Jake snorted and earned himself a jab in the ribs.
“I’m thinking of getting married in green,” Riley said as she fixed the flower in Grace’s hair. “Or maybe black. Ooh, or leopard print.”
“That should go nicely with the classic lilies we picked out,” Emma said, resting her chin on her hands.
“Don’t get lilies,” Alex drawled. “Bad luck.”
Emma turned to glare. “They are not.”
“Yeah? How’d those carefully selected centerpieces work out for us?” Alex asked, his voice every bit as cool as Emma’s.
“That’s not going to happen to us when we finally get to wedding planning, right?” Sam asked, pulling Riley against him.
“Get to wedding planning?”
“The major stuff, I mean,” he hurriedly corrected.
“Oh, the major stuff. So the venue I’ve reserved, and the save-the-date cards I’ve ordered … those were just, what? Trivial little details?”
“Abort. Abort,” Mitchell said through a cough.
Sam held up his hands in surrender. “If you want me to help, I will.”
“Say no, Ri,” Grace said, “You should have seen the cake Jake tried to sneak in here. It was shaped like a whale. Literally.”
“Hey, it was huge. And more cake never hurt anyone,” Jake said.
“Hear, hear,” Riley said, raising her glass with genuine enthusiasm.
Julie gently put a hand on Riley’s wrist, forcing her arm down. “If we’re going to do a toast at our best friend’s wedding, it needs to be about something other than cake.”
“Why?” Riley asked.
Julie glared. “Get it together, McKenna. Despite all your fussing about being the flower girl, you’re the maid of honor.”
“We’re all maids of honor—”
“Which I can tell was such a great decision,” Grace said sarcastically.
“I’ve got this,” Emma said, standing and giving the rest of the group a pointed look until they all stood as well. “We’ll do the publi
c toast later, but let’s do a quick private one now. Fast, before Camille makes her way over here and makes good on her promise to sing ‘On the Wings of Love.’ ”
“We’ve got some time,” Cassidy said. “I saw her asking one of the servers for late-night swim lessons. And then her hands wandered.”
“Never mind the cake,” Riley muttered. “I just lost my appetite.”
“First time for everything,” Sam said.
Emma cleared her throat pointedly. “Ahem. Here’s to Jake and Grace. I can think of no two better people better suited to the sham—”
Alex pinched her upper arm.
“To the miracle,” Emma corrected, “that is marriage.”
“And to Grace,” Julie took over, “who is the best friend any of us can possibly imagine, even if she has better boobs than the rest of us …”
“And to Jake,” Riley added. “Who actually does have some brains lurking behind—above?—his overly white teeth.”