No, I’m not what Meemaw would call “fit for company.” But it's a good excuse to tell Waylon, “Someone’s at the door. Don't worry about me. I have no regrets about using all my pregnant wife points to get you to go. Say hi to Griffin, and call me after the crazy rich guy concert.”

To be fair, I'm not sure if Phantom Zhang, the liquor magnate, is actually crazy or not. But he’s paying Griffin an ungodly sum of money to sing at his brother’s gay wedding in Kentucky on the Glendaver estate for just a few people. So even though Waylon wanted to turn down the security gig when his rock star bestie called, I told him he had to go—just so he could tell me all about the whiskey dynasty estate and the mysterious triad member who’d married the elite whiskey heiress.

“Hold on, angel,” he says as I reach for my phone’s red end call button. “We need to talk about you getting some help.”

“Don't want to be rude to whoever’s at the door,” I answer—right before I'm rude to Waylon by hanging up.

I flush the toilet and throw back some mouthwash, hoping that's enough to cover the bad breath smell.

I open the door a few seconds later, and I'm shocked to find my best friend Sierra standing on the porch, wearing a mask and a pair of scrubs.

When Waylon gifted me with a phone after we got back to Angel Pond, the first person I called was Ant to make a tearful apology.

He forgave me in an instant.

“I’m just glad you’re okay, hermanita. As pissed as I was about that MC dude blackballing us for a minute, I gotta admit he was crazy into you. I don’t get like that over girls, but he seemed like he was all about protecting and loving you the way you deserve. So you’re okay, right? Happy? I don’t got to worry about you marrying some asshole who don’t respect you no more?”

Somehow it had never occurred to me that Ant was just as worried about me as I was about him this whole time. My stomach twisted with guilt. But it wasn’t the old guilt surrounding things neither of us could change. It was the kind of guilt that came with not realizing how special and unbreakable our bond truly was. No matter what, he’d always be my little brother, and I’d always be his hermanita big sister. And we’d always have each other’s backs.

“I’m great, Ant. You most definitely don’t have to worry about me. I’m so happy.” I assured him. But then I cringed when I had to tell him about the second wedding I hadn’t invited him to attend—this time at a courthouse in Cedar Rapids.