SIX
Lauren
I almost choke on the champagne. A little of the liquid trickles down my chin and I reach for the cocktail napkin.
“What?” I say while mopping the champagne off my face.
“Shhh. Don't yell, Lauren. Come closer so you can hear me.”
“I can hear just fine. Why is it fake? What's fake? What are you talking about?”
Kate licks her lips. “Okay, it's not totally fake.”
I gape at her, more confused than before. Kate obviously has a whole other side to her I never encountered during our four years in college and six years living together in downtown Chicago. We’ve been friends ten years. I freeze for a millisecond. It’s the first time I’ve realized that fact, and my mind is blown.
“Some of it's real.” She sighs, then tells me how Damien walked into her mom’s tiki bar.
“Okay. So you lusted after each other. Totally reasonable, he’s good looking. But how does that lead to a freaking rehearsal dinner for everyone in town? This is everyone in town, isn’t it?” I fling my hand toward the door, where people are now dancing on the lawn.
“Pretty much.” Kate sighs and for a split second, looks miserable. “When he walked into the bar, I was shocked. Helooked good. Real good. As you can see. We started talking and I felt this connection.” The tops of her cheeks redden. What is it about this town? Kate never blushed in the city. “We ended up making out that night. In his truck.”
I grimace. “Kate, come on. Making out is one thing. Marriage is another.”
“I know. Wait. There's more.”
“I sure hope so.” How far is it to the airport? I start doing calculations in my mind.
“We couldn't go back to my mom's house, because that’s weird, you know? And he was staying with his parents, and we thought that would also be awkward. So we kissed in the wagon. Then later we got a hotel room here at the resort because it was low season.”
“This is all very sweet but again, nothing that indicates you shoulddo all this.” I stare at her. “How well do you even know this guy?”
“We were kinda close high school, and as it turned out, he had a huge crush on me. And I had a crush on him. We kissed once back then but then some people spread rumors about us. About me.”
I know there's something painful in this story, but Kate's not giving it up. Instead, she's inspecting her nail.
“Okayyyy,” I say slowly.
“We have a complicated history,” she retorts.
I nod slowly. For now. “You're going to throw away traveling the world with me for … Damien and his wagon?”
“Stop it.” Her lips press together. “It wasn't supposed to go any further than some kissing and whatever. We were both having fun. Friends with benefits thing. He was home for only a few months before his next fire assignment out west. He's a contract firefighter. I told you that.”
“So that part's true.”
“It's all true,” she cries, then shrinks back into the booth. “Most of it.”
I drain my champagne and cast a glance around for the waitress. She’s disappeared. “Kate, you’re not making sense.”
“Sorry. Things were casual, and then he found out about my health condition.”
I narrow my eyes. Kate has a rare genetic condition that causes freakishly high cholesterol. It can only be controlled with medication and blood dialysis treatments. At twenty-eight, she has the cholesterol of a seventy-year-old who eats bacon like popcorn.
“Okay, and?”
“And I told him I didn't have health insurance. I can’t afford it here like I could in Chicago. It’s some Florida thing. The medicine is crazy expensive. So he took pity on me.” She blinks, and a tear rolls down her cheek.
I lean in and grab her hand. Now it's all sinking in. “Holy crap! Did he offer to marry you for health insurance?”
