“That’s sad.” Eliza couldn’t imagine not having a backbone and allowing a man to rule over her.

“If given the opportunity, you’d get along fine with her. Chances are Max won’t allow a friendship to develop, so please don’t think it’s you.”

“Are they all coming to the wedding?” Cash asked.

Eliza knew that Carter had invited his grandparents, and Max and Sally. After learning more about his uncle, she couldn’t help but hope the last minute invitation wouldn’t be accepted.

“Max and Sally are coming. I haven’t heard from John and Carol.” John and Carol were Carter’s grandparents. She found it odd that he addressed them by their first names.

“I’ll pin my mother down for an answer tomorrow and phone you with the information.”

By the end of the evening, Eliza felt as if she’d known Carter’s parents for a long time. She looked forward to seeing them at the wedding and knew they would be the anchor of sanity while navigating Carter’s family.

“Your parents were surprisingly real,” Eliza told Carter once they were alone in the car on the way back to the airport.

“You were expecting blow up dolls?”

“You know what I mean.”

Carter switched lanes and navigated onto the freeway.

“Everyone says the same thing. My dad was a cop for years. It’s hard to not be real after that. People anticipate a Kennedy when they consider my mother’s upbringing.”

Eliza could see how that would be expected. Abigail might be polished, but she wasn’t pretentious at all. “You’re lucky to have them.”

Carter glanced her way and his expression shifted into sorrow. He grasped her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“I am. I should have realized that meeting my parents would remind you of yours.”

“My parents were happy, too. Spending time with your parents reminded me of the good times.”

“I wish they could be here for the wedding,” Carter told her.

“If they were alive we wouldn’t be getting married.” Her attempt to correct Carter resulted in his frown.

“I guess,” he mumbled.

What does that mean?

Their flight home was uneventful and quiet. Eliza wasn’t sure what she’d said to upset him, but she could feel his mood shift. Between the silence, the wine, and the late hour, Eliza found herself nodding off on the plane.

Security followed them from the airport to her house where Carter dropped her off without even a hug.

Sleeping was impossible. Memories of the good times with her parents morphed into the time following their deaths. The empty shell of her life twisted into bitter feelings and a hard shell around her heart. For years, she didn’t let anyone in.

That had changed, somehow. Her deep friendship with Samantha and the affection for the people in her life, for Carter, made her vulnerable.

She once again questioned if she was doing the right thing. Curled up in a ball on the side of the bed was Zod. Outside of guard dogs, Eliza never had owned a pet. Pets equaled roots and she knew better than to plant those.

Yet here she was forty-eight hours from her wedding with thick wooded roots growing everywhere.

What happens when it falls apart? She held no illusion that it wouldn’t at some point. Happiness didn’t last forever.

Stop thinking, Lisa! She twisted her pillow so the cool side hit her face and curled into a fetal position. Stop thinking!

Chapter Seventeen

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Eliza stared down Gwen, Sam, and Karen and backed away from the silk scarf they held up for her to put on.

“C’mon, Eliza. You’re getting married tomorrow, and if there is one thing I missed out on with my marriage to Blake, it was a bachelorette party.”

Bachelorette party? Was Sam kidding her? “You get married every friggin’ year.”

“But it isn’t the same!” Samantha and Karen shoved their way into the house and waved at the cute security guard sitting in the car at the end of the drive.

Zod started to bark at the sudden appearance at the door. Eliza told him to stand back in a language he could understand.

“Are you surprised?” Gwen asked as she placed a fake tiara on her head.

Surprised? She was settling into a long episode of Home and Boring Television to lull her to sleep. After only a text from Carter since their trip to his parents, Eliza was a mite apprehensive about her decision to marry the man.

“I’m stunned,” Eliza told her temporary roommate.

“Since you invited Karen to bring Sedgwick to the wedding, I thought it was okay to ask her to come,” Samantha pointed out as they walked into the kitchen with bottles of expensive wine in their hands.

Eliza smiled at Karen, knowing she could trust her. “Of course it’s okay.”

“We wanted to take you to Hollywood. There’s this great place on Sunset that was perfect. But your security detail nixed our plans.”

Deep inside, Eliza was charmed by the ladies’ effort. From nowhere, Gwen produced a small cake in the shape of a tied knot with Eliza and Carter’s name on it.

Samantha uncorked a bottle and poured everyone a glass. “You know, I miss this place sometimes.”

“Mrs. Sweeny still cooks fish every Friday night and stinks up the neighborhood,” Eliza reminded her friend.

Samantha wrinkled her nose. “Really?’

“And the yippy dog across the street barks all day,” Gwen added.

Sam shook her head. “I still miss it. In a weird way.”

“Psychotic way.”

Gwen shook her head. “I disagree.” The hoity British accent added to Gwen’s claim. “It might be quaint, but it’s liberating.”

“This coming from a woman who has lived a life of privilege.”

“Privilege and restraint. That security detail that is keeping us from scantily clad men shaking their bottoms for our eyes, followed me around London most of my life. I know better than anyone here does how straining that can be after a while. Living here without those bonds has been relaxing beyond words.”

Eliza tipped back the wine and enjoyed. “I hear ya.” She could only hope the security guards were temporary.

“Is someone going to explain why they’re here?” Karen asked.

Samantha didn’t miss a beat in her cover up. “Tomorrow, Eliza is marrying the man who may be the next Governor of California. They insisted on security.”