Antonia knew what she meant. The sisters took after their mother when it came to preparing for emergencies. For Diane, a rainy day meant your husband could up-and-die, leaving you with two growing daughters. They grew up learning how to be incredibly shrewd with money. Everything in Antonia’s apartment was bought secondhand or given to her from her mother. She accumulated her work wardrobe during well-timed, end of the season sales. Even Derek was excited to learn that she would come to the marriage with a significant savings and no student loan debt. Was this disaster her rainy day?

She met her sister’s gaze with a tremulous smile. “Should I just go?”

“What would your girl-character, Augusta, do?”

Maybe there is a chance. Antonia was buoyant with hope. Perhaps this was the time she needed to become reacquainted with the characters of her book. She could get Augusta through the next chapter of her life. If she was lucky, she could figure out how to get through the next chapter of her own life. But reality quickly crept back in. How could she leave with so many loose ends? There was a huge guest list waiting on a wedding that would never happen. She had to find another job. So many things needed to be handled.

“Look, if the answer is, yes, Augusta would go to Ireland by herself and write a book, then I will personally make sure that things here are in order.”

“It feels like I’m just running away from my problems.”

“Running away is different from running toward,” Octavia explained. “If you’re finally willing to make yourself happy, I would call this running toward something. Let’s face it, Wild Hare was on shaky ground for a while. Eddie was upset when I spoke to him this morning, but he wasn’t terribly shocked.”

“No, I suppose you’re right.”

“There’s nothing wrong with licking your wounds, Toni.”

“What about Mom? I don’t think I can talk to her right now.”

Octavia scoffed. “I’ll take care of her.”

She rolled her eyes before giving a small smile. Hope was inching its way back into her heart. “Are you sure you can handle the wedding stuff? Derek’s mom, all of it?”

“I’ve treated women like Derek’s mother for years. She suffers from narcissism just like her son,” Octavia said with a grin. “And if it makes you feel better, I’ll employ Eddie’s girlfriend. She’s got a type A personality that’s good for planning and dismantling weddings.”

“Yeah? You’ll do it?”

Octavia gave her a solemn stare. “I’ll only give you this non-wedding gift on two conditions.”

“What?”

“First, I need you to figure out what drew you to someone like Derek. You can give me the short answer, but you need to think about what you believe you’re lacking.”

Antonia groaned. There was a short answer and a long one, but she didn’t want to dig too deep so quickly after the destruction of her relationship. “I guess... I just thought I was punching above my weight. Derek was the kind of guy who would never look at me when I was in college and now that I’m thirty-three.” She rolled her eyes. “I thought someone like him wouldn’t wait for me much longer.”