Page 81 of My Best French Wedding

“Does it mean we’re not passionate enough?”

“Not at all! Fighting isn’t fun.” Sometimes it was a little bit fun, but Fiona didn’t need to know that.

“Uh-oh.” Fiona tilted her head at the other side of the pool, where a dark-haired mistake from Hildy’s past was standing in the shadows. “Looks like he found you.”

“He was probably looking for you.”

“Mm, no. I could be a stack of towels right now. That’s how much he noticed me.” Fiona shifted her weight, leaning back on her hands. “It’s nice to be ignored for a change.”

That was an unexpected angle for a bride. “Is it?”

“Yeah,” Fiona admitted. “This whole week, I feel like every conversation is the dentist’s office.”

“Painful?”

“All up in my face. Open wide, Fiona! We want to poke around your private business with stabby metal things. Keep smiling! A little bigger! Are you happy? How happy? Show us!”

Hildy let the dust of Fiona’s speech settle before replying. Big emotions deserved their own space. “It does suck, to feel like you’re a blood bag and everyone is a mosquito. The love of the masses doesn’t keep you warm at night.” She’d never been a bride, but Hildy’s time as a so-called celebutante had taught her more than enough about the sensation of having your life on display.

“Especially when the one person you want to be watching you isn’t.” Fiona’s voice trembled.

Oh shit. Was she pining for someone else? Hildy could deal with logistical snafus and mood swings all day, but the human heart was trickier to wrangle.

“You mean—?” Hildy made it sound like she was confirming something she already knew, praying Fiona would fill in the blank.

“My mom.” Fiona’s eyes were damp. “Youknow what I’m talking about.”

Hildy nodded, even though her answer was closer tosort of.

Walter chose that moment to stroll over. “Am I interrupting?”

“Walter has a mom,” Hildy heard herself say.

“I—yes?”

“Lucky,” Fiona sighed.

“Yeah, but look at him.” Hildy nudged Fiona with her elbow. “Ishegetting married?”

Fiona’s teary gaze ping-ponged from Hildy to Walter. “Not that I know of?”

“He’s not.” The false alarm with Maude was already fading from Hildy’s memory like a bad dream.

“I’m not,” Walter agreed, waiting until Fiona looked away to shoot Hildy awhere are you going with this?brow lift.

“See? No one has everything. He still has his mom, but he probably lives alone in a sad bachelor pad.”

“So sad,” Walter murmured. “Stacks of pizza boxes, and cheap posters Blu Tacked to the wall.”

The desire to see for herself burst like a firework at the back of Hildy’s brain, but she refused to be distracted.

“Heisn’t coming home to someone like Robbie every night.” She jerked a thumb at Walter.

“True,” he agreed. “He’s never there.”

Hildy locked eyes with Fiona. “You have so much love in your life. Think about that, instead of what you might or might not be missing.”

“You’re right.” Fiona tipped her head back to stare at the night sky. “I am very lucky. And I hope you have someone who loves you too.”