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“Jamie!”

My name was called as soon as I walked into my sister-in-law’s kitchen, but not by who I expected. Nadia was my brother Frankie’s fiancé, and everyone in the family agreed that he was punching above his weight. She was one of those rare people who was beautiful inside and out, and she opened her arms wide and then enfolded me in a hug.

“Hey there, bride-to-be!” I said when we pulled back. “How’s the engagement party prep going?”

“Oh god,” she sighed, wilting against the kitchen counter. “You know how it is.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Mum said tightly from the sink where she was washing lettuce.

“Soo much work to do. I suggested to Frankie maybe we should just elope.” Nadia was joking. As one of four daughters, her whole family had mobilised like a well-organised machine to prepare for her wedding, but that didn’t stop Mum from stiffening. “But the wailing from my family would be heard from space, so instead, I’m spending a lot of time looking at various shades of white and making it seem like I can see a difference. How about you?” She nudged me with her hip. “I hear you walked in here with a male model?”

“Ah, yeah, Hayden.” I smiled weakly. “We’re dating, so?—”

“I don’t know how you do it,” Amber said, looking up from the coleslaw she was adding mayonnaise to. She was Steve’s wife and just as blunt as her husband. “Walking around with a guy that’s prettier than you are.”

“Amber!” Frannie, Dave’s wife, came out of the pantry and then smiled when she saw me. “Hey girl, let me get you a rum and Coke.”

“Jamie can take over making the garden salad,” Mum said, flicking her hands and then walking away from the sink.

I shot the other ladies a look, smirking as I turned to do as I was told. Each one of them knew exactly what kind of holy terror Mum was. I’m not sure any of their marriages would’ve survived if she still lived in our city.

“Some things are more important than looks, Amber,” Mum said and all of us sighed.

“Right, I just—” my sister-in-law spluttered.

“Reliability, security, having a partner you can depend on.”

“Sure and?—”

“Rather than being preoccupied by superficial things.” Mum’s gaze was so piercing I could feel it burrowing into the back of my neck, but I didn’t turn around. Instead, I spun the lettuce in the little plastic dryer thing and then tossed it into a large bowl along with some dressing. There was a pile of vegetables sitting by the chopping board, so I picked up a knife and went to work. “I’ve got a headache. I think I’m going to sit down in the shade for a bit.”

I’m not sure if anyone took a full breath until Mum left the kitchen, but when we did, I grabbed the salad stuff and placed it on the kitchen island.

“So everyone’s heard my news,” I said. “What’s up with you guys?”

“Oh my god, tripe?”

Nadia was telling us a story about Frankie going around to her grandma’s house for dinner.

“I told Nana not to make it, but she insisted it’s her signature dish and everyone loves it.” Her hand slapped down on her belly. “No one’s ever been brave enough to say anything to her about it.”

“Tripe’s sheep stomach, isn’t it?” Frannie asked faintly. “Well, now you know Frankie really loves you.”

“He does.” She paused for a second, and it felt like every ray of light was soaked up by my soon-to-be sister-in-law right then, but she quickly realised she was having a moment and blushed before adding more chopped green onions to the potato salad. “I’d given him a few tips as to how to get it down. Chew as little as possible, then swallow. He did that a little too enthusiastically and nearly choked, which had Nana in a flap. Got him out of eating more tripe, though, and he passed the final test before the engagement party. Now the planning is in full swing.”

She shot us all an apologetic look.

“My family is in overdrive. This party is going to be bigger than Ben Hur. I’m the last daughter to get married, so they’re pulling out all the stops, but hey, open bar and my parents are paying, so hopefully everyone will have fun.”

“It’ll be amazing, Nadia,” Frannie assured her. “And even if there’s some teething issues, a few beers in and no one will remember.”

“That reminds me, I need to book a babysitter,” Amber said. “Open bar? Mama’s getting her drink on.”

“The kids are welcome to come,” Nadia said, then looked out the window. By the sounds of their squeals, my niblings were on a rampage.

“We’ll be bringing our tribe.” Frannie said. “Hopefully they can behave for one night.”

“Knock back a break from the crotch goblins?” Amber shook her head. “No, I’m taking advantage of an opportunity to kick up my heels a bit. But what about you, Jamie?” Her sly smile told me I wasn’t going to like this shift in conversation one bit. “Who’re you bringing? You’ve got this whole ‘torn between two lovers’ thing going on.”