"So dinner went well," Emily murmured, leaning against the sink as Ruth scrubbed away at the dishes of the night.

Ruth couldn't agree more. Jana and Eddie had to clean up a drunk Terry all night and attempt to make small talk with Em, and it just was a big mess. A mess that made Emily and Ruth focus on their plates for most of the night because Ruth didn't know what else to do. She didn't do well in awkward situations, and her family had easily made one.

"Hmm," Ruth mumbled, unable to say anything else. She couldn't defend anybody's behavior and had no explanation for much of anything else. "They're just stressed out about the dinner tomorrow."

"Hmm," Emily said that time, her lips thinning in speculation. Her head tilted just a little in the adorable way that Ruth has always admired and drummed the tips of her fingers against the counter behind her. Ruth knew how much their approval meant to Emily, and she hoped what happened wouldn't deflate her attitude too much.

"Hey," Ruth called, her voice soft. Emily's gaze flickered up to hers, silently acknowledging the call of attention. "You're my girlfriend, okay? They're happy for me, and they wouldn't have let me invite you to stay here if they didn't like you. Let them warm up to you again. It's been what—like five or six years, give or take, since you all went to high school together?"

She nodded feebly.

"Exactly," Ruth smiled, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Give it time. I know they'll love you."

That one made Em smile, and she returned the kiss quickly with warmth. "Okay. Time. I can do that."

With that, Ruth finished up the dishes and then the two of them turned in. It was going to be a chaotic day for everyone with the bridal shower hosting every family under the sun the next day, so they needed to rest up as much as they could. And Ruth needed to make sure it all went smoothly. It was going to run smoothly.

Or so she hoped.

*****

Marina was a mother-in-law from hell, Ruth was sure of it.

She had never met a woman so suffocatingly egoistical like Marina, and by the time Ruth had finished watching the short woman with raven hair bark orders at the poor waiting staff, Ruth was sure Jana wouldn't last long around her. Their personalities clashed too much. Where Marina was opposite her son, she was opposite of Jana too. When Marina shouted, Jana practically whispered. Where her lips were pressed into hard lines, Jana's was softened into an effortless smile. Glaring eyes and smiling almonds.

It would have been comical had it not been for the obvious stress on Jana's shoulders. Ruth had to calm her down a few times in between set up, and did her best to get things together alongside a determined, and very hungover, Terry.

Marina turned towards Ruth after she had just fixed up Jana's hair into a beautiful cascade of curls and crossed her arms. "Where is she?"

Ruth thinned her lips. "She's in the bathroom. She already helped the caterers set up and finished setting the games up."

"And where's the cake?" she demanded.

"Already on the table."

The strange woman grimaced, which was the closest thing Ruth was going to get to a smile, patted her shoulder, and then strutted away. It was the first decently kind action she'd ever gotten from her, which was more than Jana could say. She truly wasn't wrong when she said her mother-in-law was the real mother-in-law-zilla rather than her.

Ruth shook off the interrogation. Instead of focusing on what else needed to be done, she took a moment to cool down and smooth out the emerald dress encasing her body. Em had bought it for her in New York, along with the matching gem earrings to match. She had protested against it the moment she saw the set, claiming it was too grand for her taste, but eventually caved after seeing her girlfriend deflate. It was a beautiful set to be admired, but she couldn't tell if it was her or not just yet.

"She must like you," Uncle Rickey joked behind Ruth.

She looked back at him with a wide grin. Though he shouldn't at all be out of the house, he had a little more color to his face and his wheezing cough was at a minimum at the moment. He was forced to sit in a wheelchair now with his wife in tow, but Ruth supposed that was better than being confined to his room.

"She's that bad, huh?" Ruth teased, laughing at the exasperated look her Auntie Carolyne had on her face.

"Worse," Uncle Rickey grumbled. "Jana's gonna have her hands full with that one."

Ruth voiced her agreement. "You guys are here early."

"We didn't want everyone to eat up all the food," he grinned. "So, where's that girlfriend of yours?"

"She's helping Terry and Eddie with the decorations. They should be just about done, actually."

Ruth scanned the room of people who were slowly pouring in. A few familiar faces from their family trickled through, but most of the faces she saw were unrecognizable, leading her to believe it was mostly Jana's mom's side of the family and Eddie's so far. Their tribe let them rent out the hall, so it was definitely big enough to host the lot of them.

"Well, we can't wait to meet her honey," Aunt Carolyne murmured, drawing Ruth's attention back to them. She pressed a brief kiss to her forehead and Uncle Rickey squeezed Ruth's fingers affectionately. "We're gonna go get a plate and catch you guys in a little bit when things calm down."

"Okay, Auntie. Catch you guys later," Ruth said, smiling as her aunt and uncle wheeled towards the food tables.

Biting back a smile, Ruth moved on to make sure everything looked right. She started with the cake, the wall decor, the paper games, and the toilet paper for the dress making game. Everything looked great, and she even offered smiles to the guests who complimented her look.

It wasn't until she got to the flowers in the vases the she found the imperfections. Frowning, she fixed up the skewed stems and arranged the flowers how they should be. Lilies and babies breath. A few carnations, which were still her favorite, and she couldn't stop the smile from looking at them.

Ruth glanced up, having no reason as to why. A pull maybe. Gravity. The feel of someone's eyes.

She froze, her chest squeezing tightly.

No. No. No.

*****