Page 57 of Offside Bride

I pull her into my arms, letting her cry against my chest, stroking her hair.

I hold Maggie close, letting her tears soak my shirt. After a while, her sobs subside into sniffles. I gently tilt her chin up, kissing her forehead, her tear-stained cheeks, the tip of her adorable nose.

“So,” I say softly, wiping away a stray tear with my thumb. “Was demolishing these poor, defenseless paperbacks making you feel better?”

Maggie sniffs, her eyes rimmed red. “Maybe…I don’t know. It might be cathartic?”

“Well then.” I reach over and grab two pristine copies of her book from the pile, handing one to Maggie. “Why stop now? What do you say we finish the job?”

Maggie’s watery eyes meet mine with a look of surprise. “You…you want to help me destroy my own books?”

I shrug, already thumbing through the pages. “Hey, if it helps you feel better, I’m all for it.”

“I’m feeling a little guilty about it now. What would the bookstagrammers think?”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

She sighs and cracks a weak smile. “Oh, okay. But then you’re taking me out for ice cream after.”

“Deal,” I say, holding up my copy ofTouchdown for Love. “On three?”

Maggie nods, gripping her book tightly.

“Oh, and one more thing,” I say. “Last one to shred their book has to kiss the winner.”

“Just found out the wife is writing a book about our honeymoon, called50 Shades of Just O.K.”

— CONAN O'BRIEN

18

SAWYER

Maggie and Siobhan chatter away like long-lost friends, their laughter filling the car as we drive home from the airport. It’s like they’ve known each other for years, not a half hour.

“And then,” Siobhan gasps between giggles, “Sawyer sneezed on the birthday cake! Snot all over the candles.”

Maggie busts out laughing. “Oh my gosh, that’s so gross! Please tell me there are pictures.”

“Oh, there’s video,” my sister assures her.

I groan, glaring at her in the rearview mirror. “Traitor. I thought we agreed never to speak of that again.”

“Sorry, bro,” Siobhan says, not looking sorry at all. “Sister-in-law privileges.”

My heart does a little flip at those words. Sister-in-law. It sounds so…right.

“So what happened to the cake?” Maggie asks.

“Oh, Sawyer’s stupid little friends all ate it. They didn’t care,” Siobhan says. “Lucky for me, there were snot-free cupcakes in the fridge.”

Maggie’s laughing so hard, she can hardly breathe. I love hearing her laughter. It does something to me. I was a little worried earlier when I noticed her lugging a suitcase down the stairs. My heart plummeted to my feet thinking she was moving out already.

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” I’d said, tugging the suitcase back upstairs.

She looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “I’m moving my stuff to the office. Your sister will be here in a few hours, and she needs my room.”

“Absolutely not. No wife of mine is sleeping on a blow-up mattress on the office floor.”

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