Chapter 1

Every time I get jealous, my best friend gets a day with my fiancé.

He and the two guys I grew up with call it teaching me to trust him.

Tonight, Sophie picks up Ryan's glass and drinks from it.

Her own is full.

I reach across the table and pick up the glass.

"That's Ryan's."

Luke blows his whistle before I can set it down.

People at the next table turn.

Adam pulls a little notebook from his jacket. "Possessive behavior. One pass."

He tears a card from the back and slides it toward Sophie. Luke presses his stamp into the red ink pad and stamps the card. He carries both everywhere now.

APPROVED.

Sophie presses her lips together, trying not to smile.

"Guys. Maybe we shouldn't."

Ryan puts an arm along the back of her chair.

"She needs to learn."

I'm sitting across from him.

There's an empty chair beside me.

Sophie turns the card over. "Can I use this tomorrow?"

"What do you want?" Ryan asks.

"The whole day. You pick me up, we get brunch, maybe drive somewhere."

"And the front seat," Luke adds.

Sophie laughs. "Obviously."

They high-five across the table.

Ryan joins in.

I put his glass down.

A year ago, the passes were handwritten on cocktail napkins.

Now they have expiration dates.

Sophie has used them to take his birthday, our anniversary dinner, and two weekends I planned.

Once, she used one on the day my mother had surgery.

I called Ryan from the hospital parking garage.

"Please. I know you said you'd take her to the movie, but I don't want to do this alone."

Before he could answer, I heard pages turning.

Adam was with him.

"Full-day pass," he said. "It's on the calendar."

Then Sophie, softer.

"I can give it up. Really."

"No," Ryan said. "If we make exceptions every time Claire gets upset, what's the point?"

He told me to call when my mother was out.

I sat outside the operating room until the surgeon came to find me.

By then, all four of them had posted pictures from the premiere.

Tonight, the notebook is on the table again.

We're supposed to be picking a wedding date.

Or confirming one.

It has become difficult to tell the difference.

Adam empties the remaining passes beside the breadbasket.

Luke counts them.

"Huh. These take us right through the wedding."

Ryan glances at the cards, then at me.

"We can move it one more day."

"The invitations have gone out."

"So we send an update."

"We've already sent an update."

He reaches across the table and squeezes my cheek.

"Come on. You've made so much progress."

Sophie looks down at the cards.

"I don't have to use them all."

"Of course you do," Luke says. "You earned them."

Ryan keeps looking at me.

"Get through the rest without a scene, and we're done. You'll have me all to yourself."

I look at his hand.

At the man who has postponed our wedding eight times and still expects me to be grateful that he plans to marry me eventually.

Then I slide my engagement ring off.

I drop it into the little wooden box Sophie uses to keep her passes.

The sound is small.

Everyone hears it.

"You don't have to keep redeeming them," I tell her. "You can have him."

For a moment, nobody moves.

Then Luke laughs.

Adam reaches for his notebook.

"Leaving in a huff. That's another—"

"Don't."

My voice is quiet enough that he stops.

I open our group chat and leave it.

Luke's phone lights up.

"Oh, come on."

An invitation appears on my screen.

I decline it.

Sophie takes the ring out of the box.

"Claire, I never wanted to take him from you."

I stand.

Ryan's hand closes around my wrist.

"Sit down."

I look at his fingers until he lets go.

"We're talking about our wedding," he says.

"No. You're talking about how long I have to wait for you to stop dating my friend."

His jaw tightens.

"That is not what this is."

"What was it when my mother was in surgery?"

He leans back.

"She's fine."

Adam nods. "And that was an important test. If it only works when nothing matters, you haven't really learned anything."

Luke reaches for his drink.

"You can't expect a free pass every time life gets hard."

Sophie holds my ring between two fingers.

"I said I'd cancel that day."

The date was written on her card.

I remember seeing it in her photo.

She knew.

They all knew.

I pick up my bag.

Ryan doesn't follow me.

Outside, my phone buzzes before I reach the corner.

Come home when you're done.

Then:

Don't throw away our wedding over a game.

I go to the hospital instead.

Mom is awake when I step into her room.

"Did you eat?"

"Yes."

She looks at me for a moment.

Then she moves her hand across the blanket, making room for mine.

I sit beside her.

She doesn't ask where Ryan is.

That makes it worse.

Around eleven, my phone lights up with a message from our wedding planner.

Hi, Claire. Before I revise the vendor schedule again, can you confirm the new date?

I step into the hallway and call her.

"Ryan said you'd agreed," Melissa tells me.

"I didn't."

There's a pause.

"Okay. I'll hold off."

"Has he been making other changes?"

Another pause.

"I thought you were getting the updates from Sophie."

"What updates?"

"She's been coming to the appointments with him."

I stare through the glass at my mother sleeping.

"Since when?"

"About a month."

Melissa sounds uncomfortable now.

"Ryan said wedding planning was getting overwhelming for you. He asked me to coordinate with her."

I open the planning portal.

My name is still there.

So is Ryan's.

Under Primary Contact, there's a third name.

Sophie Reed.