“There’s a nice scotch with your name on it,” Maddie said, steering her from behind. They paused to put Ryann’s heavy coat on the back of a chair before continuing to the far side of the room that featured a bar cart with a couple of open bottles of liquor and wine. It was quieter here, though only just.

“We can serve ourselves?” Ryann asked, picking up the scotch. It was, she was pleased to see, one of her favorites.

“They have a bottle service for the night. You can order beer, too, from the bar out front.”

“Nice.” She poured herself more than her usual draught of scotch and took a long pull, eyes closed.

“So how was the airport?” Maddie asked when she opened her eyes.

When they’d parted late this morning, they’d planned to come here together after Maddie spent a few hours in the studio and picked up a change of clothes. But Stuart had called Ryann and asked her to go with him to get his folks. It had taken so long that she’d lost her afternoon with Maddie, and the wedding tension had returned, tenfold, with Stuart’s folks here.

“Terrible,” she said, pulling Maddie closer by her lapels, and Maddie obliged her by leaning down into a solid kiss. She lost herself in Maddie’s lips, their torsos suddenly flush, her mind staticky and hazy with the sensation of sinking, drifting away.

“Well, well, well,” a voice said, and once again she and Maddie sprang apart. Jos stood there, one hand on her hip, every ounce the high-powered lawyer in her severe black designer clothing. Julia stood behind her, a little smug too.

“Oh, shut it, Jos,” Maddie said. She was still smiling slightly, and Ryann was pleased to see a little color in her cheeks, too.

“You two together are not even slightly a surprise,” Jos said.

Maddie frowned at her. “Can it.”

“Don’t be a jerk, Jos,” Julia added.

She held her hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay. I’ll let it go. But this,” she motioned between them, “was inevitable.”

Ryann and Maddie shared a look, and Ryann smiled to show that she wasn’t offended. Maddie grinned back at Jos.

“Yeah. Maybe you’re right. It feels like that—meant to be.”

Jos pouted. “Still—it’s a little sad. I wanted to flirt with you guys at the wedding.”

“Oh?” Julia asked. “And what would your husband think of that?”

Jos snorted. “I don’t care.”

Ryann laughed without meaning to, and Jos winked at her. Moments later, Maddie was called for, and she left after a quick parting kiss.

“You really have a catch there,” Julia said, watching her watch Maddie walk away.

“I know.”

“Good. Oh, say, before I forget,” Julia said, “I need you to come by this weekend for the final dress fitting.”