Rodney’s eyebrows flew up. “Sounds serious. Did everything go okay with the suit? Is that it?”

“Wait!” I practically yelled as Rodney took a step toward the garment bag. He paused, looking at me, eyebrows raised. “Um—can we talk in the other room?”

“Hey.” Priya came out of the dining room, stretching her arms over her head. “When are the hair and makeup people coming? I want to jump in the shower first.”

“Um.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, since I was pretty sure I had the information somewhere. Bill would probably know, I realized—but he was still outside, presumably dealing with our unforeseen cover band. “Let me just check. . . .”

“Linnie?” my mom called as she came into the kitchen from the back stairs, then stopped short when she saw the alarm guy. “Oh good. I’m so glad you were able to come,” she said as she edged past him into the kitchen. “We have a wedding here today.”

“You don’t say,” the alarm guy muttered.

“Where’s your sister?” my mom asked me.

I shook my head. “I haven’t seen her this morning. Why?”

“I have her something borrowed,” my mother said, crossing the kitchen. “Linnie!” she called.

“Seriously,” Rodney said, taking another step closer to the suit, “what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just—”

Just then, the alarm sounded, an earsplitting electronic shriek, the loudest it had yet been. I jumped and automatically pressed my hands to my ears.

“What is that?” one of the caterers yelled.

“Alarm,” my dad yelled back.

“Sorry,” Leo yelled above the sound. “This might take a second.”

I heard the sound of nails skittering on the wood floors and turned in the direction of the sound to see Waffles, ears flying, tearing into the kitchen, managing to run and howl at the same time.

“Aw, there’s my cutie,” Mrs. Daniels said, reaching out to pet him as he came running past, but she wasn’t fast enough. Waffles clearly wanted to be wherever this sound was, and stopped just a few feet from the alarm guy, threw back his head, and started howling along, making the sound exponentially worse.

“Can you do something about your dog?” Leo yelled.

“He’s not our dog,” my dad yelled back. “He’s a loaner.”

The volume on the alarm got louder, and the dog responded in kind, matching the sound of the alarm in an unexpected harmony, like this was the world’s smallest, and strangest, a cappella group.

“What’s happening in here?” I turned to see General Daniels come into the kitchen. “Is there an intruder?”

Waffles stopped howling for a split second and regarded the General for just a moment, then threw his head back and started up again.

“Um.” I looked over to see Mike in the doorway, still looking like death slightly warmed over, wincing. “Is there any way we could . . . not? It’s just a bit . . . loud.”

Leo just shook his head as he punched buttons on the keypad, and a second later, the sound shut off, all at once. Waffles continued to howl alone for a few seconds before he seemed to realize the sound had stopped. Like he was embarrassed, he slunk over to the kitchen table and plopped down at the feet of Mrs. Daniels, who immediately bent down to rub his long ears.

The caterers exchanged a look and, all of them now seeming disgruntled, went back to work.

“Fixed?” my dad asked hopefully.

“You’re going to need a system upgrade,” Leo said, shaking his head. “Should have been looked at ages ago. Frankly, I’m surprised you’ve made it this long without problems.”

“But the problems have been fixed for now, right?” Rodney asked. “So we’re all good?”

“Son, don’t say ‘all good,’ ” Mrs. Daniels murmured.

“It’s just a patch job,” Leo said, looking startled to see two more people in a room that hadn’t been lacking for people to begin with. I was fairly used to being in a kitchen with ten people, but his reaction was a reminder that most people weren’t. “You’re going to have to get the system upgraded. But once you do, it should be good here for another ten, fifteen years. You’ll get your money’s worth out of it.”

“We’ve sold the house, so it’s not really our issue,” my dad said, then looked around and patted his pockets. “Let me just find my checkbook. . . .”

“Charlie?” I looked across the kitchen to see Priya raising her eyebrows at me. “Did you find out when the hair and makeup people are coming?”

“Right,” I said, pulling out my phone again. I was scrolling through my documents when the doorbell rang. “Hold on,” I said, hurrying over to the front hall—and grabbing the suit off the back of the chair as I went to answer the door. It wasn’t until I was halfway there that I realized I’d never actually gotten my bagel. I groaned when I saw it was Don standing on the threshold, his face red. “Hello, Don.”

“This is just unacceptable!” Don yelled, like we’d been in the middle of a conversation and were just now picking it up again. “Do you have any idea how noisy your house is? Are they doing construction in your yard?”

“They’re putting up a tent,” I explained.

“And why does your alarm keep going off?”

“We’re fixing it,” I assured him, lowering my voice in the hopes that it might get him to do the same. “But—”

My mother came hurrying out of the kitchen, and I saw her shoulders slump when she realized who I was talking to. “I’m sorry, Don,” she said, coming to stand behind me. “But we’ve got a lot going on right now and we really don’t have time to talk.”

“This is not a social call,” Don said, his face getting redder than ever. “This is a warning. Unless the noise level decreases, I will contact the authorities.”

“That’s a big accusation to throw around,” my mother said, her voice still pleasant but with a steely edge now. Don seemed to notice this too, and he immediately looked a little more uncomfortable.

“Well, just try to keep it down,” he muttered. He gave us a disgusted look, then turned and marched down the front steps.

“Just don’t tell your father he was here,” my mother said, pulling the front door shut behind him. “I swear, they’re about to come to blows over this stupid garden competition.”

“Charlie!” Jenny W. was coming down the stairs holding a white satin garment bag in her arms.

“Is that the wedding dress?” my mother asked, her eyes widening. “Why do you have it?”

“Oh, just because I’m trying to save Linnie and Rodney’s marriage,” Jenny said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Rodney keeps insisting on going into her closet, and Linnie had taken it out of the bag already, so he’s almost seen it, like, three times this morning.”

“In fairness, it’s his closet too,” I pointed out, but Jenny kept right on going.

“And it’s bad luck to see the wedding dress before the wedding,” she said, shaking her head. “And I don’t want that on my conscience. I mean, do you? Knowing that their marriage is doomed because of you?”

“No. Obviously. Nobody wants that,” I said.

“Well, then,” Jenny said, holding it out to me. “Here.”

“You can put it in our room,” my mom said. “Unless I’m mistaken, Rodney’s not going to be hanging out in there.”

“Okay,” I said, taking it along with the other garment bag. “I’ll just drop it off, then.” I started to head for the stairs, then turned back to Jenny. “Do you know when the hair and makeup people are coming? Priya was asking.”

“No,” Jenny said, her eyes getting wide. “Is it soon? I wanted to take a shower first. . . .” She hurried into the kitchen, and I started upstairs, moving more slowly under the weight of the dress.

“Charlie, make sure you hang it carefully,” my mother called to me just as the doorbell rang again. “We don’t want it to get wrinkled.”