Chapter 7

M aggie really hated saying goodbye to Alistair Friday night. It had been on the tip of her tongue to ask him to come in, when he'd kissed her sweetly and said goodbye. She could feel the connection between them, the instant attraction and the way they just seemed to enjoy each other's company.

So why hadn't she invited him in?

Partly because she'd rushed things with her ex, hurried to the bed, and then even after it had been disappointing on several levels, she'd felt like all they'd ever had was physical. She definitely hadn't loved him, though at the time she thought she had. To make matters worse, when she'd confided in her mom and sister about how things weren't what she'd hoped they would be with him, they hadn't understood. When he'd cheated and she'd finally ended things, the support she'd needed from her mom and sister hadn't been there at all. They simply…hadn't understood why she'd ended things. At least her dad had been supportive of her, because he always wanted what was best for her and trusted her judgment.

But the feelings she'd had for Seth were nothing compared to how she felt about Alistair after just one day, and that scared her a little.

Okay, maybe a lot.

She didn't want to jump into bed with him before she got to know him. That never seemed to really work out. So she'd kept her mouth shut, and then she'd spent the night dreaming about what it might have been like to invite him in.

More kisses.

More touching.

More everything.

She'd woken up feeling achy and needy in ways that she hadn't ever really experienced before, and she knew that meant he was special. And she wanted to treat him that way.

The word soulmate had flitted through her mind off and on as she'd gotten dressed to go to her parents' house to help with the final touches of her younger sister's wedding. Did she even believe in soulmates? Was it just that her poor, still-kinda-healing heart wanted to believe she'd finally found the right guy?

Since her family hadn't been all that supportive of her ending the relationship with Seth, she decided to keep Alistair to herself for now.

When she got to the house, she parked next to her sister Penny's convertible and headed into the old rancher they'd grown up in. The house was exactly the same as it had been when she moved out at twenty-two after college, a snapshot in time to the eighties, which was the last time they'd decorated. The inside smelled like cinnamon rolls and bacon, and she knew her mom had been hard at work in the kitchen in preparation for the long day ahead of them.

Penny was sweet but flighty, and tended to leave things to the last minute. She was one of those people who said they worked better under tight deadlines, when what she really meant was that she chose to procrastinate and then panic and get things done.

Maggie was the opposite. She didn't like tight deadlines, preferring to be done early with something rather than rushing at the last minute, so she and Penny had butted heads a few times since she'd started planning the wedding to her fiancé, Brian.

In the end, of course, it was Penny's wedding and Maggie had taken a firm hands-off approach. She hadn't minded a bit when Penny and Brian wanted only a Maid of Honor and Best Man as their attendants, and Penny had chosen her childhood best friend, Geneva. She didn't mind avoiding most of the stress related to being part of the wedding, and was going to get to sit back and enjoy the day, at least once everything was underway.

The 100-person event was going to be held at a local country club that her parents had joined simply for access to the ballroom and deck for the wedding, and it was being catered and decorated by the staff at the club. All they had to do was get the decorations finished and finalize the seating chart.

"Hello," Maggie called as she toed off her tennis shoes.

"We're in the dining room," her mom, Bea, called.

She wandered down the hall, past the rows of framed school pictures and family vacation photos, through the kitchen where she grabbed one of her mom's amazing white chocolate scones, finally ending in the dining room. Geneva gave Maggie a hug as soon as she walked into the room, where the trio was busy tying tiny bows around organza bags of pink and gray chocolate candies, colored to match the wedding.

Had anyone in their life ever wanted to eat a gray-colored chocolate?

Maggie didn't think so, but she'd kept that thought to herself.

Her sister had scoured social media for months, but thankfully their mom and Geneva were able to talk her out of most everything she wanted to do so they weren't spending a fortune on favors and decorations that no one was going to care about after next weekend.

Maggie kissed Penny on the cheek. "Hey, sis."

"I'm glad you're here. Tell them that it's okay for me to put out a bowl of dog treats with a picture of Boozy, so that everyone with dogs at home can take treats with them."

