“Mr. Ryan!”

I turned at the sound of my name, the familiar clicking of heels on the wood floor.

Shit.

“Kristin,” I said. “We were just on our way out.”

“The clothes,” she said, nodding toward the key ring in my hand.

“Is there something I can do for you?”

“Ahhh,” she started, and gave me the most pained smile I’d ever seen. My stomach dropped on instinct. “There’s a slight issue.”

Deep breaths.

“‘Slight’?” I repeated. Small accident. Tiny problem. Minor wrinkle.

“Small,” she assured me with a smile. “Insignificant.”

“Here we go,” I heard Will say.

We followed her out a back door, across a patio, and down to the lawn where they were currently setting up for the wedding. Or trying to. My shoe sank into the grass with a sickening squelch on the first step.

“Oh, God,” I said, looking around. “Fuuuuck.” The entire area was flooded. Chairs were knocked over, tables askew with legs sinking into the swampy grass, workers rushing around in a panic.

“A sprinkler line broke during the night,” she said, apologetically. “They’ve stopped the water but as you can see . . .”

“Wow,” Will said, poking at a puddle with the tip of his sneaker.

I scrubbed my face with my hands and felt Max grip my shoulder, squeezing.

“They can fix it though, yeah?” he said, realizing I was two seconds from losing it and stepping in front of me.

“Oh, definitely,” Kristin was saying, though I couldn’t be sure through the sound of blood whooshing in my ears.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, panicked that Chloe had seen this and was freaking out.

But it was only my mother: Honey, do you happen to know if your father packed his black dress shoes? I can’t find them in our room but he says he did.

I shoved the phone back in my pocket, tuning in as Kristin was saying, “They’ve fixed the line, now we’ll work on getting this area dried up or move everything a bit farther down the beach.”

Max turned to me, charming smile in place. “See? Nothing to worry about, mate. We’ll pick up the dresses, get you some food . . . or maybe some alcohol, judging by your expression, and everything will be fine when we return. And if it’s all the same to you, I’ll just be taking these.” He plucked the keys from my hand.

“What are you doing?” I asked, reaching for them.

“Sorry, Ben, best for everyone, I’m afraid. You’re likely to mow down pedestrians in your state of mind and that would put a definite wrinkle in the wedding festivities.”

“I can drive, Max. Give me the goddamn keys.”

“Have you seen yourself? Got that vein thing happening,” he said, reaching up to tap my forehead before I smacked his hand away.

Will snorted behind me and I turned, leveling him with a glare. He held his hands out in front of him. “The man has a point,” he said, backing away.

I spun to Max again. “Do you even know how to drive?”

“Of course I do.”

“Here?”

He waved me off. “Left side, right side. How different can it be?”

Max guided us back through the hotel and out to valet. We argued the entire way, me calling Max a bossy asshole, and Max asking me where I’d left my purse. Will trailed behind, half asleep on his feet.

An attendant approached us immediately, ignoring our bickering as he matched the keys to a list pinned to a clipboard. We followed him to a white cargo van parked at the curb, cool in the shade of a grouping of palms. I waved off his offer of directions, placed a few dollars in his hand, and turned my back as he walked away.

“So, the plan. Will,” Max said, waiting a beat before reaching out and smacking Will across the cheek.

Will startled, eyes wide. “What?”

“You all right?”

“God, I’m just so fucking tired.”

“Well, have some coffee and snap out of it,” Max said. “You’ll ride with us to the cleaners, then take a cab from there to pick up the rings.”

“What, am I your little sidekick now? Why can’t Henry help with any of this?”

“Because Henry talks too much and you’re much prettier,” Max said. “Who knows? We may need to sweet talk a feisty old bird at the dry cleaners, and who is better than you at seducing cougars?” He patted Will’s cheek, cooing, “No one, Blossom. No one.”

Will yawned, clearly too tired to argue, and waved him off. “Yeah, whatever.”

Max walked around the van, stopping just beside the passenger door. “Ben, your chariot awaits.”

“Fuck you,” I said, slugging him in the shoulder as I climbed into the seat.

But I could hear him laughing as he rounded the front and got in, asking, “All right back there, William?”

“Yeah, yeah,” came the mumbled reply. “You’re both assholes.”

Max put the keys in the ignition and the engine roared to life. After grinning proudly at me he turned back and his face grew puzzled when he attempted to put the van in gear, only to be met with a horrible grinding noise.

“That’s encouraging,” I said.

“Would you stop being such a twat and relax? I’ve got this.”

“Of course you do.”

The van lurched forward and I made a dramatic point about fastening my seat belt. The tires screeched as we took the first turn and I reached blindly for the dash, anything to hold on to. Will wasn’t as lucky, and the sound of him tumbling around in the cargo area could be heard from the front seat.

“When was the last time you actually drove a car?” I asked, bracing myself as we prepared to take another turn.

He pursed his lips as he considered this. “Vegas,” he said with a nod, completely unfazed by the trail of blaring horns in our wake.

“Vegas? I don’t remember you driving anywhere in Vegas.”

He checked the directions on his phone, blazed through a yellow light at the very last minute, and nearly rear-ended a car at a stop sign. “It’s possible I borrowed a car while you boys were occupied.”

“Borrowed? Jesus.”

“Yeah. And actually . . . to be fair, it was a limo, not a car. But that’s not the point. I got there safe and sound in the end.”

“And did you notice anything unusual? Maybe a few rude hand gestures aimed in your direction? Police sirens?”

After several near-misses with much smaller cars—because you could practically see the Brit working to flip left and right around in his mind—we pulled up in front of the cleaners. Max glared at me as he put the van in park.

“Oh, God, somebody let me out,” Will groaned. I climbed down and opened the back door, watching as Will stumbled from the cargo area, and immediately moved to throw up in the bushes. Apparently, my point had been made.

The dry cleaner was a small, nondescript business nestled between a Chinese food restaurant and a comic book store in the center of a strip mall. Max motioned for me to lead the way and we paused at the front door, gazing up at a neon sign reading Satisfaction Guaranteed buzzing overhead.

“Bit unfortunate, that,” Max mused under his breath.

Thank God the clothes were ready. We opened each bag to make sure everything was accounted for—six dresses, eight tuxedos—and proceeded to carry them out to the van. Max made sure to keep his promise to my mother, and kept me far from Chloe’s wedding gown.

“There’s no way you’re driving us back,” I said to Max once the last bag had been loaded.

“You still going on about that?” he asked

“Did you see yourself out there? After he puked, Will was practically kissing the ground.” I reached for the keys, managing to snag them from his hand.

“Like you could do any better? My gran’s a better driver than you. She’s eighty-two and has glaucoma.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of the police helicopter and the warrant for your arrest,” I said, and swore as Max grabbed the keys back from me.

Will stepped between us, snagging the key ring and rubbing his temples. “Will you two just shut the fuck up? If I have to go back to the hotel and run from those women all night, I am not putting up with your bullshit, too. Ben? You drive,” he said, pushing the keys into my hand again. “Max? Play nice and wait your turn. My cab is here. I’ll pick up the rings and meet you back there.” He looked between us, waiting for some sort of protest.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Fine,” Max sighed.

“Good. Now try not to kill each other on the way back.”

I entered the address for the Del into my phone and waited for the directions to appear. Max sat silently in the seat next to me.