Page 35 of How to Ruin a Wedding

“No, you only say that it’sfoolishfor me to. I can read between the lines.”

“You’re one of the smartest, wittiest people I know,” Anders tells his sister. “There are no lines to read between.”

“Oh, shut up—”

“And there’s no need to worry about me disapproving anymore,” Anders interrupts. “Lucinda here has convinced me to let it go, that I should let you make your own decisions and support you along the way. I won’t try to talk you out of it anymore.”

“Shut up!” Valerie drops her knife and snatches my hand across the table. “I love you, you’re amazing. Can I call you my sister-in-law? I’m going to call you my sister-in-law. What are you doing tomorrow? I’m scoping out venues. You have to come.”

“Sure,” I say. “I can tag along. If you don’t mind.”

Valerie shoots up. “Do you like wine? Let’s drink wine.” She scurries off to the kitchen.

“If you can convince Uncle Anders to leave Valerie alone,” Olive begins, “can you convince Mom to buy me a phone?”

“Hush,” Bethany tells her while Valerie comes over with a glass for me. “So, Lucinda—”

“Lucy, please.”

“Lucy,” Bethany says, “Anders tells us you work in a publishing house in New York. How is that going for you? The travel you guys must do to see each other has to be taking a toll on you.”

This is the cover story Anders told me he gave to his family. We met at a book launch, I was marketing the title, and he did the cover for it. After we made small talk, we couldn’t stop thinking of each other. I place a hand on Anders’s arm. “Not at all; every time we reunite, all the exhaustion leaves my body.”

Valerie pours my wine. “Because I love you right now, I’m not going to mention how disgusting I find that statement.”

“So, how often do you guys get to see each other?” Bethany asks.

“Every two weeks,” Anders answers. “We take turns visiting each other.”

“John travels a lot for work, right?” I ask Valerie as she moves back to her seat, wineglass in hand. “As a management consultant. Is he going to settle down for a bit after the wedding?”

“We have a week in Croatia for the honeymoon before he has to travel again.”

“That’s lovely,” I say, sitting up straight, taking a sip of wine. “So, I’ve been dying to know how you two met? How did you know he was the one? Anders has been stingy with the details. All I know is they were best friends in college.”

Valerie sips her wine and smiles. “Okay, so it’s actually crazy. I’m all about signs, you know? They’re everywhere, but most people overlook them or brush them off as coincidences, déjà vu—but not me. I’m notso good at reading them, but I have this psychic I go to, and she has guided my life since I was twelve.”

Anders sighs, and Bethany asks Olive to pass her the wine.

“Boo to both of you,” Valerie says at the reactions. “Anyway, my psychic has always said four is my number. I always check the time and see fours, I ranked four hundred and forty-fourth in school, four times is all it takes for me to ask someone for something and they give it.”

Anders wraps his fingers around mine holding the wineglass. He lifts our hands toward his mouth and drinks, the bottom of his lip pressing against my pointer finger on the glass, sending a lining of fireworks in the pit of my stomach into a violent show. My throat dries as he places the remaining wine on the table and pulls away.

“So, I’m in this relationship with this guy for four months, and we break up on the fourth of April. Then, I ran into John on the fourteenth floor at this party, and we hit it off. We hook up that night—”

“Valerie!”

Valerie pokes Olive’s ear. “Erase that from your memory. Anyway, John was born April fourth, and it felt like fate. My psychic said that my thread of destiny has been pulling me toward him my whole life.”

“Right,” I say, ignoring Olive’s snickering. “That sure is something. So, do you still go to this psychic?” I ask, an idea forming in my brain.

If Valerie is into signs, the universe, and fate, I could try to warp their relationship from her perspective. Taina went through a yearlong astrology phase and spent every other sentence scolding me with “That’s so Aquarius of you.” I’m sure she can give some insight.

“Ugh,” Valerie groans, throwing her head back. “She died last year. So sad, for sure. But, like, I’m so lost without her. The last thing she told me was to cling to my love, so I haven’t found someone to replace her. I need to get this feeling, you know? To know who the right fit is.”

“Really?” I say, pulling my phone from my pocket and checking the time. I stretch out my words so they come out slow, almost slurred. “That’s. So. Interesting.”

I feel Anders’s eyes on me as I go on. “So. Special.”