Page 19 of My Best French Wedding

“What’s this about a castle?” Hildy looked from Fiona to Maude, skipping over Walter as if he didn’t exist.

“It was hidden in the forest,” Maude began, with the practiced air of someone who had told this story a hundred times. “The trees grew up around it until everyone forgot it was there. I’ve been overseeing the restoration of the grounds. It’s something of a passion project.”

Hildy nodded as if Maude was speaking her language. Walter guessed she must be thinking ofLife, Styledas her castle.

“Maude named it Château Fiona, because I’m going to be the first one ever to get married there!” Fiona’s expression fell. “Only Maude made me promise not to tell anyone so it wouldn’t spoil the big reveal, even thoughshegets to spill to whoever she wants.”

“I only told Walter,” Maude protested.

If he hadn’t been watching so closely, Walter might have missed Hildy’s eye twitch.

“If there’s one thing he loves, it’s a castle.” Someone who didn’t know her might have believed Hildy was making polite conversation, but Walter recognized the sound of an incoming grenade. “I bet he’s justbouncingwith excitement.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lied.

8Walter

ONE YEAR AGO

MILFORD, Del.—In his idealistic youth, Walter had envisioned a journalistic career that made a difference: exposing corruption, holding polluters accountable, bringing medical advancements to light. Nowhere in that list of Pulitzer-worthy investigative series had he predicted covering the Dark Carnival–themed wedding of two crypto bros.

The setting—on the grounds of an abandoned fertilizer plant in Delaware—would have been creepy enough without the truckloads of dead leaves that had been brought in for the occasion. Walter had not previously been aware that autumn foliage was available out of season, especially in this quantity, but according to the wedding designer, the leaves were a crucial element of the Macabre Attraction aesthetic.

“It’s that crunch underfoot, like desiccated insect bodies,” she’d explained, with the air of someone who expected to be quoted in print. “Enhancing the awareness of decay and mortality.”

Certainly, the people in graffiti-covered hazmat suits wielding electric leaf blowers added to the apocalyptic mood. To each their own, Walter reminded himself, fighting to keep his balance as the world shifted beneath him. The bouncy castle had seemed like a less disturbing option than any of the rides, much less thefun house, plus it would be hard for any of the cyberpunk stilt-walkers to follow him inside.

Technically it was more of a bouncy maze, with one inflatable leading to another. To the fleet of strobe-equipped drones zooming overhead, it probably looked like a quivering subdivision. He glanced at his watch, making a silent bargain with himself. If no one came through in the next five minutes, Walter would venture back outside. Until then, he would sit… if not quite still, then almost stationary.

There was a telltale jerk beneath him the instant before a black-clad figure stumbled into view. Walter was about to announce his presence when the person removed their beanie, and a halo of curls spilled free.

“Hildy?”

She bounced to face him, landing in a half crouch with her arms extended.

“Are you here to rob someone?” Walter asked, taking in her head-to-toe black Lycra.

“I left my tutu in the car. With the glowsticks.” Hildy wobbled closer. “Nice vest, by the way. Wouldn’t have pegged you as a purple person.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Like the fact that wearing a purple-and-lime striped “waistcoat” had been a condition of his attendance because the grooms didn’t want anyone to “adulterate the vibes.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re very complex.” It would have sounded more cutting if she hadn’t delivered the line while swaying like a drunken sailor.

“Is that why you’re stalking me?”

She swayed toward him, and then back again. “You wish.”

“Don’t tell meyou’recovering this wedding.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because it doesn’t seem like your kind of scene.”

“Delaware?”

“All of it. Not exactly a Tiffany’s-and-champagne crowd. Besides, don’t you have minions you can send to do your bidding?”

Hildy gave a hop of outrage. “I don’t haveminions.Our staff is ateam. The kind that doesn’t bail on me at the last minute.”