Which gave Teddy a really, really smart idea just then.
“Tell me how to propose to Steph,” he said, turning to face her.
Her eyes were back on her phone, and she was swiping on a hookup app. The blush lingered on her cheeks.
When she didn’t answer, Teddy decided she needed more information. “It’s been nearly a year that we’ve been officially together, and three years since we started being an unofficialsomething, and I love her, and I’m going to love her forever,andshelovesme, and I think we’re a once-in-a-lifetime fit, you know? Soul mates.”
“Oh, I love that,” Sunny said, glancing up from her phone.
“And I don’t think anyone has to get married to their soul mate, necessarily.”
“I agree.”
“And I don’t even know if I believe in marriage anymore, anyway. But I believe in her and I believe in us, and goddammit, I want the whole thing, even if it is bullshit, even if it’s the wrong thing to want. I know it’s our second time around, I know we’re probably too old and too jaded, but I don’t want to be jaded when it comes to this. I want to be fresh and full of hope and give her my whole life.”
Teddy stopped, suddenly out of breath. He didn’t usually say so many words at once.
Sunny’s finger was still hovering over her phone screen as she regarded him. “You going to wear that suit when you propose?”
Teddy looked down at his suit, his only suit. He’d worn it to weddings, to the AVN Awards, and to traffic court. He thought it was pretty spiffy—it was from Men’s Wearhouse and it hadn’t even been on sale when he bought it. “Well, yeah. Why?”
Her face softened. “No reason. And you know what, Teddy, I think you should just tell her everything you told me. Steph is a direct woman, and she won’t want a grand gesture or some over-the-top surprise. She’ll want you to come to her with a deal, with your best offer, and then she’ll want to negotiate the hell out of it. Give her that, and I think she’ll be all in.”
Teddy’s heart was a balloon again. “You’re right. You’re so smart. And so romantically wise. No wonder the Hope Channel hired you to write a Hopeflix movie for them.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Sunny said, going back to her phone. “I’m blocked as hell.”
“You could always direct more films for me at Uncle Ray-Ray’s,” offered Teddy.
“Don’t think I won’t take you up on it.”Swipe. Swipe.
Teddy put his arm on Sunny’s shoulder. Instead of a coat, she’d opted for a fake fur cape in jet black. The breeze had tugged a few tendrils of hair free to flutter around her high-cheekboned face. With the hot pink dress, the fur, and the tattoos peeking out around the stole, she was an alt-girl stunner. One of the reasons he’d hired her years ago.
(The other reason being that she had her own car.)
“Now let me give you some advice,” he said in a fatherly tone. “This is Christmas Notch, Vermont, population twenty-five hundred. You can’t swipe forever without running out of lumberjacks and lumberjanes.”
She sighed. Nodded.
“Whoever you pick will be blown away by you,” he told her honestly. “You’re pretty and smart and a literal porn star. Just accept that Christmas Notch has slim pickings and embrace this for the messy, bridesmaid-dress-wearing hookup it will be.”
“Thank you for the hookup pep talk, porn dad,” she said with a smile, and then briefly rested her head on his shoulder. “Also you have a jalapeño in your mustache.”
Teddy was trying to comb it free when a cheer broke out around the rink. Bee and Nolan had arrived, with a triumphant Luca in tow. Bee glittered like an ice princess in her custom Luca-designed dress, with soft brown waves around her shoulders, her lips a pale pink, and her new septum piercing glinting with tiny diamonds—a collective wedding gift from the Uncle Ray-Ray’s gang. Nolan’s tousled hair hung over his forehead, and his crooked grin was fixed permanently to his face as he stared with unabashed adoration at his new wife.
Just past them, Teddy could make out the person who would hopefully be his wife chatting animatedly with Gretchen andPearl, the directing and screenwriting power couple who were currently remaking the Hope Channel’s pristine image into something edgy and fresh. Next to them, Isaac Kelly was on his phone, his brow creased and his lower lip tucked between his teeth.
It looked like he was swiping too.
Chapter One
Sunny
Iheld a perfectly greasy cheeseburger in one hand and my cell phone in the other. “Oh my God,” I said with a moan. “This is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.”
“And that’s saying a lot coming from you.” Luca took a bite of his burger and nodded furiously. With his mouth full, he added: “All weddings should have a second dinner.”
“It’s like a hobbit wedding, but with shoes.”
