Page 64 of The Contract Marriage

She picks up a piece on my plate with her fork and brings it to my mouth. “Ahhh.”

“Wait, what is it?”

“Come on, don’t be scared. Try it. My arm is getting tired.” She starts to shake her arm theatrically.

Laughing, I take the bite. The fish is cold, but it’s so fresh that it doesn’t need anything but the hint of citrus and salt.

“What do you think?” she asks, her eyes shining.

“Good.” Then I frown. “Are you using me as a taster?”

She giggles. “Maybe. I’ve never seen it presented like this before.” She eats a piece, then nods. “Mmm. Definitely worth it. You undersold it by just calling it ‘good.’”

We eat in companionable silence for a few moments.

“So. What have you been doing since school? I mean, until we met again so fatefully.” After the conversation at Grandmother’s place, I’m curious.

“Well, nothing as exciting as you founding a lab diamond business, obviously.”

“I have you to thank for that. When you said there’s beauty to turning something common and unnoticed into a dazzling treasure, I was like, ‘Yup, that’s it.’”

“Did I say that?”

“Yup. It was during a case study.”

“Really.” She chews for a moment. “Huh.”

“So how about you? Doing something similar?”

“Not quite. I work for a small company.”

When she doesn’t elaborate, I ask, “What does it do?”

“Guess.” She sips the wine, her eyes challenging mine.

I cock my head. “You have to give me a hint.”

“EverAfter.”

“Weddings?”

“Yeah, something like that.” She picks up the tiny salt crystals off her plate with the tip of her finger and licks them. Her eyes are lowered. “The only thing permanent and real in life.”

“Did they plan that wedding ceremony in Beverly Hills?”

She laughs. “No. That was all me, choosing everything specifically to make the day extra special. You have no idea how many hours I spent in bridal boutiques to find just the right dress for my sister.”

I cough, then wrinkle my nose at the memory of that bitch at the wedding. She acted so proud after stealing Tyler from Olivia. Not that I wanted to see Olivia with him, but it’s the principle. My brothers would never steal anything of mine. “It, ah, sort of made her look wide around the hips.”

Olivia’s shoulders shake harder. “That was the point. It added twenty pounds on me, too, when I tried it on, and I knew that was it. The sales clerk was so grateful she even gave me a free veil.”

I burst out laughing. “Devious.”

“It was obvious what she was planning. She always steals everything from me—my home, my mom…my boyfriends.” Pensiveness clouds her eyes.

I reach out and hold her hand. “She’ll never take me from you.”

“Really?” She blinks at me across the table. “Even if she were lying in your bed naked?”