“Hey, you could be listening to guys sing about tractors, too, but since they’re all trying to scream over screeching guitars, you can’t tell what they’re saying.” He folded his arms, shaking his head again. “No.”
She shrugged. “Okay. Have fun dancing with the maid of honor. All night. While your boss watches and plansyourwedding.”
“You’re mean.”
“And you’re desperate.”
She had him there. “Fine. You can choose the music, though I’ll hope you’ll take pity on me and find a compromise channel.”
“Maybe. I’ll also need something nice to wear.”
He gave her areallylook. “I’m not taking you clothes shopping.”
“I can’t think of a single thing in my closet that’s appropriate for a beach wedding,” she said, and he was amazed all over again at her ability to keep a straight face while being a total pain in the ass.
“Bullshit. You could bring that dress you wore to Brandy’s birthday party.” She’d looked amazing at his older sister’s thirtieth.
“I don’t remember which one I wore.”
“Like a sleeveless sundress thing. With flowers.”
“Oh yeah, I like that one. It has pockets.” She gave him a sideways look. “I’m a little surprised you pay so much attention to what I wear, though.”
“I remember it because that douchebag you were dating kept making stupid jokes about doing some gardening when the party was over.”
“Oh, Matt? He really was a douchebag.”
“I wasn’t too broken up when you kicked him to the curb.”
He hadn’t said much at the time because they’d had issues in the past with her having a guy for a best friend not going over well with Carly’s boyfriends. The same with some of the women he’d dated. Sometimes others couldn’t wrap their heads around their friendship, so Noah and Carly had learned to be more hands-off when it came to relationships than typical best friends would be.
“I guess I do have a few things that would work,” Carly admitted.
“Other than the actual wedding ceremony, it’ll all be beach casual, probably. Especially the clambake reception.”
“You’re kidding.”
“You can’t get married on the Cape without a clambake, according to Emily.”
“But it’s the reception?”
“Like an after-reception reception, I guess. They were going to have it earlier in the weekend, but Jim thinks it’s a pretty sketchy way of cooking shellfish and he’s terrified somebody—mostly him—will get food poisoning before the ceremony. And they’re leaving on their honeymoon Sunday morning, so that’s the only way they can both be happy.”
“I have a new swimsuit on hold at Brandy’s shop,” she said. “I feel like paying it off for me would be fair.”
His sister worked for a touristy boutique a few doors down from the bookstore. Noah had learned over the years that anything sold at aboutiquecost more than the same item if sold at astore. “Do I get Brandy’s discount?”
“Of course.”
“I guess I could do that.”
“Then I’ll do it.” Then she held up a finger. “If Zoe doesn’t mind me taking the weekend off. It’s our busy time.”
Noah nodded, because it was true. But he also knew that no matter how busy the store was, it didn’t hold very many customers at a time and he’d seen each of them handle it alone with no problem.
“Just out of curiosity, what’s your exit plan? Are you going to fake-dump me someday because I’ll tell you straight up right now, I’m not fake-marrying you.”
He snorted at the thought. “You know me. Unlike you, I have no interest in getting married, whether it’s fake or not.”
