Kristen kneeled down. “Honey, are you hurt?”
“Nah,” he said, smiling weakly at her. “Are… um… areyouhurt?”
Her shoulders drooped once she seemed to understand what he was getting at.
“That really sucked,” she replied. She didn’t sound harsh or cutting, just sad and hurt, as if she was struggling to understand why he’d talk about them having sex in front of all their friends and family.
I glanced behind me and saw that the camera dude had drifted into the storage room behind Emilia and Kristen. I suppose it was good for the show, since what was unfolding was yet another made-for-TV moment.
The big redemption arc.
“I was just being stupid,” Carter insisted. “No one heard me anyway.”
“Carter, you were practically screaming that speech. Every singleperson out there heard you. I think some of the people walking by on the beach heard you.”
He did a pouty-face and looked up at Kristen with sad eyes. “I was a bad boy.”
I wondered if my distaste showed on my face. Thankfully the only camera was focused on the couple and not me.
Somehow, the baby talk worked for Kristen, and she finally cracked a smile. “You wereverynaughty.”
“Sowwy,” he replied.
“Oof, gross,” I said under my breath, and Emilia smacked me in the gut.
“Let them have this moment to fix things,” she whisper-hissed at me.
I nodded.
“Baby, I love you so much,” Carter insisted. “I’m so proud that I get to be your man.”
“Really?” Kristen asked as she broke into a slow smile.
Carter reached up to stroke her cheek. “Hell yes. You’re everything to me. You’re my sun and moon.”
It sounded vaguely like something fromGame of Thrones, but I wasn’t surprised that Carter would crib his love confessional from a TV show. Iwasa little surprised that he’d have the patience for something so complicated, but maybe he just focused on the dragons and the sex and ignored everything else.
“I love you too,” Kristen replied in a trembling voice. “I’m so lucky.”
“And that stupid prenup my lawyer insisted we sign? Let’s tear it up.”
“Are you sure? I thought you said we needed to protect ourselves?”
“We do, but we’ll redo it. It’ll be us against the world.”
Carter and Kristen stared at each other for another moment then leaned in for a cinematic kiss.
“Let’s get back out there,” Carter said as he slowly stood up. “I barely touched my food, and fuck knows we’re paying enough for it.”
He slung his arm around Kristen’s shoulder and the pair headed for the door. He paused beside me.
“All good? No hard feelings, bro.”
Actually I was plenty angry at the idiot influencer who assumed that I was the type of person to screw with another man’s fiancée, but of course I was in customer service mode.
I forced myself to smile at the pair. “We’re great. Now go enjoy your party.”
He offered me a fist bump and with the unblinking eye of the camera watching us I had no choice but to indulge him.
