Page 193 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

I failed her.

I could’ve stopped this and it’s all my fault.

I remember saying to Harper once that nothing good ever happened to me in Italy.

But that’s not true.

It’sWhen in Romethat’s brought me tragedy, over and over again. It doesn’t matter what the format is.

Someone dies in every iteration.

Someone dies every time I go on vacation.

But no one’s supposed to die at a wedding.109

“I happened to be walking by, and...can I be of assistance?”

“Shut up, Tucci!”

107I like “So High School,” though. Taylor and Travis 4Ever.

108I told you this was her motto a while back. And also that she’s totally the kind of girlfriend who’d read her boyfriend’s texts.

109Am I writingsonglyrics at a time like this? Looks like it.

EPILOGUE

Are All Epilogues Three Months Later?

“How long is it to the resort?” I ask Harper as we wait in line for the shuttle bus to our hotel. I was nearly certain she’d told me they were sending a private car, but even though I searched for a sign with my name on it being held by one of the many uniformed men awaiting our flight, the name Dash didn’t appear on any of them.

Hence the shuttle bus.

“Not far.”

“Like actually not far, or Dad not far?”

Harper shrugs. She buried her head in a book110the entire flight here, and now she’s wearing a scarf over her hair and large sunglasses, like a ’50s movie star who doesn’t want to be recognized.

She probably doesn’t.

I can’t blame her.

She’s been struggling ever since we left Catalina. Shawna’s betrayal has hit her hard, and Emma’s, too. She was like a sister and finding out that we didn’t know her at all is a blow it’s goingto take both of us a long time to recover from. Maybe you never can. Stay tuned to find out, I guess.

In case you haven’t picked up on that by now, being flip is how I deal with pain.

Because sometimes all you can do is laugh to escape the pain of life.

That’s my excuse, anyway.

How do you cope?

Anyway, she’s why we’re going to this weekend-in-the-sun, learn-how-to-write-a-murder-mystery thing in the Bahamas. I thought it would be a good place for her to relax and forget about life for a while.

Itwasn’tbecause I needed her to organize my life, even on vacation.

I swear.

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