nodded. “He’s thrilled.”

“Are you thrilled, Ivy?”

“Yes, but I’m not looking forward to telling my mother. She’ll have a fit, because of the white dress and everything.”

I should have such a problem, Shay thought. “Don’t worry about your mother, Ivy. Just enjoy the wedding and take things as they come.”

Ivy started to say something but the telephone on her desk began to buzz. Shay mouthed a goodbye and left, feeling even more bereft than she had before she’d arrived. Her life was in limbo and she didn’t know which way to turn or how to go on. She wanted to go to Mitch, but that would have been a weak thing to do, so she drove around until it was time for Hank to get out of school.