“He isn’t home?”

“Working late.” The moment she said it, she wished she hadn’t. Alix missed nothing.

There was a pause and then the predictable question. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course.” There had been a time when Christy had shared everything with Alix, but that had changed the day she’d married Seb. It was the only time in their long friendship that she and Alix had been on opposite sides of an argument.

Don’t do it, Christy. Don’t marry him. How well do you really know him? He’s a player. Not the kind of guy who shares your dream of a life in the countryside with two kids and a dog. You’re making a mistake. It doesn’t matter that you’re pregnant.

Christy thought about that awful moment more often than she should. It wasn’t even as if they’d fought over it. Shaking and upset, she’d simply told Alix that she was wrong and that she was happy with her decision. She’d told herself that Alix had been looking out for her, that her concern had been driven by her own less-than-perfect home life, but the words had settled deep in her, like scar tissue.

They hadn’t talked about it again. When Alix had anxiously contacted her after the wedding to check if things were okay between them, Christy had reassured her that of course everything was fine. What was the point of resurrecting the conversation? What would that achieve? Nothing. It wasn’t as if they could undo what was done. Better to move on.

But it hadn’t been as easy to move on as she’d hoped. The words clanged along with her, like cans attached to the car of newlyweds.

When Alix came to stay, she found herself overdoing the happy-family routine. She made sure that everything was perfect and her smile huge. She was extra demonstrative toward Seb. Look how happy we are. Look how wrong you were.

She swiped her cloth over Seb’s desk and the top of his laptop, wishing she could forget that entire verbal exchange. When she was younger it had never occurred to her that her friendship with Alix would one day change. When they’d lain in the dark in her bedroom, talking into the night about everything from boys to babies, she’d thought to herself It’s always going to be this way. The discovery that an adult friendship came with complications had been an uncomfortable shock.

She picked up the wedding photo that Seb kept on his desk.

Staring at that photo, Christy felt a twinge of sadness. Unlike Holly, who mostly dreamed of being a scientist or an explorer, Christy had dreamed of weddings when she was little. Her wedding was meant to be the happiest day of her life but, as so often happened, it hadn’t turned out the way she’d planned.

There she was, wearing a dress that had skimmed her growing bump, and there was Alix with Zac, Seb’s closest friend, posing either side of them like bookends, each wearing the obligatory smile for the camera.