She loves her life here in Tinsel, but I don’t believe for a minute that she doesn’t dream of going other places and seeing other things too. She’s been to San Francisco to visit me a number of times. She took a trip with another friend to Chicago a couple of years ago. I completely believe she’ll go see Amanda in New York too.
Plus, while I know she feels like she belongs in Tinsel, I also know working at the family’s ornament shop isn’t her favorite.
It’s just what she does because that’s where she’s needed here.
Making the torture worse?
All evening, while they’re talking, Amanda keeps touching her ring. Glancing at it. Moving her hand to make the diamond catch just right in the light, sending sparkles all over the kitchen.
Reminding all of us that we’re planning a wedding.
Which Lorelei keeps exclaiming will make her sisters for real with Amanda.
Absolute. Hell.
We leave earlier than I’d like when Lorelei basically shoos us out the door with a bag full of cookies, plus a wink and a nudge. “I’ve taken enough of your betrothal time, you crazy lovebirds,” she says.
Amanda helps Chili into the car while Lorelei hugs me tighter. “I love seeing you so at peace,” she whispers.
At peace.
Notin love.
At peace.
She knows this is fake. She has to.
But she’s trusting us to do the right thing.
“Feels good,” I force out.
“That’s how I know it’s right. Vanessa never gave you peace. Not like this.”
Ah, fuck.
Shedidmeanin love. She meansYou look like you fit in your life now.You’ve found your missing piece, and hunting for it isn’t stressing you out anymore.
“Go on, go take your fiancée home.” She grins at me as she pulls back. “Call me if you need anything else for wedding plans. Might be the only time I ever plan one.”
I give her a look, but she shoos me away with a vague comment about a small dating pool.
As we’re driving back to the cabin, Amanda twists in her seat to look at me. “I really do love your sister. That’s not an act. She was always my best friend in school, even if our families hated it. If she ever needed a kidney, I’d be first in line to sign up to give her one.”
I smile. “What if you weren’t a match?”
“I’d donate a kidney to someone else in the hopes that my generosity would inspire the right donor for Lorelei. I think the world works like that sometimes.”
While I’m not sure I agree, I can appreciate the lengths she’d go to in order to do something good for someone else.
And it makes me like Amanda even more.
I open my mouth to ask her to tell me about her play, but change my mind.
As her fiancé, I should know these things.
But as the man getting too hung up on her, I don’t know if I can handle it if she tells me she’s embarrassed or afraid everyone will laugh or just doesn’t want to share that part of her life with me.
When we get home, she offers to take Chili on a short walk while I unload the leftovers Lorelei insisted we take home.
