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Dolores Barros in Spanish. Pained Muds in English. Thanks, Mom.

Joy was fleeting. It lasted only as long as it took her to pull out an embossed card announcing Starla and Elaine’s nuptials. Unable to believe what she was reading, it took her several times to understand that on August first at sunrise, two near-perfect strangers were going to make a terrible mistake in front of God and everyone. And Lola’s presence was requested to helplessly witness it all.

“Starla, you’ve lost your fucking mind.”

She couldn’t imagine what possessed her to be so reckless. To go through with such a crazy notion. To risk everything she’d worked so hard for… no one could be worth that. Not someone she’d known for a couple of months at the most.

Picking up the phone, Lola dialed Starla. Maybe if she reacted like the invitation was a joke, Starla would realize how naïve she was being. There wasn’t any such thing as love at first sight. There was barely any objective evidence to prove love was real at all.

CHAPTER25

The humid pre-dawnair clung to Carmen’s skin as she made her way across the sandy beach. Despite Carmen’s best efforts to talk Elaine out of it, she insisted on going through with marrying Starla. She was convinced that it wasn’t a late-stage midlife crisis. That getting married wasn’t a stress response to the lawsuit — an attempt to feel something other than worry and anxiety.

Elaine wouldn’t even consider a prenup. It was like the memory of her traumatic divorce years earlier had been wiped clean. Like she’d forgotten how badly someone who loved you once could devastate you. How quickly love could turn to disdain.

So there Carmen was — walking in sandals and a short, white linen dress over the sand.

Who wanted guests to wear white to their wedding? It was an odd request, but no stranger than marrying people they couldn’t possibly know yet.

There was already a small crowd gathered around an archway sticking out of the sand. White fabric flowed in the breeze that didn’t do anything to cool Carmen’s damp skin.

In the low light, Carmen couldn’t make out any faces, but she was sure she didn’t see Lola. She’d recognize her from the outline of her body. Know her from the steep curve of her hips and the slope of her lower back.

She probably won’t be here, Carmen decided, lowering her expectations. There was only a tiny part of Carmen that thought Elaine and Starla falling in love and getting married was romantic. That there was something brave and beautiful about plunging in with both feet.

The rest of her thought there was no reason to be hasty. To make an avoidable mistake. Why rush into something so permanent?

Joining the small crowd, Carmen made small talk until her skin prickled with a familiar heat she couldn’t blame on the weather. She turned toward the pull.

In wide-legged white pants and a loose knit tank, Lola looked even sexier than she had in her gown. Hands in her pockets and hair pulled back to show off her stunning eyes, Lola looked too cool to be striding across the beach at sunrise.

Carmen wanted to meet her before she reached the crowd. To run her fingers along Lola’s spine, pull her close and whisper how stunning she was. But the gulf between them felt immeasurable.

After their kiss in Carmen’s office, it was like Lola wanted nothing to do with her. Like she didn’t know what to do if they weren’t fighting. But even arguing with Lola was preferable to the distance she didn’t know how to fix. In all the ways they’d whispered to each other, she had no idea how to talk to her. No clue how to shake their history and start again.

Before Carmen could approach Lola and think of something to say on the fly, the wedding coordinator gathered everyone together.

Elaine took her place beneath the arch. In an ivory linen suit and a smile she couldn’t drop, Elaine had never looked happier. For once, Carmen understood what people meant when they described a person as glowing.

Shuffled onto Elaine’s side of the small gathering, Carmen looked across the makeshift aisle to find Lola was already looking at her. Dark eyes highlighted by expertly painted makeup, Lola trapped her in her gaze. Carmen could usually read her every thought, but in the salty breeze, she had no clue what she was thinking.

A violinist appeared while Carmen was distracted, but the sound of the soft strings knocked her out of her reverie. The crowd shifted its attention away from the water and toward the faded lifeguard tower in the sand.

Starla was a striking figure in her white dress, but it was the woman walking her down the aisle that made Carmen’s mouth go dry. Fortune, dressed in overlapping white fabrics, was grinning as she escorted Starla toward the altar.

Snapping her head to the side, Carmen felt Lola’s rage a second before she saw it on her face. She held her breath. The last thing they needed was Lola losing her mind on Fortune in front of all these witnesses. Not when half of them were already recording the events and Lola couldn’t be trusted not to threaten violence.

Without letting herself think about it, Carmen leapt across the divide and stood between Lola and Fortune, who was nearing the gathered guests.

Pulling Lola in close enough to whisper directly in her ear, Carmen ignored her cologne and focused on what was important. “She could be baiting us. Anything we say she could use against us in court. No matter what she says or does, do not react.”

Lola flashed her a much easier to read expression. She was angry, frustrated. It wasn’t like Lola to keep her mouth shut. Carmen understood that, but it was the only way to make it through this.

Pressing her body to her again like they were there on a date, Carmen whispered against the shell of Lola’s ear and prayed she could put her stubbornness aside and hear her. “We can leave.”

Lola’s attention shot to the parking lot. It was far and there was no way for them to slip away without making a scene, but it was preferable to making their legal situation worse. Carmen was going to make the lawsuit go away, she was sure of it, but they couldn’t jeopardize that by getting into a shouting match with the plaintiff at a wedding.

None of these people knew Fortune was a fraud. All Lola would manage to do was make them look crazy. Like they were attacking some poor spiritual soul who’d brought Elaine and Starla together.