“I’m so glad we’re staying two nights instead of just one,” Hollis said. “I’m having dinner with some girlfriends tomorrow night. You’re welcome to join us, Avery.”

“Thank you so much, but I’m having dinner with friends I haven’t seen in much too long. And there’s a meeting I have to attend tomorrow afternoon.” I told her about the meeting with the producers of Rock the Wedding and being interviewed as a potential host of a spin-off. Hollis seemed delighted by the news and said that when I became a celebrity, she was going to take credit for helping to launch me. “After all, if I hadn’t picked you as Bethany’s wedding planner, you wouldn’t have gotten on that show.”

“I’ll tell everyone it was you,” I assured her, and we clinked glasses.

After taking a sip, Hollis tucked a lock of smooth blond hair behind her ear and asked in an offhand tone, “Are you still going out with Joe?”

“Yes.”

“What does he say about this opportunity?”

“Oh, he’s being very supportive. He’s happy for my sake.”

I knew without being told that should the television opportunity come through, Joe was determined not to influence my decision. He would not ask me to stay or give up anything. Most of all, he would make no promises. There were no guarantees about what our relationship might become or how long it would last. Whereas there would be guarantees, contractual ones, if I was hired by Trevor Stearns’s production company. Even in case of failure, I would have some incredible takeaways. Money, connections, a heavily bolstered résumé.

I was spared the necessity of replying when Bethany boarded the plane. She was dressed in a vibrant Tory Burch tunic and capris, her hair gilded with fresh highlights. “Hi, y’all!” she exclaimed. “Isn’t this fun?”

“Look at how pretty she is,” Hollis said with a mixture of pride and rue. “The prettiest girl in Texas, her daddy always says.” Hollis’s expression went blank as she saw another passenger board after Bethany. “I see you’ve brought Kolby.”

“You said I could bring a friend.”

“I sure did, sugar.” Hollis flipped open a magazine and began to page through it methodically, her mouth tight. It didn’t appear that Kolby, a muscular young man in his twenties, was the kind of friend Hollis had had in mind.

Bethany’s companion was dressed in board shorts, a Billabong button-down shirt, and a sports cap from which a shock of sun-bleached hair protruded in the back. He was tanned a deep shade of walnut, his eyes light blue, the teeth toilet-bowl white. From an objective viewpoint, he was handsome in the bland, deeply boring way that only someone with perfectly symmetrical features could be.

“Bethany, you look fabulous, as usual,” I said as she leaned down to hug me. “How are you feeling? Are you up to this flight?”

“I sure am!” she exclaimed. “Feeling awesome. My OB-GYN says I’m his star patient. The baby’s kicking hard now – sometimes you can see my stomach move.”

“Wonderful,” I said, smiling. “Was Ryan excited to feel the baby kicking?”

She made a face. “Ryan’s so serious about everything. I won’t let him come to my checkups, because he brings my mood down.”

Hollis spoke while continuing to leaf through the magazine. “Maybe you could work on getting him to smile more often, Bethany.”

The young woman laughed. “No, I’ll let him fiddle with his drawings and computer designs… I’ve got someone right here who knows how to have a good time.” She squeezed the man’s arm and smiled at me. “Avery, you don’t mind me bringing Kolby on our girls’ trip, do you? He won’t bother anyone.”

The man looked at her with a sly grin. “I’m gonna bother you plenty,” he said.

Erupting in a fit of giggles, Bethany dragged him to the bar, where they rummaged through canned beverages. Looking perturbed, the flight attendant tried to persuade them to have a seat and allow her to bring the drinks.

“Who is Kolby?” I dared to ask Hollis.

“No one,” she murmured. “A waterskiing instructor Bethany met last summer. They’re just friends.” She shrugged. “Bethany likes to keep fun people around her. As much as I adore Ryan, he can be a stick-in-the-mud.”

I let the comments pass, although I was tempted to point out that it wasn’t fair to judge Ryan for not being fun when he was preparing to marry a woman he didn’t love and be a father to a baby he didn’t want.

“Nothing needs to be mentioned about this,” Hollis said after a moment. “Particularly to Joe. He might say something to Ryan and stir up trouble for no reason.”

“Hollis, if there’s anyone in the world who wants this wedding to go off without a hitch even more than you do, it’s me. Trust me, I’m not going to say anything about Kolby to anyone. It’s not my place.”

Satisfied, Hollis shot me a glance of genuine warmth. “I’m glad we understand each other,” she said.

Another disconcerting moment occurred at the hotel reservations desk, where I was checking in. As the desk clerk ran my credit card and we waited for the charge to go through, I glanced at the other clerk at the desk, who had just checked Bethany and Kolby into a single room. I supposed some part of me had hoped that Bethany and Kolby really were just friends. They had behaved like teenagers during the flight from Houston, whispering and giggling, watching a movie together, but there had been nothing overtly sexual in their interactions.