He grunted. “Yes, and he writes texts like they’re letters. He even signs off with his name.”
I shook my head and dropped my phone back into my bag. “Red flag.”
“Huge red flag,” he confirmed.
We talked about Hollis and Ruby and missed connections. It was hard not to wonder if we were also talking about ourselves.
Just as Eli started to prod me about my writing, a drenched young couple sat down beside us.
“It’s okay,” the girl with long black braids said to the other girl, who had cropped blond hair. “Rain on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck.”
Eli and I shared a sympathetic look as I twirled some (obscenely delicious) spaghetti around my fork.
“It doesn’tfeellucky,” the blond said, plopping her head against the other girl’s shoulder. “We should have just gotten married in Vegas when you proposed.”
“That’s where we got married,” I blurted.
Eli’s eyes widened. Whether it was because I was making small talk with strangers or because I’d mentioned our wedding, I couldn’t tell. Probably both.
But it only took a moment for him to recover and take my hand in his. “Twenty years next spring,” he told the couple.
“Wow,” the girl with braids said. “That seems like forever.”
“Sometimes it feels like it,” I muttered as I began to feel a little uncomfortable with the direction this was heading.
Eli chuckled. “I’m Eli and this is Vera.”
The blond leaned over her fiancée. “I’m Lilly and this is Tori.”
“Congratulations,” I offered. “How did you two meet?”
Lilly and Tori shared a knowing glance and then Lilly rolled her eyes. “We met on an app. Sometimes we lie to make it more interesting, but the truth is, we were both looking for a hookup and ended up with—”
“More,” Tori finished for her.
“How did you guys meet?”
“In college,” I said just as Eli said, “She was obsessed with my roommate.”
Tori waggled her eyebrows. “This sounds juicy.”
“And so tortured,” Lilly said. “How did you two actually start dating?”
Eli squeezed my hand gently. “That’s the funny thing. We never did.”
Okay, I could play along for the sake of entertaining two nervous brides. “We were on a trip to Vegas just before Eli graduated, right, honey?”
He nodded. “Indeed, we were. A few drinks turned into truth or dare and then my roommate dared me to marry Vera at one of those twenty-four-hour wedding chapels.”
Tori’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
“Did you two even like each other before then?” Lilly asked.
Eli let go of my hand and slung his arm around my shoulder, nestling me in closer to him. “At the time, I had convinced myself she was annoying, but looking back, I was just annoyed by how much I liked her.”
My head swiveled back to him. “You liked me?” I asked softly.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know,” he said conspiratorially.
