they're joined by the bride, Staci Reynolds

A woman appeared from within the ballroom and kissed Phil. She was a stunning young Black woman in a gorgeous yellow dress emblazoned with red flowers. Her hair was waved, shiny, and sprayed with a faint trace of glitter. She was all smiles, high energy, and definitely delighted to see Jake.

Staci Reynolds, the bride

"Staci, this is Abbie and Jake."

"Jake! Of course! It's great to see you." Staci greeted Jake with a big hug. "I was so surprised that you RSVP'ed yes to this. Surprised in the best way, of course. I'm so glad you're here." She turned to Abbie.

"Hi, Staci. I'm Abbie Andrews. I'm here with Jake. This is such a lovely party. Thank you for having us!"

"Absolutely my pleasure, Abbie. It's great to meet you." Staci reached her arms out and hugged Abbie as if they were fast friends. Patting Jake on the arm, she spoke again to Abbie. "Jake's horrible at staying in touch. I had no idea he was even seeing anyone. Please consider yourself one of the family, Abbie."

Jake shook his head. "She's right. I'm horrible at staying in touch."

"No pictures on Instagram? No text messages about a beautiful red-haired princess in your life?" Staci teased. "Jake, you know I like to know this stuff."

Now it was Abbie's turn to join in the teasing. "Jake, I'm surprised at you. I should be hurt that you were keeping me a secret. From your family!" She giggled, and then leaned to Staci and continued in half-veiled faux confidence. "I'm totally joking. We've only been, um, spending time together for a short while. It was actually a big step for Jake to bring me here."

Staci smiled. "You are utterly adorable together. The bride sayeth that Jake and Abbie are adorable, and -- why are you out here working the door like this?" Staci suddenly realized that this wasn't the way things were supposed to be going. "Where are Megan and Phoebe?" She glanced around.

"The kitchen," said Abbie simply. "They had to deal with something and Jake and I stepped in to help."

Phil looked back into the main room. "I wasn't expecting ... I mean, I guess I didn't think they'd leave the hallway like this."

"Oh, it's no problem," said Abbie.

A bit of a bustle from behind the door caught Staci's attention. She turned to look, and found a slightly out-of-breath Megan jogging up to meet her.