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“Both. I’ve found those two categories collapse into each other fairly often, where you’re concerned.”
Everything, finally, was still.
She reached for her phone once her arms remembered how to work again and typed four words to Jessa, sent them before she could talk herself into editing them down to anything less honest.
I’m in. All the way.
The reply came back in under ten seconds, which she suspected meant Jessa had been sleeping with the phone in her hand out of pure hope.
JESSA: WAIT. WAIT. ARE YOU SAYING—
JESSA: I’m forwarding this to Marco. I need witnesses. This is a historical event.
JESSA: also I’m crying a little. don’t tell him that part.
JESSA: he’s going to see this text eventually and know anyway, isn’t he
JESSA: ignore that last one, delete it from your memory, we never spoke
Thirty seconds later, her phone buzzed again, a message forwarded from a number she recognized as Marco’s, in capital letters, several words misspelled beyond recognition, exclamation points doing more structural work than they were designed for.
MARCO: I KNEW IT I KNEW IT SINCE DAY TWO I TOLD EVERYONE I SAID SHE WAS GOING TO CRACK EVENTUALLY THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE AND I WASN’T EVEN THERE
MARCO: I am framing this text. I don’t have a printer. I will find one.
MARCO: I am also lighting a candle. I don’t know what the candle is for. It seemed important.
MARCO: does this mean I get to plan the wedding. I have THOUGHTS. I have had them for MONTHS. There will be a mood board. There is already a mood board.
JESSA: MARCO ONE THING AT A TIME
JESSA: screenshotting this for the historical record
LILA: Finally. I was running out of documentation space.
LILA: Tell the dragon I expect a formal introduction. I have questions about his intentions and possibly a background check already half completed.
LILA: The check is fully completed. He passed. I’m choosing to withhold that information from him for leverage purposes, indefinitely, until further notice.
Romily set the phone on the nightstand, laughing again, and let Norden pull her back against his chest without any further commentary required from either of them.
“Your friends are concerning.”
“My friends are thorough. You’re going to meet all three of them properly within the week, by the way. Consider this your advance warning.”
“I’ve already met Jessa. Twice, in passing.”
“Jessa in passing doesn’t count. I mean the full introduction. Dinner, questions, Marco narrating the entire evening like it’s a nature documentary.”
“Understood. I’ll clear my calendar.”
“You’ll need to clear a great deal more than your calendar.”
“Noted.” His arms tightened around her, easy, certain. “For what it’s worth, I already passed. She simply enjoys threatening people with paperwork after the fact.”
“That tracks completely.”
“I’d expect nothing less from a woman who once made a hotel engineer rebuild an entire panel mount because the tolerance was two millimeters off, on a Friday, before a holiday weekend.”
