Page 20 of Sister of the Bride

He picks up a bucket of pellets and hands it to me. “Just a scoop. Toss it out in the middle so they don’t try to beach themselves. They’re as dumb as they are pretty, unfortunately.”

I follow his directions, pleased that feeding the koi has gotten me out of the garden tour. Too much discussion about the growing conditions of annuals and perennials makes my brain ooze out my ears, and this gathering has only just begun. I can’t pass out from boredom too early. I don’t think that’s the impression Polly is hoping to make:This is my narcoleptic sister, Pippin, who can’t be arsed to keep her eyes open while you talk.I’d be picking my belongings up out of the middle of the street later for sure.

I toss the first cup into the water, and the fish pounce on the food, swallowing up pellets with their wide, gaping mouths.

“You guys seem like you’re starving,” I say as I dip the little cup into the bucket and toss another helping to my new fish friends. They swarm the pellets again. Watching them splash about, the sound of the burbling water filling up the space around me, I can almost forget why I’m here. “More?”

“Don’t let them fool ya—they’re not hungry. Carp will just eat and eat and eat until they explode,” Frantz calls as he trails off after his wife and my family.

A loud splash sends my gaze straight back to the pond. I’m hit with panic at the idea that I’ve just exploded some bougie fish. I brace for the sight of floating fish guts, but it turns out it’s just the yellow one lunging for a pellet wedged between two stones. Thank god, because I don’t know how I’d explain an exploded fish.

Mackenzie’s home life is absolutely nothing like mine and Polly’s. I know opposites attract and all that, and certainly ending up with someone who is just like you would be a major snooze, but there’s something to be said for…understanding the other person? How could Mackenzie possibly understand Polly when she grew up on an estate and my sister grew up sharing a 180-square-foot bedroom with sloping ceilings? As much as I already love Frantz and Dr. Nora and their cozy mansion, I’m still not confident this relationship will go the distance. But I remind myself that all I have to do is wait for the inevitable.

Unfortunately, patience is not a virtue I possess.

I hear rustling from the far side of the pond, which features a retaining wall and a drop-off below into the lower part of the yard. I spot Mackenzie’s sleek bun bobbing back and forth as she paces the grass below.

Suddenly her voice cuts through the serenity of the bubbling pond. “That’s not at all what we discussed,” she says, her tone full of nails. If I weren’t so dead set on being unimpressed by Mackenzie, I’d be giving her ayou go girlright about now, because those are some major #girlboss vibes. “I agreed to an NDA, and you agreed to make my contract reflect that. Where’s the money?”

I freeze. Sure, I don’t have a fancy-pants Ivy League MBA, but I know what an NDA is. And I’ve seen enough movies that when someone whisper-yells, “Where’s the money?” into a cell phone, I can conjure up some very specific scenarios. I don’tthinkMackenzie would engage in corporate espionage, but then again, I don’t know her very well. And even if sheison the up-and-up, this kind of ruthless business nonsense is not going to mesh well with Polly’s free-spirited artistic side. I owe it to my sister to at least listen in…right? Maybe look and see if Mackenzie is using a burner phone? Anything that might prove my future sister-in-law is about to commit some serious white-collar crimes?

I don’t bother to interrogate the impulse, just sort of semi-squat and creep along the rocks that surround the pond. I can only make out some of what Mackenzie is saying because she keeps pacing and half the time she’s too far away. But if I can just get a little bit closer, maybe I can—

And then my foot lands on a slick little stone that wobbles. Just a bit, side to side, but it’s enough. I reach up, scrambling for something to grab—a branch, a passing stranger, the hand of God himself—but there’s nothing. My fists close around handfuls of air as one foot shoots forward and the other flies back. I try to use my core to catch myself, but unfortunately I haven’t had a whole lot of time for core workouts lately, and I only manage to pivot so that when I finally do hit the water, it’s in a full belly flop.

As murky pond water begins seeping into my underpants and the frilly tail of a fish that costs more than the shoes I’m wearing swats me in the face, I realize I need to get my shit together or my family is going to disown me.

If only I’d had that realizationbeforeI nearly drowned in Dr. Nora’s koi pond.

Chapter10

Toby

How does a taco say grace?

Lettuce pray!

Pippin

I like how you use the exclamation point, as if that makes it funnier

“Pippin, we’ve got a seat for you right here,” Nora says, patting an empty spot at the dining room table to her left, and I wonder if it’s intentional—maybe Dr. Nora is going to take this opportunity to offer me some self-help tips. Maybe she wants to revolutionize my life.

Maybe I should let her.

I smile and drop down into the empty chair, my hair dripping onto the shoulders of a T-shirt Mackenzie found in her old dresser. It reads,there’s a fine line between numerator and denominator; only a fraction would understand. It pairs perfectly with the red-and-green flannel pajama pants she’s loaned me, which have yetis doing what looks like the Macarena on the butt. In this whole house, are these the only clothes Mackenzie left behind when she grew up and moved out? Is she fucking with me? Because if so…honestly, bravo. It’s the most personality I’ve seen out of my financial documentary–loving future sister-in-law. It makes me like her just a little bit.

But when I glance across the table, Mackenzie gives no indication that the loaner clothes are part of an elaborate revenge prank. Instead, she’s busy making sure her champagne flute is perfectly aligned with her knife, which is resting with military precision beside an elegant china dinner plate. Ah, yes, there’s the Mackenzie I barely know and have lukewarm feelings for.

Not that I’m in a place to complain. I’m the one who was trying to eavesdrop on her when I took a header into the koi pond. I’m the one who let one too many Jason Bourne movies (all of which I fell asleep during) go to my head.

And from the venomous looks Polly keeps flashing my way, it’s clear I’m the one who has acted like a full-on idiot and embarrassed my sister on a scale heretofore never imagined. I’m sure that as far as Polly is concerned, I have earned the hand-me-down Mathlete T-shirt and holiday pajama pants. As far as Polly is concerned, this is a light punishment. If it were up to her, she likely would have handed me a sixth-grade ballet recital costume and wished me the best. Frankly I’m lucky she hasn’t called an Uber and sent me home in my wet clothes. The fact that I’m still welcome at the table at all is a supreme act of charity on my sister’s part, and as I sit here trying to ignore the sneaking feeling that there’s algae in my ear, I vow to be on my very best behavior for the rest of this experience.

At the head of the table, Frantz reaches for a bottle of champagne to the right of his plate and raises it. “I thought we might start with a toast?” His wide, jubilant grin is enough to distract me from my aquatic faux pas, and I grab my glass with my very best smile on my face. Frantz pops the cork expertly, and when everyone’s glass is full, he stands.

“Polly, we were so lucky to get to spend some time with you this summer when Nora and I visited, and we knew right away that you and Mackenzie made quite the pair. We could not be happier to welcome you and the rest of your family. So a toast to family, both old and growing. Marinos, we are so glad to have you at our table today, and Polly, we are so blessed to be able to welcome you into our family, today and every day.” At this, his voice catches, and he raises his glass high. I glance around the table and see that both my mother and Polly are caught up in the emotion of the moment, and Nonna reaches for her napkin to dab at her eyes. “Felicidades!”

A chorus offelicidadesandcheersrises from around the table, and I focus on the bubbles bursting on my tongue instead of the pit in my stomach. I can’t believe I just met Mackenzie and now my sister is being welcomed into somebody else’s family by somebody else’s father. How did this all happen so fast? And is there a way to slow it down?

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