Page 18 of Oops, I'm Having My Best Friend’s Baby!

“I run a catering business,” she said, feeling the words fall flat on her tongue, especially with the luxury of the mega yacht surrounding her. But Jess looked delighted by the answer.

“Oh, fun!” she said. “Like for parties and stuff?”

“Uh, yeah, and stuff.”

“That’s always seemed so mysterious to me, how people actually organize those events, you know? It must be so much work. I just turn up and enjoy, and meanwhile there are all these people behind the scenes for months.”

It seemed to Amy that she and Jess had very different ideas about the sorts of parties Amy was catering for.

“And what do you do?” Amy asked politely, wanting to steer away from her own life as much as possible.

“Social media,” Jess said brightly and… that made perfect sense.

“She works her butt off for it, too,” Jason said, nodding vehemently while digging into more of the food. Jess slapped his arm playfully as if bashful. Amy wasn’t entirely certain how hard someone ever really worked if their job was “social media,” but she kept her mouth firmly shut. Because Jess actually seemed really nice, so Amy slapped herself internally and swallowed any snippy thoughts back down.

Don’t be on the defensive already. This isn’t high school anymore.

“You’ll have to show me your accounts,” Amy said. “And I’ll follow you.”

“Oh, my God, that’s so nice,” Jess said with a crinkly eyed smile. “And I’ll follow you back, obviously.”

Here was something that only struck Amy right that second, as solid as a punch to the chest. Bluffing their way through the high school reunion had been easy, so they’d just assumed this whole thing would be easy as well. But the reunion had been easy because they hadn’t cared if the words coming out of their mouths were lies, the truth, or something in between. They’d been loud and overdramatic, being obnoxious and rubbing “their lifestyle” in people’s faces. They hadn’t even kept any lies consistent between one listener and the next. That wasn’t going to be even a remote possibility over the course of the next week. She’d joked about being more subtle when she and Kai had been in their cabin, but they really were going to have to play it all a lot more believably than they’d anticipated.

It seemed Kai must have been on a similar train of thought because he’d barely said two words so far, silence being the safest option available.

“Kai you’ve been quiet, man,” Jason said. Jeez, this guy was more observant than Amy gave him credit for.

“Just enjoying the food,” Kai said smoothly. “Though Amy’s cooking will always be my favorite.”

Then he nudged Amy under the table with his knee. She needed to play along.

“I love the food here,” she said. “For this week I can come in second place. That’s just fine.”

“You’ll never be in second place.”

The temptation was strong to make fun of him, to tease and fall into their usual banter, to say gross or something and move on. She swallowed the impulse with a bite of food.

“So,” Jason said. “Do you still have the penthouse, Kai? Or are you living somewhere else now?”

They’d been doing well so far, but Kai looked confused for a second too long and apparently Jason felt the need to explain.

“You’re living together, I assume? You know, since you’re getting married. So are you in the penthouse?”

“Uh…”

Oh God, this was going to be over before they’d even sailed ten miles.

“We go back and forth,” Amy jumped in with a shrug, which again wasn’t entirely a lie. They definitely visited each other’s places. Sometimes. “With the catering business, it’s a good way to have bases in different parts of the city. You know, keeping his apartment and mine.”

Kai nudged her knee under the table again. Good save.

“Do you have a specialty?” Jess asked. “With your cooking? Like French cuisine, or… something else? I don’t really know much about food.”

She giggled self-consciously, but her attention was on Amy like she was the most important person in the world, like her answer was going to be the most interesting thing ever said. It left Amy feeling like a deer in the headlights, not used to such focused attention.

“Uh, it’s Mexican fusion, actually,” she said, fiddling with her napkin. “I’m half Mexican, so that’s a big inspiration.”

“Oh, cool!” Jess said. “I took Spanish in high school, you know.”

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