Knightley watched her for a moment before leaning in. “Nervous?”
“No,” she replied, placing the cards facedown on the table. “Are you?”
“Why would I be?”
“Because you’re giving the best man speech.”
“Ah, that’s right,” he said, as if she had reminded him.
“Oh please, don’t tell me you haven’t been working on the perfect big brother toast for months now. So where is it?”
He reached up and tapped his temple.
Emma’s mouth fell open. “You’re kidding.”
He shrugged.
“I can’t believe you’re winging it.”
“I’m not winging it. I wrote it this morning.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you did. Well, mine isreallygood. You’re going down, Knightley.”
“It’s not a competition, Woodhouse.” He took a sip of his whiskey. “But if you insist, let’s see what you have there. Maybe I could help you out.” He grabbed one of her index cards.
“Absolutely not!” she hissed, trying to snatch it out of his hands as he read it, holding it just out of reach. “You’re going to steal my sweetest moments! Besides, no one would believe it if you talk about true love and the appeal of marriage.”
“And you can?”
“Maybe.”
He smirked at her, handing back the card. “Real life is not like the movies.”
“I know,” she mumbled, grabbing it before he could hold it out of her reach again. She also made a mental note to strike theWhen Harry Met Sallyquote from her speech.
“So you’re enjoying the wild single life, then,” he said after a moment.
“Is that a problem?”
“I didn’t realize that was an elective at NYU.”
She sighed to disguise her annoyance. “Am I getting shade from the man whose longest relationship is with his dry cleaner?”
“Well, Gladys is very thorough.”
Emma scoffed. “Oh, I bet she is.”
He smiled. “Seriously though, how are things going? When do classes start?”
“Tuesday.”
“And then graduation in the spring, right? So what’s the plan after you get that master’s in art history?”
“I told you this already, but clearly your memory is going, which isn’t surprising considering your age,” she said with an overly sweet smile. “I’m applying for an executive internship at the Met.”
He watched her intently, finally answering, “Hmmm.”
“What?”
