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An awful kind of certainty takes root in my center, sweeping away any doubts. I have to do it.
I have to make Jen my wife.
“I hear you,” I say.
“Good.” Riley looks like he’s about to leave, but then hisfeet catch in the sand. “Wait, that was too easy. What’s going on?”
I bend down to pick up my board. “Nothing. Tired.”
“That’s a suspiciously vanilla excuse for you.” He puts a hand on my shoulder when I try to walk past him. “Don’t tell me you also got someone pregnant?”
Tuck knocked up Maren last year after knowing her for all of a month. I grin at the joke. “Nah. Not my style.”
“But sticking that ten-foot pole into everything that moves is?”
“Are you slut shaming me?” I shake my head. “Uncool, man.”
“I’m saying something’s up with you. You don’t wanna talk about it, fine. But then don’t be all broody and weird when you come into the office tomorrow.”
I look up at the sky. It’s blue now. The sun is warm on my skin. Do I tell Riley about my fake marriage proposal?
Why am I suddenly dying to tell Riley about my fake goddamn marriage proposal? I’d trust the man with my life. My secrets too. But this is asecret. And it’s not just my secret, it’s Jen’s too.
Exactly why I shouldn’t say a word. But apparently my self-destructive tendencies run deep, because suddenly I’m blurting, “I asked Jenny Monroe to marry me.”
Riley’s mouth falls open. “Repeat that? I thought you said?—”
“That I asked Jen to marry me. Yeah.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Abel. No. You can’t. Why? When did—” His eyes are so wide they look like they’re about to fall out of his head. “Do I even want to know?”
“Joe has cancer.”
Riley blinks. “Oh my God.”
“Stage one. Prognosis is good. But long story short, hewants to see us safe and settled, and the sooner he sees that, the more he’ll stop worrying about us and focus on getting healthy instead.”
“I have so many questions.”
“I’m not answering them. I’m just telling you that Jen and I are going to pretend to be married for a little while so Joe can rest easy. You’d be doing me a solid if you played along.”
Riley blinks once, slowly. “So you’re not actually marrying her.”
I shake my head.
“Does Tuck know the relationship is fake?”
“We’re not telling him that, no.”
“Dude—”
“Too risky.”
Riley scoffs. “Are you kidding? You’re willing to risk his wrath by marrying his kid sister out of the blue, but you’re not gonna tell him the truth?”
