The girl can always pull a laugh from me. “Just do it, okay?”
She sighs. “You’re going to keep me awake longer, aren’t you?”
I push out my lower lip, and her body goes stiff, her expression affronted. “How dare you use puppy dog face on me at three a.m., Asher? It’s a sin against nature. And sleep.”
“Please?”
With a sag of her petite shoulders, she submits, and ten minutes later, we’re sitting side by side on a starched white bed in a tiny room with one blacked-out window, a broken lounge chair and a lamp with no bulb.
“All right.” She claps once. “Lay it on me. If you’re going to tell me you’re pregnant, I assure you, it’s not mine.”
“What?”I splay my hands over my chest. “You’d abandon our love child?”
She sleepy-chuckles. “Asher. Tell me.”
Welp. Must get it over with. I slap the fancy embossed invitation into her hand.
She unfolds it. “?‘Mister and Missus Caleb Rose joyfully request the presence of your company at the marriage of their daughter, Sapphire Grace, to Julian—’ Asher, I don’t know who these people are.”
“She’s one of the girls I told you about.”
Her eyes narrow at once. “You’re joking. Is this a prank?”
Fair question. Pranking her is my favorite pastime, but this is very real. Unfortunate, that. I shake my head, and the suspicion disappears from her expression. “Which one is she? The one you proposed to?”
God.
Thanks for that reminder.
Good old Katherine.
I like to shove her memory down where the unbearable things live, like the time I texted my residency class about our shitty senior resident only to realize that senior was in the group text. Or the time I took too much cold medicine and fainted in the anatomy lab.
I love you. Let’s get married.
Ha! Are you serious? No way.
That was her gut reaction.Are you serious? No way.
Broke up with me the next day. Married a cardiologist a year later. Nice guy, though.
Memory still stings.
I laugh to cover the discomfort. “No. That was she-thought-we-were-friends-with-benefits-while-I-thought-we-were-in-love girl. Grace is the one who had no idea I was in love with her until after she fell for this guy instead.” I tap the invitation in her hand.
She fiddles with the edge of the cardstock. “But you don’t love her anymore, right?”
“Of course not. That was three years ago.” I drag a hand down my face. “But... I don’t know. Feels weird.”
Jocelyn smacks me on the forehead with the invitation. “Why didn’t you tell me about this when you got it?”
“Ow.” I snatch the paper from her hand. “I was busy.”
“Not too busy to tell me about the new protein powder youhaveto try, or to send me pics of the ducks outside.”
“There were ducklings!” I say in defense. They were waddling behind their mom along the crosswalk. How adorable is that?
Joss throws a hand up. “I can’t anymore with you and the ducks. They’re just ducks.”
