“It’s fine, Ruby. You don’t need to ask my permission to spend money.”

“Right. Guess it’s a habit. Anyway, it’ll definitely be worth it. I booked in a whole day of pampering and indulgence. I invited someone along too. My cousin, Brooke. I found out she lives here now, so I reached out to her.”

“Good for you,” Yvonne said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her the truth about our arrangement. I’ll keep up the charade with her too.” Ruby looked at Yvonne’s face, frowning. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m still waking up, that’s all,” Yvonne lied. “Some coffee will help.”

“All right. I need to get going, but I’ll be back this afternoon.”

“I’ll be out most of the day too. Maid of honor business with Madison.”

“Sounds like fun. I’ll see you later.” Ruby smiled at Yvonne before leaving the room.

As soon as Ruby was gone, that sense of dread came over Yvonne again. What was wrong with her? Was she sick? She felt like she’d been sucked into a black hole. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed, but she’d promised Madison she’d help her with some last-minute wedding planning.

A cup of coffee, a shower, and a short cab ride later, Yvonne knocked on the door to Madison’s apartment. After a few seconds, a bubbly redheaded woman answered the door. Blair, Madison’s fiancée.

“Yvonne, hi.” Blair smiled. “Come on in.”

Yvonne greeted her and followed her inside.

“I’m about to head out, but Madison is around here somewhere.” Blair led Yvonne into the lounge room. “Have a seat. By the way, it was fun meeting Ruby at Lilith’s the other night. Are you bringing her to the wedding?”

Yvonne sat down. “I don’t know yet.”

“She’s welcome to come. We can make room for her. You know, the two of you should come over for dinner sometime.”

Yvonne made a noise of assent as Blair continued. Yvonne wasn’t in the mood to chat. Although she liked Blair, the woman’s bubbly enthusiasm was too much for Yvonne right now. She simply couldn’t shake the dark mood she was in.

A minute later, Madison entered the room, a cup of coffee in her hand. “Yvonne, you’re here.”

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Blair said. “Have fun.” She planted a kiss on Madison’s cheek before bouncing toward the door.

Madison took a seat next to Yvonne. “Thank you for agreeing to help out. There’s still so much to do. Who knew weddings were so much work?”

“It’s no problem,” Yvonne murmured.

Madison set her coffee down, frowning. “Is something the matter?”

Yvonne shook her head. “Everything’s fine.”

“Yvonne, you know you can’t lie to me. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, okay?” Yvonne closed her eyes for a moment, drawing in a breath. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just woke up feeling… off.”

“Off how?”

“It’s hard to explain. It’s like I spent the whole night drinking and now I have a dreadful hangover. Except, I didn’t drink a thing last night.”