Page 16 of Asher

Garrett

“And so,it’s my pleasure to announce that Garrett and I are getting married,” Asher declares to the room.

What have I done?

No, seriously,what have I done?

I don’t think I can even blame him for this, since I didn’t laugh in his face when he suggested marriage. But now, as the room erupts into exclamations of shock and pleasure, I can only assume I was temporarily insane. What other explanation can there be?

Not insane. Tempted by culturally significant customs.

Damaris finishes hugging Asher and turns to me, her face lit up with a smile even I can see. “Garrett, I can’t say I’m not surprised, but I’m so happy,” she says. “I look forward to getting to know you better. What made you decide so soon that the village is right for you?”

Fortunately, Asher swoops in to rescue me before I have to answer. “Come and meet my parents,” he says, bodily pulling me away from Damaris. I shoot her an apologetic look, but she just waves me off, no doubt already thinking she can corner me later. Since I’m going to be related to her and apparently going to live here forever.

What have I done?

I push the thought aside and concentrate on not making an idiot of myself as Asher introduces me to his parents and his little sister, who’s going to be one of my students this year. She looks up at me with big eyes. “Are you going to be my brother too now?”

“Yes,” I reply. We’ll have to work out the classroom logistics of this another time. “It’s nice to meet you, Chloe.” She beams at me and stands on tiptoe, beckoning for me to bend down.

“Will you shift for me?” she whispers.

I grin as I straighten. “Definitely,” I promise. “We can play fetch.” Don’t judge me. Chasing stuff is fun.

She laughs delightedly, and Asher’s answering smile is wide enough for me to see clearly. He obviously loves his sister.

Next, we’re swept around the party, meeting people I hadn’t been introduced to yet, accepting congratulations and dodging questions about when the wedding will be. We haven’t had time yet to discuss details of this plot—Asher thought it would seem suspicious for us to be away from the party for too long, and he was convinced that a wedding announcement would distract from all the awkward questions for now. He wasn’t wrong.

I’m increasingly aware of those whoaren’tcelebrating with us. Sid and Annie look confused—as well they might, since as far as they knew, I was single, and they’d certainly never heard of Asher before. And Asher’s cousin Zac is standing with another man who looks enough like Zac and Asher for me to guess he’s probably Micah, and they’re both watching us with an odd mix of amusement and suspicion.

“I need to talk to my team,” I mutter to Asher when it seems as though we’ve made a full circuit of the crowd. Damaris is bearing down on us, and I figure he can deal with her questions while I try to smooth over this professional dumpster fire I’ve somehow managed to set.

“Go,” he agrees, and I slip away to where they’re standing off to the side. How to handle this?

“Congratulations?” Annie says as I approach, but it sounds more like a question than any kind of well-wishes.

“You’re probably confused,” I suggest. “This has been… somewhat of a whirlwind.”

“Your personal life is your own business,” Sid says. “A heads-up would have been nice, though. We didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”

“Is that why you disappeared in Zurich? We wondered what you were doing,” Annie adds.

“Yes.” I seize on the excuse… which is actually the truth. “Asher and I spent the day together. And… I didn’t actually know this town was his hometown. I-I…” Shit, can I make that work? It’s the truth, but if I was really dating someone seriously—even if we were taking it slow—would I not know something like that? Especially if we were taking it slowbecauseof his hometown’s location.

This is getting complicated.

“I, uh, knew he split his time between here and Zurich, and I was hoping being in the area would give us more time together. And that living here would give me an idea of what things might be like in his village. Which turns out to be this one! So… surprise.” I laugh weakly and then shut my mouth. I don’t think I’m helping myself right now.

Surprisingly, they’re both nodding. I guess they figure if I was going to make up a story, it would be a lot more believable than that. “Is this going to be a problem for the paper?” Sid asks seriously. “You being related by marriage to some of the subjects?”

Technically… yes. “I’ll declare my bias, of course. But because it’s purely observational research, it shouldn’t be too big an issue. I’ll understand if you prefer not to be associated with the project and want to return to England.” Though it’s going to leave me scrambling to find people to replace them… if I can even convince anyone to come, given I’m going to be marrying into one of the families I’m observing.

Holy crap,what have I done?

“No way,” Annie says instantly, and Sid echoes her, sending relief flooding through me in waves. “We know your ethics, and we’re not giving up the chance to work on such an interesting project.”

I smile gratefully. “Thank you. I—”

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