The wedding party and the sisters’ significant others were seated together. Their table was next to the parents’, which also included the one attending grandparent and some of Jai’s aunts and uncles. Nearby, Erin and Darcy sat with a group of other women, all of whom set off Ryann’s gaydar, and she recognized a few of Jai’s cousins here and there throughout the room. Otherwise, this was a room full of happy strangers. She was proud of Stuart for making so many new friends. Once again, she was struck by how much better things were for him here than in New York.

Everyone was given a glass of champagne or sparkling juice for the toasts later, and she decided to stick with her beer for the meal, as it went well with the steak medallions she’d chosen for her main course. Before the meal was set in front of her, she flashed back to the moment she and Maddie had chosen the food. They’d fought that day. She’d had to leave for London, and it had been difficult to tell Maddie about it. She glanced over at her, wondering if she was remembering that afternoon, too, but Maddie was talking to Jos’s husband, on her right. The two of them were laughing so hard they weren’t even making any noise—all squeezed up on themselves, mouths wide open, eyes pinched shut. Jos was staring at them, unamused, and when she spotted Ryann watching them, she shrugged.

“It wasn’t that funny.”

Jos’s husband—Bill? Bob?—clapped a hand on his wife’s shoulder and laughed even harder, sucking in great breaths, only to laugh some more.

“Lawyer joke?” she asked Jos.

Jos laughed. “Basically. I was just telling them about a client. He’s suing a lightbulb company for getting one stuck in his ass.”

She couldn’t help her own bark of laughter, and soon the three of them were in near hysterics, Jos watching them with one eyebrow raised. Others at the table and the tables around them turned their way, which only set one or more of them off again.

“Ooooh,” Maddie said, wiping her eyes. “Damn, that’s funny.”

“If you like ass jokes,” Jos said, and Ryann nearly choked on her beer.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jos continued. “I won’t say ass again.”

“Thank you.” Maddie picked up her silverware. “I’d like to actually eat something.”

They ate in relative silence, Ryann occasionally eavesdropping on one of the other sister’s conversations but not really joining in. Despite her continued attempts to push the intrusive thoughts away, her heart dropped every time she thought about tomorrow. She could hardly glance Maddie’s way, afraid, suddenly, that she would start crying.

You got yourself into this, she told herself. Suck it up.