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When he called again, I peeked behind me.
     
    “Mel, over here.” Todd held up a white cloth and rushed toward me. Behind him, I caught a pair of bright eyes scanning the crowd frantically. I ducked behind a conveniently placed pillar, willing myself to become invisible.
     
    Todd stopped, having lost sight of me. “Over here,” I half-whispered, peeking around the pole.
     
    He jogged over, the fabric—a sweater—dangling from one hand. “Can you give this to Beth? She left it in the groom’s prep room.”
     
    “Uh, sure. No problem.” I grabbed the sweater and turned on my heel.
     
    “Thanks a lot. Beth gets cold on the warmest days, so I know she’ll need this,” he said behind me.
     
    I avoided making eye contact with Jason and raced to the exit, using an older couple as camouflage. Before I could make my escape, I saw him lean in close to his brother’s ear and point in my direction. Great.
     
    Bursting through the door, I crashed into Beth.
     
    “Whoa, Melissa,” she said, half catching me, half steadying herself. “Where’s the fire?”
     
    Her use of one of Mitch’s favorite phrases snapped me back to reality.
     
    “Sorry! I just…was…” Running from embarrassment? Not when it was standing right in front of me.
     
    While I tripped over my brain, Beth looked down at my hand. “Is that mine?”
     
    Duh . “Um, yeah, here.” I thrust the sweater at her, kicking myself for missing the obvious, again. “I was…uh…looking for you, actually.”
     
    “Thanks,” she said carefully.
     
    After an awkward second of silence while the couple I’d used as a human shield hobbled by, I tugged on my blouse and headed down the path toward the parking lot. “See you at the reception,” I said over my shoulder and marched off.
     
    I made it to the stairs before I realized I wasn’t alone.
     
    “Who were they?” Beth asked.
     
    Why is she following me? “Who?”
     
    “The couple you just spoke to—the people you’re meeting later.”
     
    Nice. “No one. I was just being polite.” To you!
     
    I started down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
     
    “Slow down, Mel. You don’t have to rush. They’re going to be in there awhile,” she said, panting slightly as she trotted next to me.
     
    “I’m not rushing,” I lied, stopping abruptly at the bottom. Now that we were out of sight of the front doors, I could finally breathe. “I’m not sure where the reception is and wanted some extra time to look it up.”
     
    I expected Beth to call me on the fabrication—she always saw through my lies—but her face lit up like a light bulb. “How about I show you instead?” She caught my arm, suddenly as eager as I was to get to the car.
     
    “What about Todd? I thought you’d ride with him.”
     
    “No thanks! The limo ride over with the guys was enough for me. Add the purple people eaters and I’m out.” The venom in Beth’s voice surprised me.
     
    “Okay,” I said slowly. Escaping the wedding alone was clearly not an option. At least having Beth along should mean I wouldn’t get lost.
     
    I unlocked the car with the remote, and Beth yanked the door open before I could stop her.
     
    “Hang on. I’ll move that stuff,” I said. The passenger seat was buried under a load of disheveled newspapers.
     
    “No problem—I’ve got it,” she said, scooping up the stack and plopping down on the seat. She shut the door, preventing me from taking the load off her hands.
     
    By the time I’d gotten my seatbelt buckled, she’d organized and stacked all the papers neatly on her lap.
     
    “I’ll take those,” I said, reaching for the pile. Beth set the stack in my outstretched arms but didn’t let go. She was entranced by what looked like a woman’s graduation photo.
     
    “Oh wow, is that her?” she asked.
     
    I tried to figure out what was so special about the woman while she scanned the page. “Who?”
     
    Beth tapped the top of the stack. “Kerry Stanton.