Two people who loved and valued each other very much.
Who wanted the best for themselves and always had.
In a way, it was like me and Connie. We made no sense on paper but made total sense in person.
Because people who loved you really did want the best for you, and that was why I had supported Zac throughout the years even though he’d hurt me and had no idea I’d been rooting for him all along. So.
“Right,” I agreed, nudging my cousin again. “We love your dumb face, Boog. As long as you’re happy, that’s what matters.” God, that had been hard to get out. I really didn’t like Lauren, but I wasn’t the one marrying her, and fortunately, she had never made it seem like she hated how close Boogie and I were, so I’d give her that.
Boogie, though, exhaled in relief. He was all dark, short hair and a forever baby face with his grown-up clothes of a button-up shirt only missing the tie he wore for work. And my cousin said, in a voice that I could hear was tight, “Yeah, that’s what I want. You know it.”
Of course it was. Nobody wanted to get married and have loved ones upset over it. He deserved to have us cheering, but considering the circumstances… this was better than nothing? I was sorry that I wasn’t sorry I still wanted better for him.
Zac and Boogie both nodded at each other, and I just sat there and watched.
When my cousin’s dark eyes moved toward me, I gave him a smile I knew was faker than I would have wanted, but I hoped it was genuine enough. If Zac could do it, so could I. Even if he couldn’t, I would, because I could do anything for Boogie. And being in his wedding was the least of it. I’d survived three months working for Gunner. I’d made it five years in a relationship with someone I didn’t actually know. I’d read mean comments about myself. I had goals and a few dreams. I could handle anything.
Including but not limited to this. So I poked him. “I’m too old to be the flower girl, by the way,” I told him. “So I’m a little disappointed you’ve made me wait this long.”
That got my cousin shaking his head, a big grin settling over his face. “I’m sorry, B.”
I smiled back at him, settling back against the booth and peeking at Zac who was still sprawled on his side of the booth with a lazy grin on his face… looking at me.
Still looking at me.
I glanced at him and kept a small smile; he gave me a big one right back that might have made me feel just a little bad for not being nicer and trying to ask him a thousand questions to make it seem like I wanted to catch up with him.
The reason I didn’t was because I figured I already knew most of his business. There wasn’t much for me to wonder over, except what he was doing, but that had to be a sore subject.
“Is Zac going to be your best man? Am I going to be your assistant best woman?”
My old friend snickered, but it was Boogie who said, “Assistant best woman?”
“Yeah. Maybe you two already had a plan worked out. I don’t know if you spit into each other’s hands and shook on it to make a deal. Maybe it’s just a girl thing.”
That had my cousin sliding me a horrified face. “What? You and Connie spit in each other’s hands and shook on it? To be a maid of honor?”
“Hell yeah, we did. I thought you knew. That’s why I was her maid of honor when I was thirteen. We made a deal.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you two.”
I snorted before deciding on what I was going to get. It was what I always got—wings with honey barbecue sauce. Yum. The stain-removing spray was ready by my washing machine. And I’d worn a shirt that wasn’t that big of a deal if it did end up with sauce all over it. Because it might. I dropped my menu and smiled at my cousin. “The same thing that’s wrong with you. Ahhhh, bitch.”
Boogie groaned.
I poked his shoulder, keeping my gaze on him instead of the man across from us. “So, tell me, I mean us, more about this wedding.”
“Did you say you’re doing it in February?” Zac asked again.
My cousin tensed up and made another dumb face that had me squinting at him. “Yeah. We thought about doing it earlier, but we want to do it on our anniversary to keep the date the same and….”
And I saw it, because I was looking at Boogie, I saw his eye do this weird little twitch thing then, and I knew it. I KNEW IT.
So I whispered, because I couldn’t fucking believe what I’d just seen and what that twitch implied, “Boogie, is she pregnant?”
His eye did the twitch thing again.
Even Zac dropped his menu. He was so dramatic. And maybe I would’ve smiled under any other circumstance.
My cousin cursed under his breath. “It’s a secret. You can’t tell anyone.”
I set my hand on top of the table and felt my eyes widen. HOLY SHIT. “I can’t promise that. You know I can’t keep secrets from Connie.”
Boogie rolled his eyes as he groaned. “Fine, you can tell Connie.” Then she would tell her husband, but I wasn’t going to bring that up.
“Oh, thank God,” I muttered, relieved and something else I wasn’t totally sure how to process yet.
Then he said the words I’d known to expect from that little eye twitch. “I thought she’d
