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“Wow,” Lane said. “I feel like it’s going to take me a little bit to process this.” The doorbell rang and I went down to get the food.
“Well, you can process with food,” I said, holding up the bags. That broke the tension a little bit as everyone grabbed chopsticks and dug in.
“So what was the moment that you realized you loved each other?” Ansel asked. I set my lo mein on the coffee table.
“For me, I can’t pinpoint one moment, but I feel like it really hit me at the wedding. The look on her face the whole day was just...” I trailed off and shrugged. “I knew when I was saying my vows that I meant every single word. I guess that’s as close to a moment as you can get.” I locked eyes with Cara and a tear trailed down her cheek.
“Oh, you’re so cute I could die,” Cedar said. “I’m not even a little bit jealous.” Everyone laughed.
“And you, Cara?” Ansel asked.
“It was before that. It was when she had the idea in the first place. When she sat me down and said that she would do anything for me. And that was when I knew, and I spent the next few weeks lying to myself. Every other relationship had never felt like being with you. I always told myself that thinking about kissing you just meant we were super close friends.”
“The denial was strong with both of us,” I said and kissed her cheek.
“Does this mean that you’re having another party?” Jason said. “Because the last one was great, but I think we can top it.”
“Yes, we’re going to have another party. Much bigger. Lo’s mom is planning that one too.” My mom had screamed when we’d told her. And then filled us in that she’d known all along.
“I knew you’d find each other in the end,” she’d said. Dad had been all choked up as well, and offered to buy us a car for some reason. We turned him down.
Cara was due to start school in a month, and we wanted to do something to mark the change in our relationship, and what better than renewing our vows? They had been real the first time, but now we would both know that they were real, and so would everyone else. We were going to wear the same dresses, but do the ceremony somewhere else. We were still arguing about a venue. A honeymoon was also happening, at one of three locations. The list of potential destinations had gone down considerably, for which I was relieved.
Cara had moved her bed into my room, and a lot of her stuff. The spare room was currently a guest room, and Cara was going to set up a corner so she could do her homework and have some quiet time.
I didn’t know if I had ever been this fucking happy. I couldn’t believe my life right now. It was everything I’d ever wanted, but didn’t know was standing right there in front of me.
“To Cara and Lo,” Ansel said, raising his soda. Everyone else did the same.
“To Cara and Lo!”
I kissed her sweet and hard to the sounds of whistles and cheering.
“I love you in all the ways,” she said.
“I love you in every way you can love another person. You’re my everything, past, present, and future,” I said. “You’re my best friend, Care.”
She kissed me again.
Acknowledgements: Wow, what I can say about this one? I have been obsessed with weddings FOREVER. Father of the Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I’ve seen more episodes of Say Yes to the Dress than I would like to admit to. I never really thought about writing a wedding series, but then I figured “why the hell not?” There were plenty of non-queer wedding books out there, so why not take something that has been done and do it queer? That’s pretty much my writing strategy at this point.
I’d been DYING to write a marriage of convenience book for... I don’t know years, and then I finally said, “I’m doing it!” So here it is.
So many people have shown so much support to this cute little book. In this time of turmoil and terror, writing fluff feels like an act of resistance. I want to give you a place where you can relax and enjoy yourself for a little while. A world where everything turns out okay in the end, and there’s lots of flirting and kissing.
My editor, Laura, is a freaking saint. She powered through this book on my extreme deadline and helped me make this book better. She always makes my books better and I wouldn’t be the writer I am without her.
