I pause for a moment.
Malaki snickers. “I’m kidding, Dimples. I think Zoe would take a bat to my knees if we got married without her to witness.”
I laugh abruptly as Malaki pulls me down the hall. “You’re right,” I say. “And Charleigh would make a super-cute flower girl.”
His fingers squeeze mine. “True.”
We step outside, and fresh air fills my lungs.
“Malaki?”
He peers at me. “Yeah?”
I exhale. “I don’t want this engagement to be fake anymore.”
His steps falter, and he spins me to stand in front of him. A slow smile curves on his face as his hands fall to my hips. “It never was for me.” His blue eyes move back and forth between mine, and he says, “Pick a date, Dimples.”
Epilogue
MALAKI
Five months later
“How do I look?”
Charleigh is strapped into the best stroller on the market while I stand behind her, pushing it throughout the living room.
Reese stops working on her cross-stitch. “Hot.”
I wiggle my eyebrows.
Zoe fake gags.
“Oh, knock it off,” I say. “I saw you and that loser with the shitty car last night when I came home from the rink.”
Reese sits forward and looks at her sister. “Wait, what?” She turns to me. “What did you see?”
Zoe gasps. “You said you wouldn’t say anything!”
“Sorry.” I push Charleigh around some more because she seems to be enjoying it. “But come on, Zoe. You can do better than him. Does he even have a job?”
“Yes!” she snaps. “And just because I’m hooking up with him doesn’t mean we’re a thing!”
“Hooking up with him?!” Reese jumps to her feet. “In the car? On the street? Zoe!”
“Yeah, who wouldeverdo that?” I shake my head. “He must be a bad influence on you.”
Reese snaps over to me, and the realization hits her. I flick my eyebrow, just barely.
Mm-hmm, remember when we did that?
“Who’s the bad influence now?” Zoe asks, crossing her arms.
“Hey now!” I put my hands up. “We’re engaged! That’s different.”
Zoe looks at me suspiciously. “Were you two even engaged at that point?”
Shit. No, we weren’t.
