Page 19 of For the Record

I squinted at him in evaluation. “I don’t know…you’ve got some J-Lo hips in there somewhere.”

Adam snorted sarcastically before shaking his head and crossing his arms.

Well, I’d tried. I wasn’t one to beg, and as I said before, Dad came first. If Adam was the type of man to be offended or off put by that, then it was best to know now.

I twirled the band on my keys around my wrist, catching them in my palm. “Your loss. Could’ve made you a really great dance partner…” I dragged out. Then I turned on my heel, hoping for some resistance on his end.

But Adam didn’t resist. He watched as I walked to the front door. Blowing a kiss to Layla and waving a hand at Calla, I wrapped my arms around my torso and stepped outside, then walked briskly to my car.

I’d meant what I said to Adam the last time I saw him. I didn’t have time to date or do anything more than that. Didn’t mean I didn’t want him to try a little. It was a shame. I did like him a lot. But the dad test was a tried-and-true trial to see someone’s intentions with me. If they weren’t comfortable coming to see my father with me, then chances were we couldn’t be friends. And we certainly couldn’t be more.

That was okay. It was a good thing, really. Easier to let that settle in now rather than down the road when my expectations were unrealistic. I was just going to have to ogle Adam from across the room at every Wells family event from here on out. At Luke and Layla’s wedding, we would make awkward eye contact with an uncomfortable wave. I would leave early because of “a bad stomachache,” and that would become the new normal.

“Rachel!” A raspy shout from behind me stopped my hand from opening the car door.

Adam jogged down the busy street, weaving around tourists, with a hand in the air, signaling for me to wait up. My heart leaped out of my chest, my pulse racing and heat rising under my skin as he approached.

He rubbed the back of his neck and then crossed his arms. “I, uh. I’ll go.”

My entire face lifted, a smile slowly pulling up and my eyebrows rising. Adam Wells was going dancing with me. I felt the undeniable urge to go find my journal from sixth grade and write an entry in it. Dear diary, a strong, tattooed pirate is whisking me away for a night of ballroom dancing with the highly elite at the Graceful Care Community Center. Suck it, Nancy from homeroom.

Adam, seeing my pleased expression, dropped his eyebrows. “I’m not dancing.”

Hmm, we would see about that.

Currently playing: Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder

***

Forcing Adam to walk into the café first, I waited outside the entrance, mentally singing “Big Me” by Foo fighters.

It was just over two minutes. I knew because I had been singing it for years as my brushing my teeth song. Two minutes seemed like a perfect amount of non-suspicious time for my entrance to the table. It wasn’t so late that I was being rude, but it meant I didn’t have to walk in with Adam.

My hands shook as I reached the last chorus and ran them through my hair. It took a lot for me to get anxious. I was a more confident person than most, and if this had been anything simpler, I could have passed it up as a laughable thing. But this was real. It was semipermanent. Or at least permanent until I had saved up enough and felt comfortable signing off on the papers. So maybe two years?

And really, in the grand scheme of life, what was two years? Just a blink. It would come and go, and we’d look back on it with fond memories. Like a best friend marriage pact that had come to fruition. Except this was on a whim. And we were using it as an excuse to bring in extra income. That part, I didn’t feel too bad about, considering we’d gotten married and then come up with the idea of reaping the benefits from it. So it wasn’t technically illegal. At least in my head, anyway.

Reaching the end of the song, I took a deep breath and forced my legs to move inside the area. My eyes searched the room, snagging on a table in the far corner full of Wells family faces.

With my thumb, I turned my ring around, leaving the diamond on the underside of my finger. I’d keep it under the table 90 percent of the time, and when the time was right, Adam and I would figure out how to break the news to everyone. Simple.

“Good morning.” I sighed and took the only open seat. Adam was on my left, and Nathan sat on my right.

They all replied with their own greetings, and the casual, relaxed tone of it all helped my shoulders drop a little. It was stupid of me to freak out. These were my people. More than they knew at the moment, but still. They had treated me with nothing but kindness and acceptance from the moment I met each of them. Why would I expect anything different now?

Calla and Layla both made eyes at me as I sat down. Layla lowered her brows at me and then obnoxiously widened her eyes at Adam sitting next to me. Yes, I’d married my best friend’s brother-in-law without a word to her until after the ceremony was over, and now I was sitting across from her, pretending as though it had never happened. I could already hear her nagging in my ear like the sound of Howler. Rachel! How dare you marry my brother-in-law without calling me?

I gave a sympathetic smile, my cheeks pulling tight and my eyes full of sorrow. I really hadn’t meant to leave her out, and if I could go back in time, I would have gladly done things differently. But I only had that vision now, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Small talk erupted around the table, discussions of Marigold and Liam’s reception, and the boys talking about how excited they were to have their parents under the same roof again. Nathan and Calla went on about their perfect jobs. It all felt entirely normal, and I was entirely grateful for normal at the moment.

Once we all settled with food on our plates, the discussions died down.

While everyone was occupied, I felt a light touch above my knee. Out of the corner of my eye, Adam kept eating as though nothing had changed. His fingers rubbed back and forth with a comforting firmness. Ease washed over me even further. I almost felt ridiculous for beginning to freak out earlier.

His pointer finger gave a delicate tap.

Are you okay? it said.

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