“Why don’t you just tell us how this began?” Officer Ramirez said, pulling a small notepad out of his pocket. “And we can go from there.”

Jimmy and Liz just looked at each other again, then away. “Surely something caused the fight that just happened?” he prompted, beginning to sound frustrated, like his patience was finally cracking. “It didn’t come out of nowhere.”

“It’s been going on for a while,” General Daniels said, coming to stand next to Rodney. “We usually try to make sure they don’t attend events together.” Both Jimmy and Liz scoffed in unison at this, then looked uneasy, like they just accidentally agreed on something and didn’t like it much.

“Well.” Officer Ramirez flipped his notebook closed as he looked between Jimmy and Liz. “I take it that you’re not going to continue yelling at each other? The food stays on the plates?” They both nodded. “Good.”

“So that’s it?” Rodney asked.

“That’s it,” Officer Ramirez confirmed. “We were called in on a noise complaint, but . . .” He gestured around the tent—now that nobody was speaking, it was almost totally silent. “I think we can say that’s no longer an issue here.” He looked over at the band, and it was like I could practically see him counting the number of amps. “Maybe just don’t play at top volume?” Glen nodded and gave him a salute. “Then in that case, I think our work here is done. And congratulations,” he said to Rodney and Linnie, with the first smile I’d yet seen from him.

He gave us a nod, then continued out of the tent, with Officer Hopper following behind. For a second I thought about letting Max know that the coast was clear and he wasn’t about to be busted for possession, but then I remembered that we didn’t have a real wedding cake thanks to him and decided he could remain in the dark for just a little bit longer.

“Charlie,” Linnie said to me as people started to drift back to their tables and Jimmy and Liz walked toward theirs—not speaking to each other, but no longer glaring at each other either—“where have you been?”

“Been?” I echoed vaguely.

“Been,” she repeated, taking a sip of her champagne and then raising an eyebrow at me. “You missed the appetizers. I saved you a slider.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling now just how hungry I was. “Bill and I needed to sort something out with the cake. But it’s all fixed now!”

“The cake?” Linnie just looked at me for a moment. “Do I want to know?”

I thought about it, then shook my head. “I don’t think you do.”

“Then don’t tell me,” she said with a smile. “I’m having a really good time at my reception and I’d rather not find out anything that would derail that.”

“Good call.” She squeezed my arm and then headed back to her seat, in the center of the head table next to Rodney.

I started to follow—then realized that there was something I needed to do. I took my phone out of my purse and pressed the contact for my best friend. I felt my heart pound as her phone rang, and just when I was sure she was sending me to voice mail, she picked up.

“Hi,” I said, hearing the relief in my voice. “I wasn’t sure you were going to answer.”

“Hey,” she said, her voice a little cooler than normal. “How’s the wedding?”

“It’s going on now,” I said, taking a step farther back, so that I was leaning against the deserted bar.

“Is it fun? Does Linnie look beautiful?” she asked, her voice wistful.

“She does. And it’s been kind of crazy. I’ll tell you all about it, but . . .” I took a breath and then started speaking quickly, trying to get the words out. “I’m so sorry. I never should have talked to you like that, or stopped calling you back.”

“I’m sorry too,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I just—I don’t know. I keep wishing I was there. I should be there.”

“It’s not your fault your flight was canceled,” I said, feeling now just how ridiculous it had been for me to blame Siobhan for this. “And I know I do sometimes forget about you when my siblings are here. And I’m sorry about that.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment, and then she said, “Well—thanks, Charlie.”

“I don’t mean to.”

“I know you don’t,” she said, and I could practically picture the expression on her face as she said it—a half smile and a good-natured eye roll. “And it’s not like I don’t get it. I mean—not that I would know, but I would imagine that if I had siblings like yours, I’d want to hang out with them too.”

“But still.”

“Well, thanks for saying it.”

“So, what’s going on with the roommate?”

Siobhan groaned. “She’s the worst,” she said. “But I think she hates me too, so hopefully we can get out of it. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. How’s the wedding been going?”

“Well,” I said, then paused. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into a litany of everything that had happened with this wedding so far. “It’s been okay. A few . . . minor disasters.”

“Oh my god,” Siobhan said, even as she laughed. “I have to hear all about them. Now—what’s going on with Jesse?”

I looked across to the dance floor, where he was sitting at his table, next to Kyra and Jenny W., laughing at something they were saying. I suddenly wondered if he’d even noticed that I was gone. And while I could understand not wanting to be so obvious in front of Mike, it wasn’t like he couldn’t even talk to me. “I’m not sure,” I finally said. Unbidden, I suddenly thought about Bill asking me to dance, reaching for my hand underneath the supermarket lights, spinning me out but then always spinning me back to him, not caring how it looked or if anyone was watching. Asking me to dance because he’d wanted to dance with me.

“Well,” Siobhan said, letting out a breath, “we can discuss when I’m back? Tomorrow?”

I smiled and nodded, even though she couldn’t see me through the phone, already looking forward to laying this out and talking about it for hours with my best friend—the insane weekend we’d had and all the ups and downs. “It’s a plan.”

* * *

“Okay, this one goes out to Linnie and Rodney!” Glen yelled from the stage. The crowd on the dance floor—which included my sister and newly minted brother-in-law, who’d been dancing up a storm—cheered, and Any Way You Want It launched into their take on “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” yet again.

It was the third time, by my count, that they’d played it during the reception, but the group dancing didn’t seem to mind very much. The rest of the dinner had gone off without any other major disasters. If people had noticed they were eating supermarket cake when the dessert was served, nobody mentioned it. My dad especially seemed to be a big fan, and had eaten at least three pieces. The speeches had all gone well—my dad’s had been lovely, as had Rodney’s mom’s. And best of all was Rodney’s brother, Ellis, who had surprised us all by Skyping in from Japan for his speech. It was very early in the morning there, and he didn’t seem entirely awake, but even so, most people in the tent were sniffling by the time he’d finished it.

Danny had stood up and given a toast that had been very moving—about how Linnie and Rodney’s love had always been an inspiration to him, and he hoped that he would be lucky enough to find something like it someday. I kept waiting for him to mention Brooke, or their relationship, but then he just continued with his speech. I noticed Brooke getting up and leaving soon after—from what I could tell, she still hadn’t returned. And right after that, Any Way You Want It had started playing, and the dancing had begun in earnest.

I’d joined Danny and my siblings on the dance floor and had tried to subtly work my way over to where Jesse was dancing with Mike and Kyra. Because this was it. The wedding was over. The reception was going great, and everyone was having a good time. And now I could finally spend time with Jesse, not having to worry about anything else.