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Liz let out a sigh while sitting at the counter. She stared down at her thumb as it hovered over her mother's contact. Hesitancy was the only feeling she had while she continued to think over what she knew she needed to talk about.

Before she could think any further, she clicked on her contact and held the phone up. It rang for a few seconds before she answered, "Liz?"

"Hey, Mom. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Megan says. Liz could hear how hesitant she was, "How are you?"

"I'm good." She nods, "Yeah, um, I actually wanted to talk to you about something if you had a minute."

"Okay. What is it?"

"So, Conrad and I are finally planning the wedding. It'll be in May."

"In May? That's only about a month from now."

"I know." Liz says, "We just think that it's probably the best time to. Maeve's walking now and-"

"She's walking? Already?"

"Yeah, Mom. She's a year old." Liz chuckles

"I didn't know that. You didn't say anything when your father and I called on her birthday."

"I just thought you guys wanted to speak to her."

"That's a big milestone. It would've been nice to know."

Liz squeezes her eyes shut and rests her head on her hand, "Okay, um, back to the- the wedding. River is helping us send out invites and plan the whole thing. I wanted to ask if you wanted to come. I tried calling Dad, but he hasn't answered."

"Liz, are you serious?" Megan chuckled, "You haven't talked to us in months and that's the first thing you say?"

"That's because of your own actions, Mom. I asked you and Dad for a little bit of space and you guys acted like I was the worst person on the planet. On top of other things, I decided I needed to distance myself and so I limited contact. I'm going against all that I've worked on for so long to ask you if you want to be there."

"Do you even want me there?"

"Every bride wants their mom at their wedding." Liz scoffs, "What kind of question is that?"

"Maybe it's a little bit hard to believe when you haven't spoken to us in so long."

"Mom, please, for once, take responsibility for what you did. I've tried to be so understanding of what you went through. Losing Susannah was hard, I get that. And I understood what you wanted and tried to do my best to be a part of it." Liz explains, "But I'm so tired. I've been so tired of you acting like you can just treat me the way that you have and I'm supposed to just sweep it under the rug. It's exhausting."

The line then goes quiet. Liz tucks her hair behind her ear as she waited.

"I'm your mother, Elizabeth. The least you could've done is talk to me. No matter what happened."

"That's not how this works anymore, Mom."

She hears a bit of shuffling on the other end, "I'm not sure I can make it through this knowing that you're just going to go back to not speaking to us again." She says. Liz shakes her head, "You're my daughter. All I wanted was to be in your life and you took that from me."

Liz lets out a heavy exhale, "You know what, Mom? I don't think this is gonna work. You can tell Dad that, too."

"Elizabeth-"

Liz hangs up and sets the phone down. A shaky breath escapes her lips as she picked at her fingers. Her hand comes up and wipes the stray tear that escaped.

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May approached fast. Faster than Liz or Conrad could've ever imagined. As they drove into Cousins, Liz could feel the weight being lifted from her chest. Cousins always had a way of doing that.

Conrad looked over at her before quickly looking back at the road. He grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers, "You okay? You're quiet."

Liz sighs, "Yeah, I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything." She chuckled softly, "I can't believe it's actually happening."

Conrad smiles, "Me either, but I'm glad it is."

Liz looked over at him, "Me too. It's gonna be great."

Conrad glanced over at her before bringing her hand up and kissing it gently. His eyes focused back on the road, but his face held the quiet content look it always did. Liz smiled to herself before looking out the window.

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Later that night, Liz sat at the pool with her feet swinging back and forth in the water. She stared up at the sky as the back door opened and shut behind her. She hears faint footsteps before they set beside her. She looked over as Dakota stuck his feet in the water and turned to her, "You good?"

"Yeah." She mutters as her eyes flickered down to the water

"You don't seem like it."

Liz blinked slowly, "When I imagined getting married when I was little, I imagined everyone being there. Susannah, Mom, Dad, Laurel. All of you guys. Now knowing Mom, Dad, and Susannah aren't going to be there, it sucks."

Dakota nods, "I mean, it does suck, but Mom wasn't going to make it any better. She would've come here and made it all about what happened. Dad too."

"I know."

"And Susannah is here. Especially since you guys are having it here at the summer house."

"Yeah." Liz smiles

"Look, Mom and Dad will come to their senses eventually. Probably Mom before Dad, but until then, you gotta keep standing your ground. I know it fucking sucks not having them around and talking to them all the time, but you don't need to deal with whatever midlife crisis Mom is having."

Liz nods to herself as she let Dakota's words settle. She's silent for a moment then turns to him, "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah." He nods

"Will you walk me down the aisle?"

Dakota's brows raise, "You serious?"

Liz nods as tears fill her eyes, "I don't wanna walk by myself."

Dakota scoots closer and wraps his arm around her. His chin rests on top of her head, "I will absolutely walk you down the aisle."

Liz sniffles as she hugs him tighter, "Thank you."

"Of course." He says, "I'll always be here. No matter what."

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