Sharon might be the most frighteningly versatile person I’ve ever met, pivoting seamlessly from telling me to straighten up and fly right to unleashing incredible mom energy on Béa. Hugs, reassurance, brushing imaginary fluff from Béa’s simple, gorgeous satin gown. I should take notes.
When Sharon gets to the part about the forgetful aunt, though, Béa balks.
“Non. Absolument non. How can Stéphane feel welcome in my family after that?”
“It’s funny inFour Weddings and a Funeral,though,” I whisper to the nearest bridesmaid.
“I don’t know that show,” she whispers back. “Is it new?”
God, I’m old.
“It’s the surprises that make weddings beautiful, honey.” Sharon takes Béa by the shoulders. “At my Christian ceremony, the priest reeked of whisky and rambled about dragons for a full ten minutes. Then I made an accidental dick joke during my speech. People still tell me and Kareem what a great time they had.”
“Dragons?” Béa asks, just as I say, “Dick joke?!”
“All true,” Sharon says. “Back me up, Liz. What do people remember about your wedding?”
Oh no.
“Um… my wedding was not the kind with funny mistakes, ha ha,” I say weakly.
Béa blanches.
“I said, back meup,Liz.” Sharon gives me a look like she and her kind have dominated the oceans for fifty million years and I’m about to discover where I stand in the food chain.
“It was… wild,” I hedge, thinking fast.Breathe in. Breathe out. Improvise.“Tobin’s mom cried more than I’ve ever seen a human cry.” True. Béa doesn’t need to know the reason why.
“My sister and her husband got, uh, crazy on the dance floor in a way that no one wanted to see.” I’m implying they were dancing rather than announcing their divorce, but who’s counting.
“And Tobin’s best man, Phil, got super messy”—when Tobin’s father picked up Phil’s girlfriend—“and we had to find someone else to give the groom’s toast at the last minute.”
“And everything turned out okay? You two are happily married? With happy families?”
My neck itches like wildfire. “Uhhh, family is complicated. You know?”
“Tabarnak!” Béa wails, mouth crumpling. “Myfamily is complicated!”
Sharon sends a furious elbow to my ribs.
“Whoops. That’s not what I meant!” I almost yell. “I meant to say no one can ruin your wedding if you don’t let them.” Amber’s tearstained voice floats to the surface of my consciousness like rotten seaweed.Don’t look at me like your husband’s better than mine. So what if family isn’t Mark’s top priority? At least he’s not like Tobin, who can’t pry himself away from his mother even on the day you become his wife. You think you’ve finally found someone you can follow around. But who’s Tobin following?
Her opinions on Tobin did an inexplicable one-eighty after shecame back to Grey Tusk—or did they? She’s never said she likes him or respects him. She only said I should stay with him. I don’t know what’s true anymore when it comes to her.
What I do know: Amber’s lashing out changed the course of my marriage. She wasn’t wrong about the unhealthy patterns Tobin and I were already tumbling into, but it was me who put my faith in the opinions of someone who clearly didn’t wish me well. If I hadn’t given her words such weight, or if I’d ever mustered the courage to demand an apology, things might have happened very differently.
“How do you know?” Béa whispers, looking faint. I maneuver myself into position to catch her if she goes down.
“Full disclosure?”
Sharon’s waving her hands and mouthingno no no no no,but it’s too late.
“My sister ruined my wedding. She was splitting up with her husband; he embarrassed her in front of everyone. She’d had a few too many, I think.” I don’t know that I’ve ever said that out loud: she was drunk, she was humiliated, she’d had such high hopes. “She said some pretty awful stuff. Like, my-marriage-was-doomed kind of stuff.”
Silence. Terrible, terrible silence. Even Sharon’s mouth is hanging open (only one set of teeth, I can’t help noticing). The inescapable smell of truth hangs in the air, its acidity stinging my eyes. Improv gods, help me now.
“That, plus his family’s shenanigans, wrecked my wedding. Pretty much forever. We don’t even celebrate our anniversary. The thing is, though.” There goes my voice, squeaky and tight. But I’m still bringing myself to the scene. Letting my fellow players see me. And I think it’s helping.
“The thing is.Shesaid horrible things, butIdecided to make them the most important thing to happen that day.”
