Laila was frantically waving to her from downstage. Frankie had been discombobulated after the kiss and Mimi’s arrival and had lingered in the shower too long, and only just made the pre-wedding photos. She and Laila hadn’t had a proper chance to debrief.

“There you are!” Laila said, pulling her into a hug once Frankie ascended the steps to the stage. “Where were you all day? I tried you four times.”

Frankie sighed. She hadn’t even bothered to listen to her voicemail once she charged her phone. What she wanted was fewer people talking to her, needing her, not more.

“How much time do you have?” Frankie said. “Because the story keeps going and going.” She flopped a hand and grimaced.

“How’s your head?”

“You know about my head?” Frankie jolted. This was new information, and new information was exactly what Frankie needed. She’d pored over her own recollection, and after Abel Rink and the Zamboni debacle, most of it remained fuzzy, just out of reach.

“I mean, I saw you at Lemonhead.” Laila frowned. “Were you that wasted?”

“I saw you at Lemonhead?”

“Yes? You were at the entrance with Gregory and Ezra, and you were going on and on about the injustice of being paired with him, and couldn’t you join my team and who would have to know?” She paused, her eyes casting sidelong glances around them. “Um, is there a reason that Ezra is staring at you?”

Frankie began to turn.

“No, don’t look don’t look don’t look!” Laila said.

Too late. Frankie found Ezra’s eyes through the thicket of guests, or he found hers, but it didn’t really matter. He held her gaze and then scowled. He glanced to his right, where Mimi was distracted by a conversation with someone Frankie didn’t recognize, her hands animated. Then Ezra mouthed: You! and jabbed a finger quickly in her direction.

Frankie flung open her own hands as if to say: What? Me?

Ezra held up a palm: Five minutes. Then he jerked his thumb toward backstage. There. He steeled his jaw and popped his eyes as if to say, Do not make me drag you back there, and Frankie sighed and mouthed, Fine. Then to Laila, she said: “As I was saying.”

“Uh,” Laila started, then stopped. “What exactly happened last night?’

“What did you see happen last night?” Frankie asked, like she was a guest star on Law & Order. It occurred to her that she really needed to start spending less time alone in hotel rooms.

“So you really don’t know? This isn’t, like, a rhetorical question?” Laila looked delighted at this turn of events, like a romantic mystery meant to be solved was exactly what this wedding needed.

“I mean, I know.” She paused. “Some of it, I know.”

“I was only in and out of Lemonhead,” Laila said. “Oh, we won by the way! Did you know that?” When Frankie looked confused, she said, “The scavenger hunt, we won!”

“Oh. Ok. Congrats.”

“Lord,” Laila laughed. “I figured the most competitive person I know would at least be impressed.”