Maggie frowned. Boozy was her sister's twelve-year-old chihuahua, which was just as likely to bite your face as she was to cuddle up to you.

She saw her mom and Geneva frantically shaking their heads, so she said, "How many guests have dogs?"

"Oh, I don't know. A few, I guess."

"So it seems like something that will just end up getting tossed. You're already putting Boozy in the wedding pictures and she's going to be the flower girl. I think that's plenty." When Penny opened her mouth to protest, Maggie switched the subject by saying, "So what do you want me to help you with? The seating chart?"

"We'll do that later," Penny said. "I need your help with the decorations for the cake table."

As Maggie busied herself following her sister's detailed instructions to get the cake table decorations made, she listened to her sister talk about the dinner she'd had the night before with Brian's family and her mom lament her inability to find shoes to match the dress she'd picked out

Maggie's phone buzzed, and she pulled it from her back pocket.

I hope you slept well last night, sweetheart. And I hope you're having a great day today.

Alistair had texted her!

She nearly squeaked in excitement like a mouse with a piece of cheese.

She texted back, I did! I hope you did too. Are you taking care of the animals today?

Yeah, I'm heading to the paddock to see if Tank is in a good mood.

Sounds like more fun than I'm having. I'm making a garland out of silk flowers and strings of pearls to decorate the cake table. She sent him a picture of the mass of flowers spread out in front of her.

Maybe you can help me in the paddock sometime when you're not busy making garlands.

I'd love that.

I'm looking forward to tonight.

Me too.

See you soon.

She sent a smiley face emoji and nearly put a heart but decided against it. Hadn't she just told herself she was happy to be taking things slow with him? Putting her phone away, she got back to work. The faster the day went, the faster she'd get to see him again.

After lunch, the decorations were put away and the seating chart was brought out. Penny had used marker to draw the interior of the ballroom on a large piece of white posterboard, from the area where the ceremony would take place, to the bars on either side, the double doors where they'd make their grand entrance, and the tables spread out around the perimeter of the dance floor.

Her sister and her fiancé were going to be at a sweetheart table.

Maggie scanned the tables and found the two family tables—one for Brian's and one for Penny's—and her name next to her parents.

"What the hell?" Maggie demanded.

"What?" Penny asked.

Maggie set her fingertip on the seat next to hers that was apparently reserved for Seth.

"You know what. Why the hell is Seth at the table? Why is he even coming? We broke up a year ago!"

Penny stared at Maggie like she'd sprouted a second head. "When we sent out the save-the-date cards, you were still together and you said he was your plus-one."

"But we broke up. A year ago."

Penny didn't say anything.

Maggie felt like her whole world was turned upside down.

When she felt like she could speak without screaming wordlessly, she said, "He shouldn't be coming. He's not my plus-one."

"But he was on the invite list," Penny insisted.

"Then you sit with him." She shook her head. "This is crazy. Why on earth would you think I'd be okay with this?"

Silence filled the room.

Geneva, looking extremely uncomfortable, said, "I'm…going to run out to the store and pick up the rest of the organza bags and ribbon for the gift bags."

When Geneva was gone, Maggie's mom cleared her throat. "Honey, he was such a nice guy. He had a great job and he was handsome. This could be the chance to rekindle things between you, set things right."

Maggie took a step back as disbelief washed over her. "He cheated on me!"

"Oh come on, Maggie. I think you're being a little dramatic about the whole thing. Plus, it's been over a year. You should let bygones be bygones, it's not good to hold grudges," Penny said. "And besides, Brian sees Seth at work all the time and Seth has been saying how he was looking forward to the wedding. It's why I never took him off the attendance list. And it's not like you're seeing anyone."

Maggie kind of wanted to cry.

And she also wanted to scream.

She'd known that her family hadn't really understood just how much he'd cheated on her, how he'd blamed his infidelity on her as if she was the one who had helped him tumble into bed with other women during their relationship. She'd been hollowed out by his behavior, made to feel small and insignificant, and it hadn't just been him, it had been her family too. After feeling like she was finally starting to heal, now this was thrown at her.

