CHAPTER 3: TEMPTING FIREALICE HAD INSISTED ON ARRIVING for the big day early—hours early. And as they wandered around, Alice filled her in on all that she’d missed over the past three years. Of course, given that they’d talked or emailed at least a few times each week the entire time, Julia already had a pretty good idea of each and every tidbit of information her friend had to share. Which meant the majority of her attention was free to wander around the growing crowd of people; children hyped up on sweet treats, teenagers gathering in cliques, young men and women flirting, parents and grandparents carrying on conversations while surreptitiously keeping an eye on their youngsters. She loved watching the myriad of social interactions.
Then she saw him. Ethan had already spotted her and he
