“He might be a person who moves fast, but you aren’t. I’ve never known you to throw caution to the wind. Yet here you are, moving in with a guy you married after only a month or so of dating him.”
“Yeah, well, I love him.”
“Do you? Because sometimes I worry that you don’t really see him. And I don’t get why you two had to rush into anything. That usually doesn’t end well for couples.”
Hanna let out a dreamy sigh. “I think it’s romantic the way he decided that, hey, he was done fighting what he felt for her and then he just set out to make her his in every way.” She gave me the stink eye. “I also think it’s unfair that you won’t give us details about what he’s like in bed.”
“You’ll just have to use your imagination,” I said.
“Oh, I do. Lots. I’ll try to stop it now that you’re married to him, but it won’t be easy. Not gonna lie, I’m jealous.”
“Speaking of jealousy … How’s Heather taking all this?” Ashley asked me.
I shrugged. “I haven’t seen anything of her since the barbecue.” I still hadn’t dealt with her shitty email, but I figured it could wait. Compared to everything else that was happening, it wasn’t important.
“She’s going to shit a brick when she sees that iceberg on your finger,” said Ashley. “You know how much she likes her bling.”
Hanna swirled her glass. “It’s a shame she has to be that way.”
It was. Mostly because the situation hurt my foster parents so much. “The people who matter are happy for me. That’s what’s important to me.”
When I’d visited my father to assure him that I was okay after the burglary, I’d also been careful to monitor how he reacted to my being married. I wanted to be sure he was truly good with it. It appeared that I’d been worrying for nothing. He seemed incredibly content about the whole thing. He loved the copy of the wedding photo we’d brought him, and he’d almost died with laughter on watching the recording of the ceremony.
I’d also visited Melinda and Wyatt, who eventually settled when they saw I wasn’t an anxious mess about the break-in. Like Simon, they were thrilled to have a copy of the wedding photo, claiming they loved how “happy” I looked. They’d also laughed their asses off watching the recording of the ceremony.
With tears in her eyes, Melinda had proclaimed, “It was just perfect. So much smiling and laughing.”
She’d somehow managed to talk Dane into throwing a post-wedding party sometime in the next few months. I’d insisted it wasn’t necessary, but then Wyatt had jumped on board, they’d all started exchanging ideas, and the idea of a celebration took on a life of its own.
I’d later told Dane that I could talk my family out of it, but he’d said a party would help make the marriage look more real. He’d also announced that he’d hire wedding planners to take care of the details.
“Why was Dane in such a rush to get married?” asked Ashley. “Are you pregnant?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “He just doesn’t see a need to wait. Look, I get that this sounds fast to you. But to us, it’s been years in the making. As Melinda once pointed out, he and I were like a platonic couple. But now we’re annoyed with ourselves for taking so long to make the jump; we didn’t want to waste any more time.”
It was a rehearsed response, and it appeared to have mollified Ashley a little. That didn’t please me, though, because I hated that I was deceiving her.
“All right, I get it,” said Ashley. “I still think it wouldn’t have been so bad for you two to wait a little longer, but I won’t mention it again.”
I let out a long breath. “Thank you.” Hearing the buzzer, I said, “Ooh, my stuff must be here.” I said my goodbyes, promised to call them again soon, and then left the video call.
When I made my way to the foyer, Dane was already there. “I’ll tell the movers where to unload your things,” he said. “Are there any boxes you want brought to your room?”
“Yes. When I talked with the packing team over the phone, I told them what stuff I wouldn’t be putting in storage. They said they’d clearly mark each of those boxes as ‘non-storage.’”