Chapter 42: Piper-Three months earlier

"You did what?" Rachel's irate, her face reflecting her rage by the deep shade of crimson red it's become. She's normally not very easy to rouse, but she's in rare form today. Her laid-back personality is nowhere to be found. The vein bulging in her forehead makes me want to giggle-she looks like a Klingon-but I choke back the urge.

Glancing at my watch, I wonder how long this persecution will continue. I get she's angry. I get it; they're all angry. But the fact of the matter is I'm thirty-six years old. Before this weekend, I've never married, and never seriously considered marrying. At my age, you don't need to date someone for three years to know whether you're compatible. I'm firm in my ways. I've lived alone for years, so I know; people are either a fit or they're not.

Rachel doesn't grasp that concept at twenty-eight with more boyfriends in her history than I can begin to count. She kicks them out as quickly as they come, with a never-ending supply waiting in line. That's