Ivy couldn’t help but wonder what had happened after she left the bridal store. Perhaps Shea had ended up finding a dress without her. Perhaps Owen had calmed her down with his sweet, sensible ways. Perhaps the two of them had eaten dinner and Shea had restored her sense of humor over crab cakes at Elijah’s. Perhaps—and this was a reach—her sister had forgiven her. She sat for a long time at the island sipping coffee, wondering if either her mother or sister would happen by. At one point she thought she heard her mother on the phone, the girlish giggle she’d heard before wafting through the house. She frowned into her coffee, thinking that today she would mention her mother’s secret conversations to Leah, press her to tell her what she knew. One thing she’d learned about her mother long ago, there was precious little she didn’t tell Leah. That had once been true of her and Shea. Her mother entered the room just as Ivy was about to go upstairs and shower. Ivy set her cup down on the island, empty except for a fraction of an inch of milky coffee in the bottom of the cup.
