“Um,” I said, feeling my face heat up. “Does Riley still live here?”

Rose reacted so suddenly, waving her arms and accidentally throwing her calligraphy pen across the room. She hopped up to grab it, arms still flapping.

“He just keeps a box at the post office,” she said quickly. “I don’t actually know where he lives. Allen said he moves around a lot, so he just kept his permanent address here. We sent him an email with the wedding info, so the invitation is actually completely unnecessary. I guess it was just populated at the printer’s from the guest list. You don’t… you don’t have to actually fill out the card for him.” She dug into my pile, pulling out the offending invitation before I could even react.

I stared down at his name on the address list. There was a faint buzzing between my ears but I tried to shake it off. I had known the whole time that Riley was coming to the wedding, that I would definitely see him again, but somehow the stark officiality of the list had thrown me for a loop. I tried to focus on something else.

“Um, who’s Jasmin Decker?” I asked. “Any relation?”

Rose nodded, still looking at me like I was something delicate. “She’s Reid and Riley’s aunt, and also a Town Councilwoman. I’ve seen her in passing a few times over the years, but I’ve never actually met her. It’s funny because Allen’s parents are on the Council too and I never got the impression that they like her very much. But they insisted she be invited. Small town politicking, I guess.”

“Maybe there’ll be some intrigue at your wedding,” I said, trying for a smile. I glanced at the list again.

“I see neighbor Reid did not make the cut.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “No, at least one member of that family has been spared. I mean, you saw how he and Allen are with each other.”

I had seen how Allen was with the younger Decker, but I chose not to clarify the point. I actually admired how cheerful Reid remained in the face of such obvious disdain. He was clearly a professional. Or perhaps everyone was used to Allen’s shit, and I was simply not desensitized yet.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that they look alike, I never would have guessed that Reid and Riley could be related. They’re like, total personality opposites.”

“You see now why it was hard for me to keep that fact in mind,” Rose replied.

“He just seems so… friendly. Like, outgoing-friendly. I’ve run into him a few times now and I think he’s said more words to me in five minutes than Riley did in like, our entire relationship.”

Rose murmured in agreement, her focus on executing a perfectly curled W for the Webster family.

“And the EMT thing kind of explains him coming over to check on my cooking fail. I just figured he was a Boy Scout type, but it’s his actual job to help people in trouble.”

“He could also be a Boy Scout.”

“Is he?”

Rose looked up at me, frowning. “I don’t know, I barely know him. Why are you suddenly so curious about him?”

“I mean I wouldn’t say I’m curious. Just like… I’ve hardly met anyone here yet and I’m a little bored, I guess. There’s not a lot to occupy my brain.”

“I shall endeavor to find you more wedding projects, then,” Rose said with a wicked grin and I groaned.

“Pretty sure I’m going to be addressing envelopes until the end of time,” I said, pulling the list back in front of me. I was about to begin Jasmin Decker's envelope when something important occurred to me.

“Hey,” I said. “Do I get a plus one?”

“If you want one?” Rose said, confusion evident in her voice. “Who would you bring? You just said you hardly know anyone here.”

“Riley has a plus one according to this invitation,” I said, stabbing my pen down at the list and making an unsightly inkblot by his name. Oops. “If my ex-boyfriend gets a plus one then you can be absolutely sure that I will find someone, someone devastatingly handsome, to be my date.”

“OK,” she said with a laugh. “But make sure he can keep himself entertained, because being the plus one to someone in the bridal party pretty much guarantees a long evening of being abandoned.”

“Hey now,” I said with a grin. “Once you say ‘I do’ you’ll be your husband’s problem. I’ll wash my hands of you.”

“What happened to best friends for life?”

I shrugged. “I mean, how much of a life will you really have when you’re an old married lady?”

I dodged the first marker she rightfully threw at me, but her aim was painfully true with the second.