It wasn’t until we were in the air and getting served our first beverage that Ryan asked me about the call. “Talk to me. What did he have to say?”

It was hard to talk with several passengers blatantly gawking at us. “He mentioned getting together.”

Ryan’s expression said that’s good and is that something you want to do?

I answered his nonverbal question with “Yes. I need to.”

He squeezed my hand and gave me a resolute nod, assuring me that he’d make that happen.

“Oh my God, Taryn. I’m gonna choke her,” Marie announced loudly and in no uncertain terms into my ear. After spending a few hours on a plane, a forty-minute drive to the hotel, and a restless night’s sleep on a very stiff hotel mattress, I was not awake enough to understand her reasons. I set my coffee cup down and held my cell away and could still hear her clearly.

Ryan was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he took the silver lid off the omelet that room service had just delivered. We had slept in, since Ryan didn’t have to be anywhere until one o’clock.

“You know that girl Gary has been seeing? Well, I just found out that she’s a friend of Tammy’s.”

I winced as my stomach felt drop-kicked. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope. I wish I was. I am so mad I can kill them both.”

“How did you find this out?”

Marie scoffed. “Because the whore is in your pub kitchen right now helping Tammy out, that’s how. I just came down to prep and stock and there she was, baking and shit like it’s no big deal. I cannot believe Tammy would do this to me! I thought we were friends, but friends don’t hook up their other friends with my scumbag soon-to-be-ex husband.”

I pulled the sheer curtain back, looking out at the gray skies over Vancouver, thinking about how quickly wonderful things can turn to shit.

“Did you say anything to her?”

Marie hemmed. “No. I thought she looked familiar, until it dawned on me how I knew her. She’d better stay the hell out of the pub, that’s all I have to say. She sets one foot in here and I swear to God I’m going to hammer-fist her. As a matter of fact, screw it. I’m going back there and giving both of those hags a piece of my mind.”

I could hear her on the move. “Wait a minute! Stop! I don’t think you want to do that.”

She groaned in anger. “Oh yeah, I do. She crossed the line by bringing her here. I’m gonna—”

“Wait.” I scrambled, watching Ryan saunter in his boxers over to the dining table. “I have a question first.”

She huffed. “What?”

“Boxers or briefs?”

“What?”

“Mike. Is he a boxers or a briefs guy?”

Ryan’s eyes glared up over the top of his laptop screen while he chewed his breakfast. I held out a finger for him to hold on to that disapproving thought for a second—I had a point to make.

Marie sucked in some air. “Boxer briefs. Best invention ever. With that elastic band riding real low.”

She sighed a bit. “He’s got those Ken doll leg-hinge muscle-gap things going on. You know what I mean?

The V pockets?”

I’d just so happened to have been staring at my own set of amazing leg hinges, which disappeared like an arrow into his shorts, moments before. “Yes, I do.” Ryan smirked at me, apparently taking my dirty purr and hungry eyes for what they were worth.

“Thanks,” Marie whispered out, sounding a bit calmer. “I know you’re trying to calm me down but I still want to go back there and confront her. Bringing that girl here is not cool, Tar. I don’t care how you color it. Is she doing this to rub my nose in it? I mean, why?”

“I honestly don’t know, but I promise I’ll find out. Just swear to me you’ll stay out of the kitchen until I get to the bottom of it, okay?”

As soon as I hung up with Marie, I took a deep breath and scrolled down to Tammy’s number, knowing loyalties were about to be tested. Right off the bat she greeted me with a snarky snip to her voice, which didn’t bode well.

After getting a quick update on how Pete was doing, I got to the second purpose of my call.

“I don’t know how to ask this so I’m just going to come right out with it. I know you have someone there with you today, and I want to know if it’s the girl that Gary is seeing.”

Tammy sighed—loudly. “What difference does it make?”

Cocky was not the way to deal with me right now. “Are you kidding?”

“I have a business to run and I needed the help. What do you want me to say?”

If I could have climbed through my phone and shaken her, I would have. “And you didn’t think that this would be a problem? My God, Tammy. Are you that insensitive?”

“I’m not trying to be insensitive, Taryn. Pete is laid up, I’ve got orders to fill and a wedding to cater tomorrow, and I don’t see anyone else offering to help. You know with Pete out of work I’m the only one earning any money. And now we have hospital bills piling up and ambulance bills to pay. I’m sorry if that upsets people, but I had no other choice.”

Now I was rubbing my forehead. “And your only choice was to enlist the help of the girl who broke Marie’s marriage apart?”

Tammy growled. “Amy didn’t do that. Look, I don’t have time to talk about this now.”

I wanted to scream. “Fine. But I would prefer if you didn’t rub it in Marie’s face.”

“I’m not rubbing anything—”

“You brought her there, Tammy! Are you forgetting that Marie lives upstairs now because her cheating husband locked her out of her own damn house?”

I could hear her frustrated huff. “I didn’t think she’d care. She’s moved on with Ryan’s bodyguard, hasn’t she?”

“That’s not the point. No woman wants to see her replacement, Tammy. Ever.”

“Well, she’s going to have to get used to it sooner or later. I might as well tell you now that Pete and his brother, Jim, are not speaking to each other and Pete’s had it this time. He wants Gary to be his best man now, which means that I don’t have a maid of honor since my sister-in-law, Deb, was it. So I’ve asked Amy to be my maid of honor so Marie doesn’t have to feel obligated.”

“Unbelievable . . .”

“What? She said she didn’t want to come if Gary was going to be there anyway, so I don’t know what the big deal is.”

My anger bumped up to an entirely new notch.

“I thought Marie would be relieved since she’s busy running the bar now that you’re not around much,” Tammy said. “She doesn’t have time to help me anyway. Neither do you. You’re never home anymore.”

I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out why she was being so pissy, but her tantrum was uncalled for.

“That’s a little unfair, Tammy.”

I heard what sounded like a metal tray hitting the floor at the same time Tammy said, “Oh, shit . . .

Marie, just wait a minute . . .”

I could hear Marie’s voice loud and clear. “It’s a simple question. I just want to know how long you’ve been fucking my husband, that’s all.”

Oh, shit was right. “Tammy, get your friend out of there.” I heard the girl, Amy, stuttering in the background, saying something about not knowing he was married when they met.

“Marie, he never told her he was married—”

“Don’t even fucking talk to me right now, Tammy. You mean to tell me your friend didn’t know he was married? You think I’m that naïve to believe that you didn’t have a hand in this?”

“I didn’t,” Tammy pleaded. “I didn’t know about it until after they’d met.”

“We went to L.A. together and you didn’t think to tell me that he was screwing around?”

I felt like I was in the middle of a war that was being broadcasted over cell phones. I felt completely incapable of fighting for the cause.

“It wasn’t my place to tell you that.”

What? Oh, bullshit.

Marie’s voice got even louder. Good. “Wasn’t your place? I thought we were friends, Tammy. Friends that have each other’s backs through the good, bad, and ugly. But I guess I was sadly mistaken.”

“I am your friend! You are blow—”