Page 5 of Last Night Was Fun

“We arekidding, Mom,” Piper said, and snuck a wicked wink at Emmy in the mirror. “Oh! Actually, a much more important topic: Em, who are you bringing to the wedding?”

Emmy would rather have been arrested for arson than discuss the dreaded Plus One topic. She mournfully looked into the bottom of her empty champagne glass. “Natasha, another?”

Piper frowned at her avoidance. “You can’t keep putting it off, Em. The wedding is in three weeks, and I won’t have my MOH show up stag.”

“I draw the line at pronouncing ‘MOH’ out loud,” Emmy said. She’d asked her sister to translate MOH the first time she’d texted it, and Piper explained it was shorthand for maid of honor. After helping with the initial dress search, the engagement party, the bridal shower, and weighing in on Piper’s ever panicked texts over chiffon versus charmeuse, fondant versus ganache, rose versus blush, Emmy’s only MOH responsibility left between today’s final dress fitting and the big day was throwing the bachelorette party. And, unfortunately, finding a plus one for the wedding.

Seeing as she didn’t date, she had no candidates. No front-runners. No one who owed her a favor. And it wasn’t a casualHey, wanna come to my sister’s wedding this weekend?It wasHey, could you book a plane ticket and fly to Cancún to hang out with people you’ve never met in a remote location for several days?Who was going to say yes to that?

The thought of hiring someone à la rom-com trope had admittedly entered her mind on more than one occasion. But with her luck, she wouldn’t have Dermot Mulroney sweep her off her feet but probably someone who’d steal her passport to sell on the black market and leave her stranded in Mexico. The prospect was grim. And she honestly had no qualms over showing up solo to Piper’s wedding, but she knew doing so would incite a bridezilla meltdown, and no one needed that.

“I am the bride, and if I want to call you my MOH, I will call you my MOH,” Piper said as if to reinforce Emmy’s thoughts. “But also—”

Emmy was halfway through an eye roll when the tone of her sister’s voice stopped her. A secret hid inside it, she heard it tittering on the edge of Piper’s quick breath. “Also what?” she asked, fearing the answer.

Piper grimaced in her reflection. She bunched her ballooning skirt in her hands and held it like a security blanket. “Jacob is on the guest list.” She flinched like Emmy might leap up and attack her.

Emmy’s hearing had gone offline, and she wondered if she might have been losing her mind, because no way—no way—did her sister just tell her that her ex-boyfriend was coming to her wedding. “What?”

Piper held up her hands, still facing the mirror with her back to Emmy. “I know. I’m sorry. But he’s Ben’s cousin’s plus one. They started dating recently, and she RSVP’d with him as her guest.Believe meI lost it when I saw it, Em. I will uninvite them if you want me to, but that won’t be a great foot to start out on with my in-laws... I mean, you know if it was someone on our side, she’d be dead to me and scratched off the list.”

Emmy was still reeling. She hadn’t seen or talked to Jacob in over a year. Not since he’d told her she was too obsessed with her career, and if she wanted a future with him, she’d have to give it up. Literally. He’d saidme or your jobin a moment that felt so misogynistically surrealEmmy sometimes still wondered if it had really happened. If maybe she’d wake from some bizarre fever dream to find the guy she’d fallen for was not in fact a controlling jerk but rather the supportive partner she’d thought she’d known. Alas, Jacob had said those words to her,me or your job, among other mean things about how she’d die alone if she married her career, and Emmy had chosen her job. And, consequently, had given up on dating.

She hadn’t regretted her decisions—to ditch him and not date—for one second. Until right now. Suddenly the thought of running into him with his new girlfriend had her veins tight with anxiety. He couldn’t see her alone and dateless because then he’d think he was right about her, and she would not give him the satisfaction. Not to mention, she still battled the teeny tiny voice in her head that crept out of the dark in her low moments and tried to convince her hewasright. She could hear it growing louder as she thought about showing up to a wedding of all things—the epitome of romantic commitment—by herself. She didn’t think she would care so much until the situation was right in front of her.

Emmy gave her sister a steely glare in the mirror. “Are you specifically telling me this while you’re standing there in a five-thousand-dollar dress so I don’t murder you?”

“Maybe?” Piper’s voice came out a squeak. “Seriously though, I will take one for the team and uninvite them if you want me to.”

Yes, pleasefizzled around Emmy’s mind like an angry firecracker, but she couldn’t put her sister in the position of offending her new family. She could be the bigger person. She could handle seeing her ex. She could... find a date.

“No, you don’t have to do that,” she said warily. “But thank you for offering.”

Piper sagged with visible relief. She waved her hands. “Don’t worry. When you show up with someone else, he’ll see you’ve moved on, and everything will be fine.”

“Also!” Their mother took the opportunity to chime in. “If youfind a date, that could be a step toward starting something serious, Emmy. You know you’re—”

“If you’re about to remind me how old I am, I’m going to stop you right there, Mom.”

Vera paused with her mouth open and then sighed. “That’s not what I was going to say. You are still so young, Emmy. What I was going to say is maybe this is a good opportunity to spend some time away from work and getting to know someone.”

“So in a year from now, we’re planningmywedding, and you don’t have a spinster daughter on your hands anymore?” Emmy said with a frown.

“Emmy, stop it. I just think you put an awful lot of energy into your career, and maybe if—”

“I like my career. Speaking of—” She waved her phone at them in a signal she needed to check her email, a routine they were well accustomed to. She wasn’t really going to check it; she just didn’t want to talk about her lack of a love life anymore. She thumbed at her screen, and it took all her strength not to open Instagram and search for Jacob’s new girlfriend. She didnotcare enough to look.

Her eyes landed on her texting thread with Axe Murderer and a smile bent her lips. Emmy glanced up at her mother and sister to see they’d fallen into a critical discussion of what fresh flowers would be pinned into Piper’s hair and decided they did not need her input.

She wasn’t sure what she expected to get in return, if anything, but before she could stop herself, she tapped out a message to Axe Murderer.

So, you still haven’t told me what you did to get fake numbered.

She hit send and bit her lip, surprised at the hope blooming in her chest that she’d get a response.

A quiet gasp slipped between her lips when the typing dots almostinstantly appeared. Her heart nervously trilled at the thought of what he was going to say. Maybe he’d tell her to go away. Maybe he’d make another bird-band pun. Maybe he’d ask who she was because he’d deleted her number after their mistaken exchange and had already moved on.

She stilled in anticipation when his message appeared.