Chapter 1

After the wedding rehearsal, Jason Doyle all of a sudden suggested moving the wedding to the afternoon.

He said, "Nora, you always get a bit puffy when you wake up too early. Why not sleep in a bit and feel more refreshed?

"After the ceremony, we can head up to the hotel rooftop and catch that sunset you love, and I'll snap a bunch of photos for you."

He was thinking of me with every word.

By all rights, I should've agreed.

But then I saw the message Amber Lewis sent him: [Jason, what should I do? The hotel says my graduation party is overlapping with your wedding. But having it in the afternoon just feels off, like it's bad luck.]

I was speechless.

Seeing me freeze up, Jason grinned and pointed at Amber. "Nora, you really gotta thank Amber for this.

"If her graduation party wasn't scheduled at the same hotel, and she hadn't been so generous to give you the afternoon, you'd be up at the crack of dawn, looking all puffy on your big day."

Amber flashed him a shy smile. "Jason, you don't have to be so grateful.

"Seriously, if you hadn't tutored me this past year, I never would've made it into your school."

Just like that, the two of them decided everything in a couple of sentences.

It felt like they only asked me out of courtesy.

My mom, who'd come to the rehearsal, immediately got anxious. "Jason, we had someone pick the wedding date for us. You can't just change it on a whim."

Even my usually easygoing dad couldn't help but speak up. "Back home, only second weddings are held in the afternoon."

Jason pressed his lips together, then suddenly smiled at me. "Nora, your parents are a bit old-fashioned. Why don't you make the call?"

He said it was up to me, but then under the table, he gave me a little pinky signal and added, "You care so much about your looks. You wouldn't want to look bad on the biggest day of your life, right?"

Amber winked at me. "Nora, you're an adult now. It's your wedding, you should totally be the one making the call."

After she said that, she shared a secretive smile with Jason.

It really felt like they'd pulled this kind of stunt together more than once.

Ever since I saw that chat, my heart had been hanging by a thread.

But now, it just dropped. "I really don't want to mess up the biggest day of my life," I said.

I gave my parents a reassuring smile. "Dad, Mom, let everyone know the wedding's not happening tomorrow morning."

*****

It wouldn't happen in the afternoon, either.

"Nora, since you agreed to change the time, I'll go switch the guest name cards to my friends' names," Amber said.

But Amber didn't move at all. She just looked helplessly at Jason.

Almost instantly, Jason smiled at me. "Nora, why don't you take your parents upstairs to rest?"

He flashed a carefree grin. "Amber's done us a huge favor, so I'll help her switch the guest name cards.

"That way, she won't fumble around and mess up our guest name cards."

Truth was, Jason just wanted to help Amber.

But he acted like he was doing it for me.

I couldn't help but glance at the pile of crawfish shells on the table.

Before dinner, Jason said I'd worn myself out at the rehearsal and needed to refuel.

But when the delivery showed up, it was a pile of crawfish, crazy spicy and mouth-numbing.

I couldn't have any because it was that time of the month, and my parents were from the south and only went for mild flavors, so they couldn't handle it either.

Amber was the only one chowing down, looking like she was in heaven.

I thought it was just a coincidence.

But now, it hit me out of nowhere that crawfish was Amber's all-time favorite.

There was also a full-sugar milk tea sitting next to the takeout box.

Jason claimed he bought it for me, but I was not into sweet drinks, so Amber was the one who drank it.

Then my eyes landed on the pink umbrella in the corner.

That was supposed to be for me too, but since I didn't like pink, Jason just handed it over to Amber.

It turned out that without me even noticing, Jason had been using me as an excuse to do all these little things for Amber.

My chest tightened, making it hard to breathe.

I grabbed my mom, who was still trying to talk Jason out of it, and took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter if they get messed up."

After all, the wedding was off anyway.

They were just going to end up in the trash.

But Jason totally got the wrong idea. He gave Amber a playful pat on the shoulder. "Did you hear that?

"Nora means you can do whatever you want. Even if you mess things up, she won't blame you."

They walked off toward the hall, laughing and joking together.

Behind a wooden screen, Amber was carelessly tossing the guest name cards I'd painstakingly written all night into the black trash bag she brought.

She moved so gently; it was like she was afraid anyone would notice her swapping them out.