have—not to mention a messy annulment. And let’s not forget that I’d need to find someone just as fucking insane.”
“This is Vegas,” Katy reminded me. “You can always have a ceremony without getting the marriage license. Just a simple ceremony, where we take photos, but nothing is legal. No annulment. No mess.”
It still sounded implausible. Who the hell would agree to fake marry me? I shook my head, hating the sad look that came into Bekka’s eyes. I knew I was a big flirt, but I didn’t think even I could accomplish such a feat in one night.
“Come on, Tori. It’s not like it’s that hard,” Katy said, draining her glass a moment later.
“If it’s so easy, you do it.” I raised an eyebrow and nursed my sparkling water. My stomach was still in turmoil from the day’s activities and I wanted to remain sober just in case Katy did something fucking stupid to ruin Bekka’s last night.
“Oooh, how about a bet?” Lauren asked, but we all ignored her as Katy and I faced each other.
Her eyes narrowed, studying me. Katy wasn’t ugly. In fact, she resembled Bekka quite a bit, both of them with wispy strawberry blonde hair that curled naturally, and big blue eyes trimmed with thick, inky lashes. But her personality was so grating that looking at her this long hurt my eyes.
“No bet,” I said after a minute. “Look, how about I make out with a stranger? You guys can take photos of it. Okay?”
Bekka agreed, seeming to prefer this versus nothing. Katy, on the other hand, looked like she’d eaten something sour.
A small part of me liked the idea of a challenge, of having a fake wedding. To say I did it, more than anything. It sounded fun. But I was ruling it out anyway for implausibility. There was no way in hell—or Las Vegas, which, at least while in Katy’s company, was close enough to that particular fiery afterlife—I’d find someone who’d agree to get fake married to me.
Right?
6
“Are you leaving already?” Vince asked when Chad waved for the check.
Chad looked guiltily at the three of us. “Naomi is flying in tomorrow morning, early.”
“She is?” Vince asked.
“She’s family,” Chad reminded him. “You can’t be surprised.”
“Nicole is coming tomorrow afternoon,” Seth said when he and Chad exchanged glances.
Vince let out a low whistle. “Jesus. Okay, fine. Do your thing.”
“Come on, man,” Seth said, finishing his beer. “Naomi grew up with us. And Nicole—”
“No offense, but Nicole barely knew Will,” Vince said, interrupting.
“No, but she knows it’s important to us,” Seth said, exchanging another look with Chad. It was strange to feel mild jealousy at this. Seth and Chad would have their significant others to lean on during all this shit to come. Suddenly, it seemed like having someone was better than having no one.
Vince gestured for another drink and turned to me. “Looks like Liam and I will be the only ones riding solo for this shit.”
“Are you seeing someone?” Seth asked, continuing the conversation from the night before, a question I hadn’t been able to answer thanks to Vince’s pestering.
I wasn’t, but suddenly I wished I was. It seemed like it’d be a hell of a lot easier to do all this shit with someone to lean on. Sure, I could lean on these guys but since their significant others were coming into town, I realized just how lonely things would be. And I had absolutely no desire to spend any significant time with Vince. This trip made me realize just how little in common we had, and just how far we’d grown apart. The trouble was, I felt indifferent about it. I wondered how Will would feel about the rift between Vince and me.
“We all have an early day tomorrow,” Chad reminded us as he pulled twenties from his wallet, giving me a reason not to answer Seth’s question again. “Going to Will’s folks’ tomorrow,” he said, as if we’d forgotten. It had hung heavy over us the last two days as we’d done things in Will’s honor—like going to his favorite course to play eighteen holes. Later this week, we had a fishing date, and the day after we planned to ride UTVs in the desert.
Coming out early to get these things done before the celebration of life had been Seth’s request—something I’d initially shrugged off. It seemed really shitty to do things we normally did with Will during the week of his funeral. But when Seth had said that Will’s mom