“Everything,” Walker said.
“Honey, your dad and I are worried about you,” Avery’s mother said when Avery accepted her call after lunch. “Why are you planning someone else’s wedding to Walker instead of your own?”
Now that the show was down to the wire, the crew was posting daily updates to the website, and today’s featured footage was of Elizabeth surveying the manor’s ballroom to see where her reception would take place. Avery had been present, offering suggestions for how to arrange it all. It had been like a game pretending to help Elizabeth decide things about her wedding when really she was planning her own.
Now everything had changed. Walker and Elizabeth had sat her down and explained the delay to the Senate hearing. Avery had listened with growing horror as she realized she was barely going to get a wedding day at all. No one could know that she was marrying Walker until Elizabeth boarded her flight.
Which meant no planning sessions with her friends. No rehearsal dinner. None of the little traditions that made a wedding special. She had to arrange everything in secret. No one else could know until hours before she walked down the aisle.
She kept her voice even. “Because we all pitch in to help.”
There was an uncharacteristic silence on the other end of the line.
“But you’re supposed to marry Walker, honey.”
“I know.” She hated everything about the situation. Was holding back tears even now. She’d always thought she’d savor every aspect of planning her wedding.
“I… don’t understand.”
Welcome to the club, Avery thought. “Elizabeth and Walker have known each other a long time. He can’t let her down.”
“But he loves you.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to lie about that.
“Are you marrying him or not?”
Avery couldn’t answer that. If she said yes, her mother would tell everyone she knew. If she said no, she’d be lying to her mother.
“Avery Lightfoot, stop playing games!”
Avery pulled the phone away from her face. Her mother hadn’t yelled at her in years.
“We don’t play around with love in this family,” her mother went on. “We don’t lie to each other, either.”
“I don’t want to lie to you.” She really didn’t. “So I can’t answer that question. You’ll have to be patient—and ready for anything. Can you understand that?”
“Of course I can, but I’ll point out that you lied once already. You were married, and you never said a word. We had to find out about that Brody fellow by watching the show. I can’t believe you never told us about him. We could have helped you get it annulled, sweetheart. Why would you keep that from us?’
So they’d seen the latest episode. She supposed it was a miracle her mother hadn’t confronted her sooner.
“How on earth could I tell you how badly I’d screwed up? You and Dad are the king and queen of romance. You never got dumped. You never screwed up everything and had to limp home in disgrace. I didn’t even allow myself to think about Brody after it was over. I hoped none of it was real. I wanted to forget the whole thing even happened.”
“Life doesn’t work that way.”
“I know.”
“This is all our fault,” her mother said. “We thought we could create a world for you where love reigned supreme. We wanted to give you the best example of marriage we could.”
“You did.”
“But we went overboard, didn’t we, if you think we’ve never made any mistakes. Sweetheart, your father and I have made tons of them. Everyone does. Nothing you can do would disappoint us. It’s okay if you don’t get married. You know that, right?”
Avery opened her mouth to say she was getting married.
Realized she couldn’t.
“You’re a strong, wonderful, amazing woman, and if Walker marries someone else, it’s his loss. You’ll be okay. Call us up, and we’ll come get you.”
“Mom!”
“Honey, if he’d proposed, you would have told me, so we know things aren’t going well. Do what you have to, but we’re always here for you. You know that, right?”
“Of course.” She wanted to explain everything, but she couldn’t, and she knew if she said anything else, she’d start stumbling over her words. One thing her mother said kept playing over in her mind.
If Walker had proposed, she would have called her.
But Walker hadn’t ever proposed, had he?
Not really.
Not in all this time.
Her mother sighed. “Keep us posted, honey. We’ll be ready for anything.”
“Thank you.” Avery hung up, her head spinning.
Why hadn’t Walker proposed?
Why didn’t she have a ring—if not to wear yet, then at least to look at when she was all alone?
She tried to shake off her doubts. She was going to marry Walker on May thirtieth, and that was all that mattered. Which meant she had to get Kai and Addison on board for preparing the food for the reception.
She ducked into the kitchen to find them cleaning up after the noon meal.
“Let Elizabeth plan her own wedding,” Addison said when Avery explained her errand. “Let her grab something at the grocery store. Cold cuts and cheese platters or whatever. It’s not like we’re going to celebrate her and Walker getting married. I can’t believe she asked you to handle this.”
“Elizabeth would like a full sit-down dinner.” Avery named the number of guests. Everyone at Base Camp plus her parents. She would have liked to invite other people, but there was no way to do that now that she couldn’t tell anyone about the wedding until the day itself.
“Elizabeth can go screw herself,” Kai said. “I’m not cooking for those two.”
“But—” She closed her mouth. She wasn’t allowed to tell them the truth. Walker had reiterated the need for secrecy this morning.
“Avery, let me give you a little advice,” Addison told her kindly. “You can’t let people push you around. You care about Walker, and you want him to have a nice wedding, even if it’s not to you. I get it, even though I could never carry off that kind of altruism myself,
