Whenever Elizabeth discussed the upcoming wedding, I often felt guilty, as though no matter how much I thanked her for planning and paying for it, and no matter how much enthusiasm I tried to muster, none of it was good enough. I suspected that she didn’t like me. Dare I say, maybe even hated me.

And all my suggestions and ideas for the wedding were pushed aside… How dare the peasant bride have an opinion, right?!

I wasn’t joking that day at the restaurant when I suggested the gazebo. I did love our new farmhouse, and the thought of having a small ceremony in my own mother’s plain white dress with feet bare was appealing.

But I didn’t want to disappoint Asher, and I certainly didn’t want to disappoint his overly critical mother.

“Hey. Don’t worry. Go! Have fun. You deserve this weekend. It’s yours to celebrate,” Asher said, shaking me out of my worried thoughts.

“Okay. If you insist,” I sighed. Although, he and I both knew, there was no way of getting out of New Orleans either. My best friend Mara had planned the bachelorette party; like Elizabeth, Mara wasn’t opposed to using guilt and pressure to get her way.

Truthfully, I was excited to hang out with Mara. And the others… mostly. I’d never been to New Orleans and the thought of celebrating for a few days with friends in an authentic Greek Revival in the Garden District was too exotic to resist. It would be nice to get away for a few days, from the mess and stress of packing, from the wedding jitters and constant questions and answers from the wedding planners…

I needed a break from it all. The engagement, the home-buying process, the move—it was all too much for my historically fragile mental health.

Asher led me in through the back door, nudging me toward our bedroom to pack for the trip. “I’ll make coffee and eggs. Maybe some pork sausage…” Even though the man worked ungodly hours at the law firm, he was a phenom in the kitchen when he offered to cook.

“Sounds wonderful.” I kissed his cheek and drifted off to our room. My suitcase was under the bed, old and mostly unused. It had been years since I’d travelled anywhere.