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Rosie covered her face.
“The second rule was that I was not allowed to mention the time she snuck out after curfew and ripped her pants on the window which was, to my delight, the reason she got caught. She’d gotten dressed in the dark and was wearing Mom’s pants. After she tried to blame the rip on a honey badger, she had to ‘fess up.”
“I’m going to kill you!” Rosie shouted, wriggling against Mark’s hold.
I grinned. “You knew better than to make me do this.”
“What’s the third?” Uncle Dave yelled.
“The third rule was that I was absolutely, one-hundred percent not allowed to tell you all that her obsession with N-SYNC was so extensive that when she was sixteen, she came home drunk and slept with her life-size cardboard cut-out of Justin Timberlake.”
Now that drew laughs from everyone.
Everyone except my sister whose cheeks were the brightest shade of red I’d ever seen.
“And I was also told not to tell you there were rules, but I guess I really messed that one up,” I smirked at her. “Sorry, Ro. But this is my revenge for that time you told Darren Fowler that the cold sore on my lip was herpes.”
Rosie stopped, pursed her lips, then shrugged. “Fair enough.”
I laughed. “Okay, but, seriously, I’m up here for a reason and that isn’t to air all your secrets. I have to save some for your anniversaries, birthdays, and general sibling blackmail, after all.”
Another light laugh went through the crowd.
“So, Ro, Mark…” I turned to them. “I can honestly say that I never once doubted this day would come. Of all the people I’ve ever seen fall in love, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone love each other as much as the two of you do. So as much as I mess with you both, I know that nobody on this beach is happier for you than I am. You’re a true fairytale, and if I’m ever loved with half the passion you love each other, I’ll count myself very lucky. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins. May you be together forever. And, if not, I know how to hide a body. Lookin’ at you, Mark.”
I raised my glass to my brother-in-law and sister to toast them. They were both grinning, and Mark was laughing his ass off at me.
Well. That didn’t go too badly.
I stepped off the chair to the sound of people toasting them and cheering.
I did it. And I was still alive. And I hadn’t thrown up.
Bonus.
“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Adam said, wrapping one arm around me and pulling me against his side. “You didn’t slip, fall, or make a complete fool out of yourself.”
“You could at least pretend to hide your surprise,” I muttered, sliding an arm around his back.
“I could, but then you’d call me out for lying.”
“Maybe. Maybe I would have pretended that I didn’t notice.” I shrugged and finished my drink.
“I think that’s a lie.”
I rolled my eyes because it totally was. There was no way I wouldn’t call him out. Mostly because I, too, was surprised I’d done it without screwing it up.
Mom climbed up onto the chair, mic in hand, and waved her hand to get everyone’s attention. “Hi, hi! Thank you, everyone. The beach has been cleared and the dance floor installed. It’s time for the first dance, so if everyone could head back down, that’d be perfect. Thank you.”
Adam took my glass and put it on the nearest table. “Come on. Your mom will have a cow if you aren’t there at the front.”
I watched as my dad guided my mom carefully down the dance floor. “I think the only thing my mom needs to have is a glass of water.”
She slipped and giggled, gripping onto Dad’s shirt.
Adam snorted. “That, too.”
***
I bit my lip and buried my face in Adam’s chest. His shoulders shook, and the rumble of his laugh in my ear sent chills down my spine.
“Really?” he asked. “You really hid a snake in her bed?”
“No, a snakeskin,” I corrected him. “And that was only because she’d put a rabbit’s foot in my bed.”
“Why would you do that?”
I pulled back from him and shrugged. “I don’t even remember how it started. I think it was with a dare that went wrong and we ended up trying to best the other.”
“Who won?”
“Me, obviously.” I rolled my eyes and rested my cheek against his chest.
The sun was almost completely set now. The sky was a mix of inky blue and deep red, but the beach and surrounding area was lit up by lanterns. The dance floor itself was alight, changing colors every few seconds. Adam and I had long given up trying to get onto it, so now we were on the outside of the dancing group, slowly swaying to the music.
“Want to go sit somewhere?” he asked me softly.
