Jai rolled his eyes. “We’re doing some of the other tasks ourselves, but we’re mostly working on Stuart’s show.”

“Your what?”

“I have an art show in May.”

She leaned forward, taking one of Stuart’s hands. “Really? You didn’t mention it.”

He squeezed hers back, now appearing excited. “I wanted it to be a surprise. But of course a bunch of things are due soon, and I’m in the middle of all the planning stuff with the people at the museum.”

“So you decide to get married in the middle of a major project,” she said, laughing.

“Exactly! I can’t make things easy on myself, can I?”

“You never have.”

“Anyway—you’re better at all that planning stuff than I am. You know how I am about making decisions.”

“You’re terrible. It took you two hours to choose a scarf that one time in Venice.”

Everyone laughed.

“That sounds like Stuart,” Jai said.

“Exactly,” Stuart said. “And you know me better than anyone, Ryann. You’ll know what I like. Again—I place my whole faith in you and Maddie here.”

“What are we in charge of?” Maddie asked.

Jai and Stuart shared a quick, almost guilty glance, before Stuart said, “Let’s talk about that later. We should move to the restaurant first. It’s down the street a bit. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m famished.”

“Sure,” Maddie said, standing up. “I could eat.”

“You can always eat,” Jai said, and she smacked his arm.

As they all gathered and donned their winter wear again, Ryann fought against a rising resentment. She didn’t like that silent exchange she’d witnessed between Jai and Stuart. She could read her friend entirely, and that flash of guilt meant that they’d given her and Maddie the bulk of the work. While she’d never been in a wedding before or planned one, she’d had friends get married in the past and understood how much effort it took to line things up. And last-minute like this was bound to make everything harder. While she’d been excited to join him here, and help where she could, she resented the idea that she’d likely be busy the whole time on the wedding and what she could do for the office from here.

Maddie whistled, her eyes roaming up and down Ryann’s body once she was dressed.

Ryann glanced down at her outfit. “What?”

“That coat is incredible. Is that cashmere?”

She fingered the lapel briefly and nodded.

Maddie whistled again, shaking her head.

“What?” she asked again.

“Nothing. I just don’t think I’ve ever seen one outside of a movie.”

She frowned, not sure what she implied. Despite the “incredible” comment, Maddie didn’t seem impressed per se. In fact, if Ryann had to guess, she almost seemed put off. Resentful? Jealous? Not quite, but something similar.

“Cashmere’s the best,” Ryann said.