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“I’m definitely more scared about telling your brothers,” I admit, staring into my drink.
“You should be.”
I swallow the fear lodged in my throat, praying it’ll be fine. “Anyway…”
“Anyway…” she repeats, smiling. “I guess I should know more about my secret boyfriend slash husband,” she says, tapping her finger on her glass. “Although…” She points a finger at my face. “If I find out that you’re a sociopath who folds his socks, then we absolutely can’t get married.”
“Youdon’tfold your socks? You’re the sociopath, sweetheart,” I tease.I definitely do not fold my socks.“You can check yourself later when you come home.” She pauses, staring at me like I’ve just told her something profound. I wait for her to say something, but she doesn’t. “What did I say?”
Shaking her head, she blinks. “Nothing. So, your inner most secrets…”
“Right. I guess, thinking about things you should know…” I hesitate, and my chest fills with that same feeling I get when I think about her. “My mum passed away when I was twenty-five. Cancer. Her name was Evelyn, and she made the best banana bread ever. My dad tries to make it every year on her birthday, and he does a pretty good job, but Mum just had the magic touch.”
“Damn, here I was thinking you were about to tell me your favourite sex positions.” She swallows loudly and winces, piercing me with her honesty shining in her blue eyes. “I’m sorry about your mum. I think I may have met her once when I was younger.” She takes my hand and squeezes it, and I’m grateful for her doing that. “I wish I could’ve known her.”
“Me too. You would probably be in cahoots all the time.” My chest constricts, but it swells at the same time at the thought of the two of them together. Mum really would’ve liked Zoey.
“She sounds like my kind of woman.” Zoey smiles. It’s soft and warm, and I take comfort from it. “I can’t believe you’re my brother’s best friend and I don’t know your family. It feels weird.”
“Don’t forget, there’s seven years between us. We weren’t friends officially; it would be weird. I only ever saw you at your house when I visited your brothers.”
“I had the biggest crush on you,” she blurts, then slaps her hand over her mouth. “Oh shit, please forget I said that out loud.”
My grin is so wide I’m sure she can see my molars. “You had a crush on me?”
“I’d like to erase the last minute of this conversation, please. I’m ignoring you until you agree to these terms.”
I’m still smiling, loving the flush she’s sporting. “Your cheeks are very pink.”
“I put blusher on this morning. Too much, evidently.”
“It’s creeping up your neck.”
“It is not. It’s the light in here.” She refuses to meet my eyes, even though I’m silently pleading with her to do so. I want to bask in her adorableness.
“I think I like blushing Zoey.”
Her blue eyes flick to mine, and I wilt under the sheer depth of the ocean, staring back at me. “I. Am. Not. Blushing.”
Hiding my smile in a sip of my drink, I decide that defiant Zoey might be my favourite. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
“I never would’ve agreed to marry you if I’d known you were this intolerable.”
“That’ll teach you to make uninformed decisions.”
A beat passes. It’s not awkward, it’s comfortable. Zoey softens the longer I look at her, the frustration from blurting out her inner thoughts dissipates, her shoulders come down from her ears, her mouth parts on each soft exhale and she mindlessly traces the outline of her top lip as she stares at me too. Cataloguing.
“I’m going to pretend that whole conversation didn’t happen. So, you were saying…”
“That you’re beautiful when you’re shy?”
“Flattery will get you nowhere with me. I told you in Vegas, I’m a physical touch girl. Besides, we’re getting off track here.”
I do remember her telling me that. How could I forget after rubbing suncream torturously over her perfect skin?Fuck no, don’t think about that.I cough awkwardly, begging all the blood to remain in the upper half of my body and not travel south.
“Right. When my mum passed, he wasn’t in a good place for a long time, but he got help, and he’s doing good now.”
“What’s his name?”
