“Not if I do it first.”
Mia nods and shifts to talk about wedding plans. She sends me pictures of the dresses she picked out—one for the ceremony and one dancing-friendly option for the party—and tells me all about the pop-up tattoo station she wants.
“You could finally get a tattoo,” she says, eyes mischievous. “My sister is a genius, right across your neck, so everyone knows.”
I grin. “As soon as you getmy brother is the bestacross yours.”
“Wonder what Fable and Bree would have to say about that.” Her laughter lightens something in my chest. “Who are we kidding? They’ll be right there taking pictures of the whole thing.”
“I’ll tell Fable to charge her phone.”
A smirk tugs at her lips. “Huh. Ijust realized, Fable will be there. You’ll be there. You two could come to my weddingtogether.”
My smile falters. “Our arrangement will be over by then.” The thought of seeing her there, maybe even with someone else, constricts something in my chest.
“Hey, Theo?” Mia says gently.
“Mm-hmm?”
“You know you can admit you’re in love with her, right?”
The floor whooshes out from under me. I’m notin lovewith her. I’m... infatuated. I’m... borderline obsessed. But I’m not in love. Ican’t be. I’m not allowed to be.
Mia must see my panicked expression because she laughs softly. “Don’t hide from it because you’re scared. Let yourself be happy.”
Chapter 32
Fable
“How was your day?” I swipe a portion of dark chocolate hazelnut spread across a cracker and shove it in my mouth.
Theo’s across the kitchen from me, leaning against the island—the same positions we took that night of my birthday party. In a lot of ways, I feel exactly the same, half-drunk and giddy, but this time it’s not alcohol-induced. That heart-bursting, happy feeling is all Theo.
“Good. We had a surgery that took up a lot of the afternoon, but everything went well. Beans will be back to himself in no time.” His gaze drifts away for a beat before coming back to me. “And Mia called.”
“Oh, yeah? Did you get to see the dress pictures?” She sent them to me yesterday, and I think that’s when it really set in that my best friend is getting married. She and Bree shopped for dresses together—because according to them, “fuck traditions”—and I can’t wait to see the dresses in person. They’re going to be stunning.
“I did. They were beautiful.” A hint of discomfort seeps into his voice when he adds, “She also asked me to walk her down the aisle.”
A gasp jumps out of me. “Theo! That’s amazing!” He doesn’t seem to be on my level of excitement, though. “What’s wrong?”
Something heavy settles into his expression. “I don’t know. Ifeel”—he sighs—“a lot.”
I hop down from the counter and wrap my arms around his waist. Propping my chin against his chest, I look up at him. “Do you not want to?”
“No, I want to.” He folds his arms around me. “It just feels like such an honor,” he mumbles.
Understanding seeps in. “One you don’t think you deserve?” He doesn’t reply, which is answer enough. “Theo,” I whisper, cupping his scruffy cheeks to tip his eyes down to me. “You absolutely deserve it. She wantsyou. She trustsyou. She’s showing you how important you are to her.”
“You think so?” His voice is so full of insecurity. Iwish I could zap it all out of him somehow.
Lifting onto my toes, I press a soft kiss to his lips. “I do. No doubt in my mind, I assure him, and his chest relaxes with a deep breath.
As he washes our dinner dishes and I dry them, his mood seems to lighten. We laugh about the joke book Priya brought to soccer practice and Knocks’s inability to leave Layla alone while she’s sleeping.
This is probably the thing I’ll miss the most when this is over—the simple moments with the two of us. Everything’s soft and intimate when we’re in the A-frame together. The outside world is distant and unimportant, and I get so busy enjoyingthis, I forget it’s going to end one day soon.
We tuck ourselves into our usual corners of the couch, me with Gramps’s copy ofThe Hobbitand Theo with one of Gramps’s favorite sci-fi books. We’ve been reading together at night—or at least I’ve been trying to—but I tend to get distracted by Theo’s serious eyes and focused brows while he reads. He makes the cutest faces.
