And how’s Paige? How are the two of you together?
Rafe
There is an update. I’m not sure you’re ready to hear it.
Alex
Let me guess. You fell in love with a leggy blonde? Who would ever have thought.
Rafe
I did. And she said she loves me, too. So I suppose she did fulfill her will, after all.
West
Called it.
Happy for you
Alex
And another one bites the dust. If you have kids, I’d like to be considered for the role of godfather.
I also want it noted that I said it first.
Rafe
We’re not calling dibs on that.
James
Good for you, Rafe.
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER…
RAFE
“You’re not playing?” West asks me. James and Alex just headed inside to play pool, but he stayed. He’s sitting across from me with his arm around my sister.
She’s in her second wedding dress, the one without the train, that she changed into before the party. But all the dancing is done. Most guests have long since left.
“No. I should go to bed,” I say, and twist the wedding ring around my finger. “But I’m not sure what kind of reception I’ll get.”
Nora laughs. Her cheeks are flushed from champagne and happiness. “You wound her up earlier.”
“Yes. But that’s what we do.”
It’s late, and the gardens of Fairhaven are just shy of chilly. Past us on the green lawn are the sprawled remnants of the lawn games West and Nora’s wedding planner had prepared.
After the guests left, we’d all played with slightly higher stakes. Alex had insisted on adding a marriage trivia component.
Paige and I had been neck and neck… until she got a question about me she didn’t know the answer to. She didn’t enjoy losing on the best of days, and I think this one stung.
She’d headed to bed and told me to wait to follow.
I twist my ring another turn. My patience is wearing thin, like it always does, where she’s concerned.
“You two are too competitive for your own good,” Nora says. She is playing with West’s free hand, interlacing their fingers.
