Page 26

“Of course he does.”

“Then what's wrong with him?”

I looked at her, but she wasn't smiling anymore.

“If he's kind, and he loves you, and you've been happy with him, what's wrong?”

“I didn't say I've been happy with him.”

“You've been dating him for months. Your families have known each other for years.”

“That isn't the same thing.”

“No.” She reached for another fry. “It isn't.”

A gull landed beside our table and began inspecting the concrete beneath my chair for evidence that humanity had failed to dispose of lunch properly.

I tore off a piece of bun and tossed it down.

Kim pointed at me. “Don't encourage it.”

“Everyone needs friends.”

“Not those. They're like a protection racket.”

The gull swallowed the bread and remained exactly where it was, watching me with the patience of someone confident there would be more.

“See?” Kim said.

I smiled, but my thoughts had already gone back to Paul.

“What if I marry him because it's easy?”

“Then don't.”

“You make everything sound simple.”

“That's because most things are simple before parents start ordering non-refundable flowers.”

She leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table.

“Everybody thinks you're going to marry him. Your mother, his mother, hell, half of Maple Bluff probably thinks it, and I'm pretty sure Bitsy has already chosen which spoon people will use for dessert, but none of that means you have to say yes.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

The question sat between us while the windsurfer finally managed to stay upright for several seconds, drawing applause from a group near the railing before another gust sent him sideways into the lake.

“If I don't marry him, everything changes.”

“Yes.”

“My parents will be upset and I’ll hurt Paul.”

“Probably.”

“And what if Dean isn't...”