When my husband left me during

I smiled and nodded, but I shot pleading looks at my sister, who’d arrived earlier, until she swooped in and rescued me from the endless conversations.

Piper slid beside me with two glasses of champagne. “You’re handling this way better than I would,” she said, loud enough for the nosy relatives to hear.

“I’m not here to handle it,” I smiled. “I’m here to witness it.”

She squeezed my hand. I put her eyes.

Then came the dances.

First, Thatcher with his mother, then Sloane with her father.

Thatcher looked relaxed and confident, like a man who believed consequences were only for other people.

Finally, the lights dimmed for the newlyweds’ first dance.

They spun beneath the spotlights, smiling like they’d rewritten fate.

And then the music cut.

At first, everyone laughed awkwardly. Someone clinked a glass.