Jaycee is already there, and she gives me a giant hug when I walk in, almost as if she knows something I don’t. So, of course, I immediately start my interrogation.

“Did you see Landon? Did you do reshoots or see Jace and he was there or something because you tell me right now if you know something I don’t because I’m starting to freak out.”

“Starting?” She chuckles, and Theresa rubs my shoulder before tying the balloons to a singular chair in the middle of Penny’s sitting room.

“You’d freak out, too, if your fiancé suddenly went AWOL.”

I nod vigorously, internally thanking my best friend for having my back. Jaycee peels my fingers from her forearm, which I didn’t realize I had in a death grip.

“He called yesterday to schedule a reshoot for a scene, but that’s all we talked about. I had no idea he’d been dodging you until Theresa invited me to an impromptu bridal shower.”

The words knock the wind out of me. Hearing someone else say he’s avoiding me sends blood rushing through my cheeks. My heart sounds in my ears, and I pray to the high almighty that Landon isn’t leaving me. He can’t be leaving me, right?

A chink of glass brings all our attentions to Penny at the bar, champagne flute filled to the rim. She sticks her arm straight out to me.

“Drink, chill, and you can Landon-bash later.”

I gulp and clear my froggy throat. “How about we bash him now so I get it out of my system? Then I can love him again for the rest of the night.”

Theresa takes the champagne from Penny and raises it. “Okay, I’ll go first.”

Penny fills three more glasses, and we all grab one and follow Theresa’s lead.

“Landon Wangford, my good friend, please stop hurting my best friend and learn to use a damn phone.”

“Hear, hear,” I say, nodding and moving my gaze to Jaycee, who’s on Theresa’s left.

“And Landon,” she says, “please stop singing on set, especially when you don’t know the words.”

A smile breaks out on my face. I didn’t know he did that, and really, I don’t fault him for it at all.

“Landon Wangford,” Penny says with a sigh. “You need better friends.”

We all raise our eyebrows at her, and she lifts a shoulder.

“What? He does. Seriously, Jace should’ve kicked his ass out the door and told him to go home and sleep with his gorgeous fiancée. Right? Stupid Jace and his stupid ‘I don’t do commitment’ face.”

I press my lips together and just nod. Apparently her grudge has not dissipated over the last six months since Jace broke it off. At least they’re civil when we all get together.

They all turn to me, and I shake my head. “Oh right, my turn.” I straighten my back, hold my flute out, and take a deep breath.

“Landon, you don’t do laundry. You use my conditioner, making the shampoo/conditioner ratio jacked up. You clip your toenails in the living room. You never make the bed. You leave your socks on the floor every day. Every day. Pick up those socks! But I love you, and hell if I can’t stop loving you despite all of those things. So thanks for being irresistible to the point that I can’t even bash on you without remembering why I want to marry you. Damn you and your adorable flaws.”

We all raise our glasses once more before tipping them back to my future husband and all his faults that I can’t help but love him for.

Theresa downs her entire glass and sets it on the bar with a smile.

“Okay…time for games.”

—

Theresa must’ve looked up bridal shower games on the Internet, because I don’t think either of us has attended something like this, but she has us set for the rest of the night. Penny and I end up modeling toilet paper dresses designed by Theresa and Jaycee, we unscramble a bunch of famous couples, play what she called “Purse Brigade,” which is when we win stuff if we have certain items in our pocketbooks. And now we’re getting ready to play, as she so enthusiastically titled it, “Light Up the Lovers.”

“I’m afraid to even ask,” I say through a laugh when she pulls out a giant poster board.

“Rules are simple…I asked Landon questions—”

“When?” I shout, making Penny dump half her champagne in her lap.

“A while ago. How do you think I put this together so fast? I’ve been planning your bridal shower and bachelorette party since the day he slipped that beauty on your finger.”

Theresa tapes the poster board against the wall. There are several colorful cards in the middle, all with a category at the top. Then there are giant pictures on each side, one of me and one of Landon, with a string of Christmas lights dangling down.

“Oh boy…”

Theresa stands back to plug in the lights, which don’t go on.

“Okay,” she says like it’s not supposed to work, “I asked Landon to answer questions all about him. Every question you get right, I’ll twist the bulb and light you up. Every question you get wrong, Landon gets a light.”

“What do I get when I win?” I ask, batting a balloon Jaycee tosses at me.

“A surprise. And bragging rights.” She points at Jaycee and Penny. “These are your lifelines. You can only use them once in each category, so choose wisely.”

Penny tips back her flute and pours another. I better use her fast, before she’s too out of her mind to be of any help.

“Okay,” I say, clapping my hands and rubbing them. “I’m ready.”

“Which one you want?” Theresa points to the cards.

I gaze across the categories, immediately dismissing “Parents, Pets, and Siblings” and going for the less scary “Your Body Is a Wonderland.”

Theresa plucks off the top one with a grin. “Name a scar Landon has in a place that’s usually hidden, and describe how he got it.”

“Wow, getting personal right off the bat,” I say, and Theresa shrugs with a coy grin. “Well, if it’s the one I’m thinking…he has a scar on his inner thigh, really close to his lovely man jewels, and he got it from one of those stand-up roller coasters. Went down the hill and hit the bottom with a delightful pinching. ‘At least it missed the goods,’ ” I say in my “Landon” voice.

Jaycee snorts in a high-pitched laughter, a helium balloon pinched closed between her fingers. Theresa lights up two Christmas lights on my side for using the exact quote Landon used in his answer, and Penny downs another glass of champagne.

Feeling high on my horse, I quickly pick a question from “Living with Your Lover.”

“If your place caught on fire, what are three things Landon would save?”

My horse lowers on its haunches. I’m stumped silly, but I take a guess. “His laptop.” That one has to be on the list. All his footage is on that thing. That and the hard drive. “Oh! His hard drive. And, um…his Beetlejuice cap. It’s his favorite.”

Theresa smiles and clicks on three lights for Landon.

“I didn’t get any?”

“He was actually very romantic for this answer.”

I snort. Landon is rarely romantic in front of anyone else but me. And even then it’s more playful than anything else.

“What were they?”

“You.”

“I didn’t know that was an option!” I laugh.

“The bowling score sheet from the wall.”

I internally sigh. He looks at that thing all the time and says he let me win that night.

Theresa grins at whatever expression is on my face, then says, “And your iPod.”

“My iPod? What a liar!” I laugh. “He hates my music.”

“He said he could see you outside with the bowling scores in one hand, the iPod in the other, and while the place is up in smoke, you’d turn to him and press play on—”

“You are my fire, the one desire,” I sing in a perfect Backstreet Boys impression.

Jaycee puts a hand to her chest and says in her very helium-filled voice, “You two are so adorable…and such losers.”

We laugh, and Theresa lights up one of my lights before crossing the room and taking the champagne bottle from Penny, who was about to pour yet another flute. Penny says, “Hey,” but doesn’t put up too much of a fight.