"As a matter of fact, I have a date for the wedding," she said. She hadn't planned on asking Alistair to come because they'd just met, but she sure as heck was going to invite him now.

"You do? You didn't tell me. Your plus-one was for Seth," Penny said.

Maggie inhaled silently and gathered her thoughts.

She loved her sister very much, but their ten-year age gap meant they weren't as close as they could have been if the age difference hadn't been so great. She hadn't really pondered what her sister thought of her until just this moment, when it was clear that Maggie's desire to be free of the asshat who'd cheated on her wasn't as important as Penny's seating chart and her inability to tell someone to fuck off.

Maggie smiled. But she knew it was a weird and probably spooky smile because Penny and her mom both gave her startled looks.

"I'm seeing a guy and I was planning to bring him to the wedding. However, as much as I love you, Penny, I won't be coming to your wedding if you're going to force me to sit next to a man who treated me like garbage." Penny opened her mouth and Maggie put her hand up. "I'm not done. It's your wedding, you can invite who you want. But I'm telling you right now that I won't be there if Seth is at my table, period. The plus-one was mine to use, and when I broke up with Seth, he shouldn't have even been kept on the attendee list whether he works with Brian or not. I'm family , Penny. You should have had my back in this." She dropped her hand and sighed. "You don't want to disinvite him, that's on you. But if you want me there, he's going to get moved to another table." She stared at them in silence, as all she'd said hung in the air between them.

She was holding onto her sanity by a thread, worried that her sister might choose Seth over her, because she didn't want to be the bad guy and tell him not to come.

"Oh, fine," Penny said with a huff, pulling Seth's name from the table and slapping it onto one on the other side of the ballroom. "Are you happy?

As if she should be grateful her sister had done so little.

"It's a start," Maggie said.

She turned and grabbed her purse from where she'd hung it from the chair.

"Where are you going?" her mom asked.

"I'm going home."

She stalked away, trying not to let the tears fall until she was out of the house and by herself. She didn't want them to know just how hurt she was by their actions. She wasn't sure she thought they'd done it on purpose to hurt her; in their minds they most likely believed that she'd either overreacted to Seth's behavior or misunderstood things.

"Really, Maggie?" her mom said as she caught the front door before Maggie could close it behind her.

"Mom." She blew out a breath. "He cheated on me. The entire time we were together. He blamed me for his wandering eye and spent the last few months of our relationship belittling me. I shouldn't have to ask you and Penny to put me above him. You protesting me kicking him out of my life and not wanting to sit next to him at the wedding is just a slap in the face. You do love me, don't you? You do want what's best for me?"

"What a question! Of course I love you and want you to be happy. I just thought…"

"Thought what? That I lied? Or that it's not a big deal? Tell me you'd be fine with Dad cheating on you with dozens of women."

Her mom's face turned red. "Of course not."

"Then don't ask me to put up with something you wouldn't." She kicked at a rock on the sidewalk and folded her arms. "You made me feel like you liked him more. That you thought I made a bad choice in breaking up with him. It's taken me a while to get to a place where I can even think about being with someone else, and you guys were in there trying to tank my healing progress."

Her mom's eyes softened, and she stepped onto the sidewalk and gave Maggie a hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't…well, I didn't think. Penny is a people pleaser and didn't want to tell Seth he couldn't come. We should have scrubbed him from the list the moment you two broke up. I'll ask Penny to disinvite him, but I don't know if she will. At least he's not at the table with you and your new fellow."

"That's something, at least."

"What's his name?"

"Alistair."

"He's nice?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Her mom tucked a lock of Maggie's hair behind her ear. "I'll look forward to meeting him at the wedding. Love you."

"Love you too."

Maggie walked away, hurrying to her car and getting behind the wheel. She was still upset, but after talking to her mom, the sting of her and Penny's behavior wasn't quite so bad.

She'd still have to see Seth at the wedding, assuming he did actually show up.

Hopefully—oh how very much she hoped—Alistair would be available and want to come to the wedding with her. She wasn't sure she could face Seth alone, and she sure as hell didn't want to try.