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Hands on hips, Sofie eyeballed her sister. “You didn’t tell me Reed was your date.”
Giana shrugged. “Guess I’d been so busy planning your bachelorette party and the menu for this dinner, telling you slipped my mind.” She ran her left hand through her hair in one smooth, highly impressive move.
“Wait.” Sofie gasped. “Is that a ring?” She practically yanked her sister’s hand. “WTF, Giana, are you two…engaged?”
“Yep.” I pulled Giana into me. “Popped the question last weekend while we were in the Hamptons.”
The douchebag sitting at the table, who I assumed was Sofie’s fiancé, stood and said, “Well, that’s kinda cool.”
Sofie released what sounded like a disgruntled sigh. “When did you two even get back together?”
“Six months ago.”
“After she showed me a house,” I said, adding fluff to Giana’s short reply. “I didn’t expect she’d be the real estate agent meeting me there.” Factual scenario. “Before I knew it, one thing led to another.” Factual scenario in the making if all the stars align.
Giana and I added more hot air, further blowing up the story, and by the time we’d finished, her sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law-slash-ex seemingly ate up the entire sham.
Sofie plastered on what had all the earmarks of a signature resting-bitch face. “Congratulations. You both seem very happy.”
Guests spilled into the room quickly as Giana and I claimed our seats at a table, flickering tea lights and rose petals scattered about.
In the background, a string quartet played melodic versions of timeless love songs as black-tied servers pranced from table to table, balancing trays along their forearms. Glancing down at the table, I perused menu-card choices.
I leaned over and said softly in Giana’s ear, “Everything on the menu sounds delicious,” remembering that she’d been responsible for tonight’s meal. Personally, I would have blown this shit off, not even attended. I couldn’t comprehend how Sofie could act so annoyed with Giana when she’d been the one who took a sharp knife to her little sister’s back. They say guilt makes one lash out at those they’ve wronged.
“Thank you.” Giana’s smile was fleeting, and she couldn’t mask the hurt filling her eyes. I wanted to erase her pain, be the hero who saved her, just like that night at the party six years ago.
Dinner and dessert dragged by, guests making long-winded speeches about Sofie and Chad.
Giana remained pretty quiet most of the evening, barely touching her meal.
Playing more upbeat tunes, the band invited everyone onto the dance floor.
When I tugged Giana’s elbow and asked her to join me for a dance, she said, “Fuck, here comes Sofie.” She gestured to the right, and when I flicked my gaze in that direction, I watched Sofie make a narrow-eyed beeline straight for our table.
“Just wanted to come by and congratulate you two on your engagement again.” The smile on Sofie’s face looked more plastic than a Barbie doll’s ass. “So amazing how you’ve reconnected.” She slid into one of the seats across from ours. “It’s like that movie Serendipity, only better.”
Giana leaned into me, legs bouncing up and down, and I placed my hand on her thigh to help her relax.
“It’s almost like Giana and I picked up right where we left off.” Those words were meant to boost the story, but in reality, they couldn’t have been truer.
“Have you two set a date?”
I scratched my head. Shit, we didn’t decide on a fake date.
Giana blinked, her smile mirroring her sister’s. “September seventeenth.”
Nice save, Gigi. September seventeenth happened to be the anniversary of our first date, six years ago. Her remembering was like a whisper to my heart.
“So…” Sofie tilted her head to the side, gaze locked on her sister. “You’ve sorted out the whole kids thing, I assume?”
Giana froze, eyes wide. “Um, we’re planning to—”
“Have two, maybe three,” I chimed in, relying on chats we’d had years ago when mapping out our future. Then, Giana had her heart set on having at least one boy and one girl—one boy and two girls, a definite plus.
“Wow,” Sofie said, brows raised. “That’s interesting.”
The sisters exchanged an odd glare, and I noticed Giana fidget in her seat.
