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“We should do something,” I said.
“Hmm?” Natalie was fully distracted by her new hobby.
“I said we should do something since this is our last night of the trip. It might not have been the sister trip you envisioned, but it wasn’t all bad.”
Natalie grinned. “No, it wasn’t all bad.”
She sat up as if she had an idea and picked up the phone.
“Yes, my wife and I are newlyweds, and we were wondering if you had anything special…thank you, we’re very happy…that would be great, thank you!”
She set the phone down and laughed.
“I’m sorry, what is happening?” I asked, gaping at her.
“They’re sending up champagne and a dessert plate with chocolate-covered strawberries,” she said.
“You probably could have just ordered that,” I said. I didn’t know why it was so upsetting that Natalie had referred to me as her wife, even if it was fake.
“Oh come on, we’ve faked birthdays before to get stuff. Lighten up.” She stood up on the bed and started jumping up and down, nearly landing on me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Being spontaneous!” she yelled. “Join me!”
I guess you did only live once, and I’d made her get into a lake with all her clothes on, so I stood up on the bed and jumped with her.
Good thing the ceiling was high and the bed was strong.
“Remember,” Natalie said, completely breathless, “when we broke your parent’s bed?”
“Don’t remind me. I feel like I’m still paying it off.”
She gave me a look. “They did not make you pay it off.”
“Not the whole thing, but I was giving them pennies until they’d decided I had learned my lesson.” When Wyatt had crashed their car only a week after getting his driver’s license, they’d bought him a new one. Yet they still claimed they didn’t have a favorite child.
It was ridiculous of me to think that I could be with Natalie for a whole week and not talk or think about the past. So much of my past was wrapped up with hers. Denying that was denying my own experiences.
“I talked Gretchen out of exploding anything for the gender reveal. She’s still going to do it, but now she’s trying to think of something that no one else has done before,” she said.
There was knock at the door and our champagne and sweets had arrived.
“Thank you so much. My wife loves strawberries, right babe?” Natalie turned to me and smirked.
I was too stunned to say anything, and the hotel employee didn’t seem to care, as long as they got a tip.
“Let’s celebrate this,” Natalie said, opening the champagne and pouring me a glass. I was going for the strawberries.
“We should toast. To road trips and second chances,” Natalie said, raising her glass.
“To road trips and second chances,” I agreed.
The champagne was perfect and tickled my nose as I swallowed.
I was still feeling some kind of way about Natalie pretending that I was her wife. The best way I could describe the feeling was…confused. Conflicted? It was a feeling I couldn’t quite put my finger on, and it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Just strange.
“Let me have some of those,” Natalie said as I held up another strawberry in preparation to take a bite. She leaned forward and bit it right out of my hand, her lips brushing my fingers.
