Chapter 5: Lilies

On Thursday I drove to the coast by myself.

Cillian had offered to come, and I had told him no.

"If I go in with you, they'll say you talked me into it," I said.

"They'll say that anyway."

"Then I'd like them to say it about something that isn't true."

He nodded and didn't argue.

Sunset Cove was a white hall on a bluff above the Sonoma coast, with a glass wall facing the water.

A woman with a clipboard met me at the door.

"You must be the bride," she said. "You're early. Your sister said you'd want to see everything on Saturday."

"I'd like to see it now."

She hesitated, then stepped aside.

Inside, a hundred and twenty white chairs stood in rows with an aisle down the middle.

Every chair had a ribbon.

Every aisle post had a spray of lilies.

I sneezed twice before I reached the front.

The centerpieces were already on the tables, tall glass vases packed with white lilies, with a small card tucked into each one.

I picked up a card.

It read: "For Willa. With all my love. Mara."

My eyes began to itch.

I set it down and went to the seating chart, a huge board on an easel.

Willa and Thurston, sweetheart table.

Mom and Dad, front row.

Mara, maid of honor.

I found my own name on the head table and my sister's directly behind it, so she could watch me the whole night.

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