And so I took a breath, and, standing right there in the half-opendoorway, I turned back to him and said, “One afternoon, when we were kids, we were playing truth or dare after school on the playground. And Finn got dared to go kiss me while I was blindfolded. And so I went off behind the shed, and I dutifully tied on my blindfold, and then I waited for Finn to show up. I waited so long, I thought he might not show up at all. But then he did. And I was so relieved. Because I’d been thinking that whole time that I might get stood up for the first kiss of my life. Minutes went by that felt like hours. The playground got quieter and quieter as kids got picked up for car pool and went home. But I kept waiting. I refused to lose hope. And then… he showed up. I heard his sneakers on the gravel, and I felt like my whole body was just filling up with gratitude. And then he put his hands on my shoulders, and he leaned down, and he gave me—honestly—the sweetest kiss in the history of kisses.”
I had Cooper’s attention now.
“There are lots of reasons why that particular day was important in my life—and Ashley and I have used her psychology training to examine every one of them. But the main reason is just—the kiss. The kiss itself. I can still remember it like it just happened. I can feel the pressure of his hands on my shoulders, and hear the sound of his breathing. I could tell you every detail. I could go all night. It’s like that one moment cast a spell over my life that I’ve lived under ever since. It’s like the sweetness of that kiss set the standard that no other kiss could ever meet.” My voice felt shaky, and I hoped like hell Cooper couldn’t hear it as I went on. “I have no idea what’s going to happen tonight—but I know I need to go and find out. I need to go and confront that kiss, and everything it’s come to mean, and the guy who gave it to me.”
I don’t know what I was hoping for from Cooper. A nod of sympathy, maybe? A little validation that what I was trying to do wasn’t ridiculous?
But instead, I got… clarifying questions.
“Thatwas your first kiss you’ve been talking about all this time?” Cooper asked. “During that game of truth or dare?”
I nodded.
“Thatwas the kiss you imprinted on so hard that it ruined you for all other kisses?”
I nodded again.
“That’s the kiss you think is your destiny?”
“Yes, okay? Yes. So I’m going. And you don’t have to help me—you really don’t. But kindly do me a favor—and don’t try to stop me, either.”
With that, I stepped out into the hallway.
And I slammed Cooper’s door behind me.
Twenty-One
ASHLEY REALLY WASa force of nature.
She should be running a Fortune 500 company. But instead, she was organizing a variety show to pair up all of her single friends before her wedding cruise was over.
Arguably a more noble pursuit.
She zipped over to me as soon as I walked into the little side theater. “Finn’s not here yet,” she said, “but we’ve got time. The slow-dance contest isn’t until the very end.” She looked me up and down. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay enough,” I said, looking around. “I’m wearing two full layers of aloe.”
“I had you signed up for the piggyback race and the wheelbarrow,” Ashley said, “but I found a replacement.”
“Thank you.”
“So that really just leaves the slow dancing for you,” she said, checking her clipboard. “Unless you’d like to do the beach ball pass, or the cancan line, or the group pyramid?”
All of these elements were scientifically engineered—by Ashley—tocreate love connections between the participants. But I wasn’t sure how much participating I could handle.
“I think the slow-dance contest is plenty,” I said.
“Got it,” Ashley said, giving me a wink. “I hope you win.”
THE VARIETY SHOWwas pure torture.
Ashley had decided to go hard on the Cooper/Bridesmaid Two pairing. So even though Cooper did show up in the side theater a little after I did—now in proper attire—almost as soon as he found me, and took the seat beside me, and leaned right up against my ear to say, “I need to talk to you,” Ashley showed up and snapped her fingers at him.
“I need Cooper on the stage. Right now,” she said, holding her clipboard like a threat.
Things could have gone differently, of course. Another person—one who hadn’t been conditioned into obedience by a lifetime of Ashley being the bossy mom of our little street gang—might have politely declined.
But Cooper just gave me a strangled look and then rose to follow her—turning back to me as he went and saying, again, “I really need to talk to you.”
