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I tip my head to the side and let out a sigh of hopelessness.
His lips quirk with a smile. “Harley, would you like to go out with me?”
“Ryan,” I hiss, afraid people in the restaurant might hear us. He’s relatively anonymous in Coco Key, but you never know when a rabid fan might spot him. It happens occasionally at the Gastrodome when a pro athlete will come in and get mobbed.
“But will you?” he presses.
I suppose we do have an agreement and now we have a story for how we “officially” got together.
“Yes, Ryan. I’ll be your girlfriend if you’ll be my boyfriend.”
He wears his most satisfied smile and nods. “I guess things have a way of turning out in the end.”
“But it’s just the beginning.”
“That too, toots.” And he’s back with his typical teasing.
“Oh, here we go. You may as well call me fart.”
The color leaves his face. “No, I meant like tootsie. Or like the guys in old black and white movies,Hey, toots,” he says, imitating a star from the silver screen.
“No, you meant toots like fart. Never thought I’d say this, but I prefer Nugget.”
“Then Nugget it is. And I thought we cleared that up.”
“You never said what Nugget means.”
“Nugget like gold, the color of your hair, like something rare and valuable.”
“Oh.”
“What are you going to call me?”
“Impossible.”
“Har Har.”
“Let’s be real here?—”
“When have I ever not been?”
“All of the times. You’ve never been real with me.”
“Because I had thoughts about you that Brando would’ve drowned me for. He’d drown me, run me over, then throw me off the water tower.”
I incline my head with disbelief because, if nothing else, Ryan has always known how to yank my chain.
Time to change the subject. “So, now we have our reunion story. Tell me a little bit more about what I’ll find on social media about your runaway groom move.”
“I didn’t run. I was at my bachelor party and I made a casual exit.”
I can picture him sauntering through the door...and into my arms. No, I didn’t picture that. Nope. I fill my mouth with a bite of the bada bing coconut shrimp appetizer.
“I’d talked to my buddy Garrison and then Brando about my doubts.”
“That might be the first time in history that a dude left his bachelor party.”
“We were at brunch. Things were just getting started. Incidentally, Jayda’s mother planned it, so I don’t expect it would’ve gotten too wild.”
