Page 55 of It's Holy Matrimony, Baby

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Finding someone to spend your life with

Is finding someone to share your secrets with...

Good, bad, and ugly.

BECK

“Any progress?” Liv asks.

We’re sitting close together at the table. On the opposite side Jack is going through Finn’s laptop, trying to find a playlist with Penny. She seems almost as out of place as I do. Both of us not quite sure what we’re doing here. Nox is manning the grill while talking to his brother. He’s still tense, his shoulders hunched.

“Beck?”

“Sorry, what?” I turn my attention back to my bestie.

“You and Nox? Is everything okay?”

“He still won’t sign the papers,” I say. “Still refuses to let me go.”

“You like that about him, don’t you?” She peers at me. “You’re smiling.”

“Am not.” I scowl, but it’s not real. Still I can’t get comfortable with the warmth inside me when we talk about him.

“Uh-huh. Whatever you say.” She nudges me with an elbow to the ribs. “You’re two months out from deadline and you’re not making a concerted effort to get him to give up on you. It’s telling.”

“Can you not use that word?” I shiver.

“What? Deadline?” She says it again, slower this time.

“Don’t be a cow,” I tell her.

“Look, I’m on your side. Trust me on that. I just want you to be happy. Even if I have to give you a push.”

“I am happy,” I retort. “I was perfectly content on my own, thank you very much.”

“No you weren’t.” She shakes her head, her eyes soft and sad. “You think you were because you didn’t have to deal with your trauma. That’s all.”

Nox is still talking to Finn, still scowling. He lifts two fingers and says something I can’t make out.

Two months. That’s all we might have. And right now he’s angry with me. Maybe he’s realizing this relationship isn’t worth the fight. The thought sucks the air out of my lungs. I wouldn’t blame him if he did. But I was only trying to understand him.

“I think he might stick around longer,” Liv says. “If you stop trying to push him away.”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Why does it matter so much to you anyway? You realize if we stay together that you’re going to have to take up travelling alone.”

“I’m okay with that,” she says.

“It does seem like it,” I agree. “You keep championing him.”

“Maybe I am.” She smiles, but it’s the way her gaze shifts sideways toward him that makes me wonder whether she’s scheming something.

“You didn’t do anything, did you? You aren’t thinking of doing anything?”

“I would cut him a check in a heartbeat if I thought it would help, but I honestly think you two are managing just fine on your own.”

“A check?” I press my lips together to keep from laughing. Of course she would, and maybe I should ask her about helping out with Casey Records, or making a donation. “I told him about the curse.”

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