Tom had called three days before the wedding and told her he planned to bring Kristen.

Emma agreed.

But she had been specific.

Kristen was welcome as a guest.

No involvement in family photos unless Emma invited her.

No rearranging seats.

No toast.

“I told him I barely know you,” Emma said to Kristen.

“I wanted you to feel welcome. I just didn’t want to pretend we already had a relationship we don’t have.”

Kristen looked horrified.

“He told me the exact opposite.”

Emma closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

Kristen shook her head.

“No. I’m sorry.”

And suddenly, every strange moment from earlier made sense.

The photograph.

The seating chart.

The speech.

Kristen had not been deliberately forcing herself into Emma’s wedding.

She believed Emma had asked her to participate.

Sophie looked at Tom.

“So you’ve been lying to both of them.”

Tom’s jaw tightened.

“This is not the place for this.”

Sophie laughed once.

“Of course you’d say that.”

“Sophie,” Emma warned.

But Sophie was still staring at her father.

“This is all Dad’s fault.”

“No.”

Emma said it quietly.

Everyone still heard her.

Sophie turned.

“No?”

“Dad did this.”

Emma gestured toward Kristen.

Then she looked at Sophie.

“You did this.”

Finally, she looked at me.

“And Mom does it too.”

My stomach dropped.

“Emma—”

“Do you know how many messages I send before every family event?”

Nobody answered.

“Every birthday.”

Her voice trembled.

“Every graduation.”

She looked at Tom.

“Every Christmas.”

Then at Sophie.

“Every single one.”

She started listing them.

“Dad will arrive at six.”

“Mom, Dad may bring someone.”

“Sophie, please don’t start anything.”

“Dad, Uncle Daniel is coming. Don’t make it uncomfortable.”

She looked at all of us.

“I’ve been doing this since I was seventeen.”

Seventeen.

Suddenly I saw her at seventeen again.

Sitting at our kitchen table after Tom moved out.

Asking whether Sophie knew.

Wondering whether Christmas would be different.

Asking whether her father would still attend school events.

At the time, I thought she was handling our divorce beautifully.

She wasn’t handling the divorce.