Cherisse grinned. It was true. Ava and punctuality didn’t go hand in hand, but she was good at charming her way out of being bawled at every time. One of the many ways they differed. Ava, younger by three years, taught at a primary school and had managed to snag a rich fiancé—who was sweet and totally in love with her sister, but yeah, still rich—which didn’t hurt. Cherisse would turn twenty-nine before her sister’s wedding and was single with no prospects in sight, a thing their mother kept harping on. Hopefully, with the wedding coming up in a few months, their mother would be too busy to hassle her about her man-less state for a while.

Her work took center stage these days. She aimed to position herself as one of the go-to pastry chefs on the islands. She hadn’t grown Sweethand overnight; it had taken work, and there was still room to grow. If she sometimes got that twinge of loneliness, she curbed it immediately with a sugary treat or three. The time it took to craft her creations took her mind off everything just as much as the actual act of eating them did.

She tugged back on the ends of Ava’s hair, where it brushed her shoulders. “Now, you gonna tell me why I didn’t know about Keiran King being Eric’s best man?”

Ava looked a little sheepish, whiskey-brown eyes not quite meeting Cherisse’s. “I knew how you’d react. You two take this hissing at each other to the extreme. It’s been years, you both need to get over this always poking at each other. Plus, Eric’s one of his best friends.”

“I don’t poke,” Cherisse huffed. “And since when is Eric even Keiran’s best friend? I thought that was Scott?” She remembered Keiran and Scott being inseparable. She supposed Eric had sort of been in the mix too, but she’d never really noticed them hanging out so much.

“I said one of. You know Scott’s his number one, but Eric and Scott are giant nerds, so of course, they all got closer.” Ava hooked her arm with Cherisse’s, her bronzy-brown skin glowing next to Cherisse’s tawny complexion. Damn, she needed to hit the beach soon, get her glow on like Ava. “He’s Eric’s choice, and you’re mine, so you’re both going to have to deal with it.” Ava chewed her lip, and Cherisse braced for whatever Ava was about to drop next. “Plus, we decided on a joint bachelorette/bachelor party, so the both of you will have to figure out how to get along,” Ava rushed out, the words stringing so close together Cherisse couldn’t be sure she’d heard right.

She blinked at Ava. “What?”

Ava grinned. “You know, I just realized, this is the first time in a long while you’ve both been on the island at the same time.”

“This isn’t funny. You can’t.”

“It’s my wedding, and I can do what I want to,” she sang.

Cherisse wanted to scream. Ava wasn’t doing this out of malice and probably had a good reason for the joint party, but the combined event meant she had to work with Keiran to plan and pull it off. She envisioned this ending with her conking him over the head with a rolling pin or something. No good could come of this.