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I smiled automatically. “I will. Thank you.”

Ryan’s fingers tightened once around his beer bottle.

I noticed, and he noticed me noticing, then flattened his expression before either of us turned the movement into something it didn’t need to become.

I lifted my glass toward him. “To our friends, who love us enough to become unbearably awkward on our behalf.”

Ryan looked at the vodka, then at me. “They mean well,” he said.

“That makes it worse.”

A soft sound left him, close enough to laughter that my chest tightened around it. He raised his beer and tapped the bottle carefully against the rim of my glass.

“Cheers.”

The vodka tasted clean and cold, warming my throat after I swallowed. Ryan took a drink of his beer while the bartender moved toward a couple settling near the other end.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke. The silence wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t cruel. Neither of us rushed to fill it.

I traced one finger through the condensation on my glass. “I didn’t come down here to force a conversation.”

“You came down here for cocktails that don’t start for another forty-seven minutes.”

“I came early.”

“You came after me.”

“Those things can coexist.”

His mouth shifted again. “Still arguing semantics.”

“I’ve improved.”

“I noticed.”

The words could’ve meant anything. I left them alone. “Bliss is worried,” I said.

“Bliss has been worried since she decided putting us in the same wedding party was a good idea.”

“She thinks love and color coding can solve most problems.”

“She’s wrong about one of those.”

“Color coding remains effective.”

That brought the almost-smile back.

I took another drink and looked around the bar. Dark shelves stretched against mirrored glass, lined with bottles that caught beneath the low lights. French doors opened toward the terrace, allowing cool air to move through the room with the scent of cut grass and spring flowers.

“This place is beautiful,” I said.

“Bliss has cried twenty times.”

“Twelve when I last counted.”

“She cried when we pulled up.”

“That seems reasonable. She rented a castle and survived the planning.”