“Because you’re doing too much,” he said. “Can you at least admit it was a bad idea to have company this whole week? You should’ve put them up in a hotel like I wanted you to in the first place.”

“It’s not that.”

He looked like he disagreed, vehemently, but he let it go. “Then let me help you,” he said. “Let me take over some of the stuff. Gimme that crazy binder of yours.”

“I gave my binder to Maze and she’s done everything I needed.”

“Then let me take this meeting for you,” he said when her phone buzzed in her purse, as it’d been doing for the past twenty minutes.

She looked at the phone. “It’s my boss,” she said reluctantly. “I have to take it if I want a job after our honeymoon.”

One thing Dillon understood was work responsibilities. He brushed a kiss to her temple. “No problem. Take your time.”

The call with Sara took her fifteen minutes, after which she hurried into the florist shop. She found Dillon, his mom, his aunt Tootie, the florist, and her assistant sitting at a high-top table sipping tea and oohing and ahhing over an opened portfolio.

Caitlin joined the group and eyed the pictures. The centerpieces were lovely, as were the bridesmaids bouquets and the bridal bouquet, but they were not what she’d ordered. For one thing, there were roses instead of her central theme of white lilies. “Pretty,” she said. “Whose wedding are these for?”

Her future mother-in-law reached over and patted her hand. “Ours. I took the liberty of making some changes. Dillon said you were too busy and needed help. And of course, I don’t mind.”

Caitlin turned and looked at Dillon.

“One thing off your plate,” he said.

“I told you, my mom and I picked out exactly what I wanted.”

“But you didn’t have a single rose,” his mom said. “I was sure that was an oversight. Roses are a wedding flower.”

“Traditionally, maybe, but I’m allergic to roses.”

“You could take an antihistamine,” Aunt Tootie suggested.

Caitlin opened her mouth, but Dillon stood and smiled at the table. “Excuse us a minute?”

“Of course,” the florist said smoothly, clearly sensing a battle. Probably nothing she hadn’t seen before a thousand times. “Take all the time you need.” She rose with her assistant and they moved off.

Dillon’s mom didn’t move, just looked at her son, concerned. “Is there a problem?”

“No,” Dillon said.

“Yes,” Caitlin said at the same time.

Dillon took Caitlin’s hand in his and then pulled her aside, into a private hallway with mint-green walls and myriad wedding pictures, every one of the brides looking gorgeous and serene and magazine-ready.

She absolutely could not do gorgeous and serene and magazine-ready with roses.

“They’re just trying to be involved,” he said, and she realized, staring at him, at the pictures behind him, that he looked gorgeous and serene and magazine-ready.

Dammit. “I told you I had this,” she said.

Dillon scrubbed a hand down his face. “Okay, listen. I know you don’t want to believe it, but you’re pushing yourself too hard. I’m worried you’re going to have another breakdown.”

She sucked in a breath at this. She’d told him about her breakdown in confidence. Okay, so she hadn’t told him, he’d been there. A year ago, just as they’d started dating, she’d gotten stressed and completely overwhelmed. There’d been her dad and the cancer, the work pressure from her unsatisfiable boss, plus deeply missing Maze, Walker, and Heather, all while not knowing where her future was going, not to mention life. Dillon had come by one night unexpectedly after their second date to bring her flowers—not roses, thankfully—and had found her prone on her floor contemplating life and the dust bunnies beneath the couch.

He’d gotten her to her doctor, who’d treated her for anxiety. Both the meds and therapy sessions had helped tremendously.

But it still embarrassed her that it’d happened.

Dillon was the only one who knew. He had urged her to keep her therapy appointments, had dragged her to the gym with him, and had encouraged her to cut back her insanely unhealthy work hours. And she would be eternally grateful to him for the support. It’d meant so much because she’d been far too humiliated to tell the people closest to her. Even now she couldn’t stand the thought of them finding out that their pillar, their ringleader, wasn’t as strong as they believed her to be. They were the ones who needed her, not the other way around.

“I’ve been off the meds for six months now and doing good,” she said to Dillon now. “And we agreed to never bring that up again.”

Dillon sighed. “It’s just that you’re really anxious and stressed, and I’m worried about you. I’m only trying to help, and my mom’s good at this stuff. You were outside on the phone with work when she came up with this new plan, and I said she could run with it.”

Caitlin stared at him. Find your backbone, Maze had told her. At the time, she’d been insulted, because dammit, she’d never lost her backbone. But in that moment, she knew she had indeed. “You know who else is really good at this stuff, Dillon? Me. And it’s our wedding. You and I agreed on what we ordered.”

He opened his mouth, but it was his mom who spoke from right behind him. “I was just trying to help.”

Caitlin ground her back teeth together but did her best to smile. “We still need a minute.”

“I know, and I get that you’re the bride,” his mom said quietly. Her voice sounded shaky with emotion. “But I’m really just trying to help make Saturday as special as possible. If you don’t want my opinions, I get it. I’m not your mom. So I’ll just back off and leave you both to it, staying out of your life.”

Oh, great. Now she felt like a first-class asshole bridezilla. To make it worse, his mom produced a tear. A single tear that ran slowly down her cheek. She sniffled and opened her purse to look for a tissue.

“Mom.” Dillon looked pained as he put his arm around her. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not asking you to stay out of our lives,” Caitlin said.

“Of course not,” Dillon added.

His mom sniffed. “I’m so sorry. I really never meant to overstep.”

“We know,” Dillon said, and gave her a squeeze. Over his mom’s head he looked at Caitlin entreatingly.

Oh, for God’s sake. Caitlin took a deep breath. “Maybe we can find a compromise to make everyone happy.”

His mom gave a tremulous smile. “That would be amazing.”

“Mom, just give us another minute, okay? After this, we’ll go get that coffee you love downtown.”

His mom brightened even more. “With that sweet coffee bread from the bakery?”

“Yes,” Dillon said. He waited until his mom had moved off. “Thanks,” he said to Caitlin softly. “I know she can be a bit much, especially with my dad gone, but she’s my mom, you know? She came in today for a nice time with us. You’ve been so busy that we’ve been ignoring her, and I think her feelings are hurt.”