“Darlin’, don’t go,” Aunt Tilley pleaded.

“Yes, please don’t,” Mrs. Thaysden added. “Having y’all back home has been too wonderful for words. We don’t want to go back to just us old ladies.”

“Well, you’ll still have Parker for a while,” I interjected as cheerily as I could muster. And Mason. But I had a feeling no one wanted to be reminded of that. I tried to keep the tears from coming to my eyes. I knew Mom would see them, and I didn’t want her to. I wanted to be brave. I wanted to be strong. And I felt neither right now.

“Parker’s going back to Palm Beach right away, sweetheart,” Mom said. “Didn’t he tell you?”

Now I felt even worse if possible. He had to go back there and tell his father-in-law that there wouldn’t be a baby. Poor Parker. The man truly couldn’t catch a break.

Parker was going back to Palm Beach. I was going to New York, to a fresh start, a new life. I had run from Palm Beach. Now I was running from Cape Carolina. And it occurred to me that, pretty soon, I was going to be all out of places to hide.

Greer DECEMBER 15, 2012

IN JOURNALISM, AND IN LIFE, you must always know who your competition is. You have to study the competition, make sure you’re staying a step ahead. I have never met Amelia Saxton, but, judging from the way Parker talks about her, I’m realizing that maybe I should. Or, at least, that I should work very hard to make sure Parker isn’t around her. I’m actually a little relieved she can’t come to the wedding. He can say what he wants to, make jokes and fun, but men are the most transparent creatures in all the world, and it isn’t hard to see that he has the hots for her.

And, yeah, he’s probably right that she was just always the older girl next door, that she would never give him the time of day. And maybe it’s the phenomenon like how once you want a house—even if it’s been on the market for five years—suddenly everyone starts wanting it. Or, at least, you’re paranoid that everyone wants it. But now I am certain, totally sure, that every woman in the world wants my man. Why wouldn’t they? He is perfection.

I know that Parker only wants me. Or maybe Amelia and me. But, either way, I will be watching that girl very, very closely.

Elizabeth TRUMP CARDS

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU two?” Tilley hissed as soon as the door closed behind Amelia. “I thought you had a plan. I thought this was all worked out.”

“Well, we thought it was, too,” Liv said. “Obviously.”

Tilley stood up, an impassioned rant coming on. “Those two gave me something to look forward to again. Babies. Weddings.” She cocked her head to the side. “In the wrong order, of course, but even still, they did. They made me feel like life was taking a turn for the better.”