Page 36 of Save the Date

Her sister, however, would be thrilled.

***

“This is incredible!” Jackie squealed when Emma told her the news. The entire Moskowitz crew was having a barbecue in Jackie and Chris’s enormous backyard—although Emma didn’t know if it counted as a real barbecue if all the food was catered.

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet.” Emma’s eyes flitted to her nieces playing on their custom handcrafted jungle gym as Alan and Debbie watched and occasionally applauded. A successful family life always looked deceptively easy to achieve from the outside. And maybe it was—for other people. “What if I’m being set up to look like a total idiot?”

Jackie waved Emma’s concern away. “Who cares? You won’t sound like an idiot, because you’re you. And if they give you a bad edit, we can just sue.”

“I don’t think you can sue over a bad edit.”

“Please, you can sue over anything. This is America.”

“You really think I should do it? Even though I still have feelings for Will and have no actual prospects for a new groom?”

These were both points Imani had been quick to call out after Emma had shared the news of Will’s pitch immediately following their phone call. Imani thought that Emma teaming up with her sort-of ex to mine the most vulnerable time in her romantic life for content was the total opposite of sound judgment; her exact words were, “Agreeing to do this podcast is the emotional equivalent of walking into a nuclear disaster site wearing a bikini.”

But Jackie didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “Absolutely. Just turn those feelings for Will off and get back on the apps.”

“Jackie, you don’t actually think people can turn their feelings off, do you?”

“Please. I do it all the time. Izzy has this one friend whose mom is a total nightmare. Always late for playdates, talks shit about all the other moms—which means she’s also talking shit about me. But whenever I see her, I put on a smile and act like everything’s fine and we’re totally friends. She even invited me to her fortieth-birthday extravaganza in Turks and Caicos—not that I would ever go.”

“I think what you’re talking about issuppressingfeelings, not turning them off.”

“Same difference.” Jackie’s gaze suddenly flung toward her children. “Hey! Spit that grass out of your mouth.”

Emma’s youngest niece, Amelia, instantly complied and a green glob fell to the ground.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Chris shouted as he bounded over from inside the house. His laptop was dangling from his hand, and he wasn’t wearing any shoes. “I found him.”

“Found who? And why aren’t you wearing your slides? I put them by the sliding doors for this exact—”

Chris cut his wife off, which was almost unheard-of in their dynamic. “I found Emma’s new husband.”

Sixteen

APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER, ONCE THE GIRLS HADsettled into their pajamas and designated screen time, Chris gathered the adult Moskowitzes around the ten-person Calacatta marble kitchen table. Emma and Jackie had unsuccessfully been trying to pry details from him, but he was insistent on not giving anything away before his “presentation.”

“Thank you all for joining me,” Chris said as he adjusted his laptop so everyone could see the screen.

“Are there going to be any snacks?” Alan asked.

“Officially, no,” Chris replied. “But feel free to help yourself to anything. I have some Wagyu Beef Jerky in the pantry that’ll blow your mind.”

Alan’s face lit up as he went to search for it.

“Can you tell us what’s going on already?” Jackie complained. “I have to get ready for bed soon.” Jackie notoriously went to bed around 9:00 p.m. It was probably why she looked so young and vibrant with only a minimal use of filler.

“Earlier today, I was on a Zoom meeting with some of my investment bankers and we were just shooting the shit, when Operation: Save My Date came up.”

“It came up like someone else mentioned it or you brought it up?” Emma asked. If her plan had somehow made it to the finance bros circle, this thing was way bigger than she’d thought.

Chris’s face mildly reddened. “I might have made a joke about it. But,” Chris quickly added, “one of the guys, Matt, actually seemed interested so I told him more about it and…” Chris paused to click a few buttons on his laptop until the photo of an extremely well-groomed man appeared. “He wants to be your husband.”

“Oh my god! That’s amazing!” Jackie shrieked.

They all leaned in to get a better look as Alan returned with a handful of premium jerky. The photo was clearly a corporate headshot, but Matt still managed to appear friendly and likable. He had closely cropped dark hair, a chin dimple and the kind of muscular frame that looked great in a suit. Emma felt strangely hopeful.

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