“I did,” Lorelei says, “and now I regret it. I will never do it again. Ever.”
Amanda blushes harder.
Hell, so do I.
“Esme!” someone hollers. “We need a water bottle! Man down! I repeat, man down!”
We all glance across the square to where Uncle Rob is fanning Esme’s husband in the entry to one of the globes.
“I told him to assemble itoutsidethe globe before putting itinsidethe globe with the heat the way it is,” Esme mutters. She shakes her head, then points to a globe near the gazebo. “Yours is there. If you need help carrying your supplies, grab a shopping cart.”
“Dane,” Uncle Rob bellows, “get over here. We need your engineering opinion.”
“Dane and Amanda are doing the newlywed piece this year,” Lorelei bellows back.
And now the entire town is gawking.
Even if they’re not here in the town square, even if they don’t know why, they’re gawking.
“I can’t wait to see what you do with yours,” Amanda calls to Uncle Rob.
“Amanda,” someone else hisses from the other side of the square.
She shifts seamlessly and aims a smile at her mother. “And yours too, Mom!”
She grabs me by the hand. “C’mon, Dane. Let’s go get a shopping cart and show Tinsel how you decorate a life-size snow globe.”
“Do you worry at all that they’ll disown you?” Lorelei asks.
I don’t know if she’s talking to me or Amanda.
But Amanda winces and nods. “A little.”
Fuck it being too hot to hug.
I slip an arm around her. “If they don’t forgive you, they don’t deserve you.”
“Awwww,” Lorelei whispers. “You two make me so happy.”
Stab stab stab.All of the guilt over the lie slashes into my gut and makes me want to vomit.
But I remind myself all this is for the greater good.
For our families. For Tinsel. For Amanda. For me.
Who knows? Our kidscouldwant to get married someday.
Unlikely, but weirder things have happened.
Like one of the round snow globe covers rolling away with a jar of paint inside so that it’s being coated in red stripes while a guy dressed up like Will Ferrell inElfchases it down.
No, wait.
In Tinsel, costumed people chasing holiday decorations isn’t that weird.
Amanda swipes her eyes as she smiles at Lorelei, and I don’t think that’s an act. “You make me happy. I’m so grateful you’ve always been such a good friend even when it’s been hard.”
The lying is definitely the worst part.
