idea when they were in high school to buy a life-size cutout of him and include him in all of their adventures.” She pointed to a frame with the five boys on a boat. “They went deep sea fishing and brought Keanu along. Duct-taped a soda to his hand and everything. And here.” She stopped at another collage frame. “They went on a road trip to the lower fifty states and got all of these photos of Keanu with them at all the border signs.”
I laughed, realizing how much better this prank was than the Keanu prank I made on my mom. “Do they still have him? I bet I could make use of him.”
“Oh, I’m not sure where poor Keanu the cutout ended up. He was a little waterlogged and bent to hell from being handled so roughly. I’d be surprised if any of them still have it.” She paused. “Why? What would you do with a life-size paper version of Keanu?”
“My mom loves him. Like, rewatches a Keanu movie every weekend—that kind of love. Before I left for Vegas, I replaced all the photos of my brother with Keanu Reeves’s face, cut out of magazines or online.”
Deb laughed at that. “Oh, that is wonderful. Your mom has good taste.” Her shining eyes looked upon me. “I hope you don’t mind, because I know it’s none of my business. But you’re wearing a wedding ring. And I noticed Liam is, too.”
I looked down at my hand, seeing that she was right. Despite not being accustomed to wearing a ring on my third finger, the ring was so comfortable that I hadn’t noticed it was still there. With my thumb on its underside, I twirled it. “It’s kind of a long, weird story…”
“I’ve practically raised those feral humans in there,” Deb said, pointing her thumb at the back of the house where cheers and shouts over a board game could be heard. “I’m not afraid of weird.”
I gave her a smile. “Clearly.” I tugged at the hem of my t-shirt. “I’m in town for a bachelorette party with my friends—one of them is getting married soon—and we spent pretty much the whole weekend playing truth or dare.”
“Ah, well that sounds about right for a bachelorette party.”
“Right. And, well, I always, always choose dares. So, all weekend long, they dared me to do a multitude of things. Like tell a stranger I love them.” I pointed back toward where the rest of the group fought over whose turn it was next.
“Liam was that stranger?”
Nodding, I continued. “And the rest of the dares were pretty harmless, but last night—our last night—they dared me to marry a stranger.”
Deb pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, my.”
“Yeah.” I grimaced. “I said no. Besides the obvious legal objections, I knew there was no way I’d be able to find someone crazy enough to agree to get married.” I paused. “So, they amended the dare to be to kiss a stranger. Since Liam happened by the bar, I chose him. And, long story short, he got wind of the original dare and we kind of had a ‘why not’ moment. Why not have a fake wedding? A marriage without the actual license. For fun.”
“Oh.” Deb breathed a relieved sigh. “Well, I hope you got photos.” She gestured toward the gallery. “I’d love to add one to my wall.”
“Oh.” I had pulled my phone out to show her the photo Katy had posted—the one I’d surreptitiously saved before removing the tag. But the idea of it living on the wall, among all these other photos, didn’t feel right. This wall was a place of honor. And I didn’t think evidence of my little dare deserved any real estate on it. “Well, it was just a joke. We don’t really know each other.” I didn’t know what else to say.
“You never really know someone until you do, that’s what I always say.” Deb stared at a photo of Will wearing sunglasses atop a mountain. He was handsome—they all were. But he embodied living if these photos were any sign. “You remind me of him. Always doing dares. That was Will. He had to climb the highest, run the furthest, be the fastest. And those boys, they all egged each other one—but none of them more than Will.” Her smile turned soft, crinkling the skin at the corners of her eyes. “He’d be thrilled that Liam married a stranger. I’m honestly surprised Will didn’t do it himself while he