I grinned, letting my mouth ghost over his. “Roe …”
On the most perfect Christmas ever, my instincts were confirmed. I had in fact … arrived.
Seven weeks later …
I gazed at my secret husband sitting next to my parents in the front row of the church. He winked at me, his secret wife, as I stood next to my best friend, the most beautiful bride ever to wear a wedding gown. Lila and Graham shined. It wasn’t the million-dollar wedding, the celebrity guest list, the string quartet, or even the five-carat diamond he slid onto her finger.
It was all the years of friendship. Graham’s steadfast love for Lila. When most men would have given up, he didn’t. And when Lila let him into her life—her heart—she was all in. Her love for him equaled his love for her. No two people had ever seemed more fated.
Well … until I walked into a bun and bubble tea cafe in Vancouver and met the son of an Olympic Frenchman and Malaysian fashion designer. In his words … an ethnically diverse ski bum.
The groom kissed the bride.
My mom (working hard at kicking cancer’s ass) grabbed my dad’s hand as happy tears filled her eyes. On the opposite side of them were two empty seats with roses on them, for Lila’s parents, stripped too early from our lives after that fatal car accident. Somewhere, somehow, I had to believe they were watching with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Their beautiful daughter had grown into a successful engineer and married a man who adored her.
And just like that … life was absolutely perfect.
“It’s over!” Lila declared on a huge sigh as I held her dress so she could pee before the reception. “I’m so fucking glad it’s over. Ya know? The past several months have been hell. I was getting to the point where I just wanted to sneak off and elope, giving the rest of the uppity Porter clan the middle finger. I hope we can settle into a normal marriage where we only have lunch with his family once a month. Is it wrong that all I want is to have Graham to myself for a while?”
Her confession left me speechless. I thought she wanted the big wedding. Sure, I knew it was stressful, and Graham’s mom and aunt were driving her crazy, but elope? That was my MO.
“You’re joking.” I handed her a wad of toilet paper as she tried to find her bared crotch, buried beneath layers of expensive satin and lace, to wipe herself.
“No. In fact, if you want some advice from your best friend, run off and just marry Ronin. Don’t have a wedding.”
“I did it.” Those three words flew out so quickly; I wasn’t even sure if I said them. But no one else was in the lounge with us, the fancy lounge in the guest wing of the Porter mansion. Wow! I didn’t realize how badly I needed to tell her, until it catapulted from my tongue.
“You did what?” She stood and I guided her forward to keep her dress out of the toilet. After washing her hands, and maybe forgetting that I said those three words, she turned toward me. “Did what?”
Nope. She remembered.
“I uh …” Maybe it wasn’t such a good time to confess. The lineup of second, third, and fourth guesses congregated at the door to my conscience, waiting to offer alternative explanations for my comment. What if she wasn’t serious? After having my nipple in her mouth months earlier, I found myself second-guessing all her words, their meanings, and her intentions.
“A million people are waiting for us. Out with it, Evelyn.”
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head, looking over her shoulder to check my hair in the mirror. It was still in a lovely messy bun (Graham’s favorite). Toasts, dancing, and too much drinking wouldn’t bode well for it, but I’d deal with that later.
“I said you should elope, and you said, ‘I did it.’ But you couldn’t have meant you eloped, so what did you do?”
Geesh, she was relentless. Were we still talking about that? How could her mind snag on something as frivolous as my three-word confession on her wedding day?
“Ronin and I got married on Christmas.”
No big deal. I said it with a breeze, like requesting someone pass the salt.
“Oh my gosh!” Her instant excitement fell dead at my feet, replaced with a confused expression. “Oh … you mean you’re getting married on Christmas. Right?” Her eyes narrowed as her head cocked to the side.
“Got married. On Christmas. Two months ago. I didn’t want to spoil your wedding or take the spotlight. And we didn’t want a wedding. We just wanted to be married. So we did it. We had a minister marry us right outside of my house with my grandma, parents, and Ronin’s parents. Afterwards, we had a holiday brunch with them. They left. And we spent the rest of the day in bed—Mr. and Mrs. Alexander.” I gave her a toothy smile.
Lila? Well, she didn’t even blink.
I deflated and grimaced. “Please don’t be mad. I wasn’t going to tell you until all this wedding stuff was over and just a distant memory. Then you suggested we elope, and I’ve been dying to tell you because the day was so bittersweet without my best friend there, and—”
Lila took two steps and pulled me in for a really tight hug. “I hate you and love you. I’m proud of you and pissed off at you. But …” She held me back at arm’s length. “Our friendship will survive this betrayal. And you’re the only one I trust to help me piss tonight, so I can’t unfriend you yet.”
I bit back my grin, giving her the moment she needed to act upset with me. “And we’re secret lesbian lovers. Without me in your life, you’ll never have a quality threesome again.” I shrugged.
After several blinks from her stoic expression, she turned toward the mirror and checked her makeup. “You know … I never bring that up. In fact, it was my idea to never bring that up again. Yet, you seem to slip it into certain conversations which makes me think you liked it more than you’d ever admit. Were you…” she looked up at my reflection in the mirror and smirked “…close to orgasming that night? Did my mouth on your breasts … my tongue ring flicking your nipples feel good, Evie?”
Delivering my own smug smile, I let her have her moment. After all, it was her day. “No woman has ever made me feel the way you did, snookum.”
“Is that sarcasm?”
“You have guests waiting for you.” I opened the door. “Oh!” I jumped, not expecting Graham to be right there on the other side of it.
“Evelyn.” He smiled like the Devil himself. I’m not sure I had ever seen such a deviant expression on his face. “I need a minute with my wife.”
That made me smile. Wife. I liked hearing him refer to her as his wife. “I suppose you’ve earned it. By the way … I’m married.”
I waited for his eyebrows to shoot up his forehead.
“I know.” He glanced over my head at Lila, and his smile doubled.
He knew?
What!
Ronin couldn’t keep the secret. Traitor.
“Of course, you did,” I grumbled. “Don’t be long. Your mom will have a coronary if things don’t stay on schedule.” I made my way toward the reception, texting Ronin.
Me: I can’t believe you told Graham we got married!?
Ronin: Why would you say that?