It was Friday, and the restaurant was bustling by the time Ryann got there with Stuart and his parents. Crowds of people were milling around outside as they waited for tables to open up. Stuart let his father Dick part the crowd for them, his grumpy expression and grumbling enough to get people out of their way without complaining.

Dick and Kathy Aldridge had arrived in Colorado earlier this afternoon. Stuart had asked Ryann to join him when he picked them up at the airport, too anxious to go on his own. She could understand this reaction. While Stuart’s folks had been far more understanding than her own when he came out, he wasn’t particularly close with them. He saw them once or twice a year for holidays and similar occasions, but that was, as far as she knew, the extent of their contact outside of a monthly phone call. He rarely mentioned them.

She had seen them on and off over the years since they were kids, at graduations and the occasional run-in visit in the city, but they weren’t what anyone would call warm. The airport reunion and the drive up here had been a perfect example. Both of them had given brief handshakes and exhibited typical self-centered behavior. Dick had groaned and moaned about the flight, the weather, and the taxi ride to the airport in New York and hadn’t mentioned the wedding at all. Kathy had spent most of the drive talking to her about her gardening club, never asking a single question about her or Stuart or the wedding.

Maddie was waiting just inside the restaurant by the hostess stand, and her face broke into a stunning, wide smile when she spotted Ryann. Maddie was dressed, for once, in something other than flannel, spruced up a bit for the occasion. She wore a nice, blue, light-wool suit. The jacket was open over a gray silk shirt, and Ryann was pleased to note she had three unfastened buttons at her neck, showing off her delicious collarbones and her muscular, tan throat. Her ankles were bare above smart, shiny oxfords that matched her shirt. Her hair had been styled into a smart pompadour of swirling golden locks.

Maddie scanned up and down her dress. It was a tasteful and somewhat casual blue-and-gray affair in wool—a bit stodgy for a celebration, but not as formal as most of her business wear. Maddie stepped forward and pulled her into a long, very sweet kiss.

“I missed you,” Maddie said, her voice low, almost inaudible in the din of the crowd.

She swallowed, hard, against the rising heat in her chest and nodded eagerly. “Me, too.”