Page 87 of Lyrical

“His name is Chase?”

“No, silly. Behind you.”

I turned around to face him, and his lips sucked me in like usual. I didn’t know how I got anything done when I just wanted to taste them all the damn time. I drew my eyes back up to his and smiled. “Hey,” I said.

“Hey, back. Stephen’s wondering where you want to put the cake.”

Perry started giggling. Yeah, she could do it too, and it didn’t bother me. She was supposed to be happy. She was marrying the love of her life.

“Cake?”

“We’re just trying to space everything out. Do you want it by the food or…?”

“Hmm, let me think about that. Right now”—she grabbed the two of us and pushed us inside the trellis—“I need to see how this looks when a couple’s inside it.” She inched back, hand on her chin. “You’re right, Jills. It’s perfect.”

I slipped out through the back way, feeling a little uncomfortable. Chase and I had talked about forever plenty, but never about marriage specifically. I didn’t want Perry to start making innuendos and freaking him out.

“I think the cake should have its own separate spot,” I said. “And it shouldn’t come out until you’re going to cut it. Is there a place to store it inside the house?”

“Yes, that won’t be a problem.”

I pointed to the left of where Stephen was. “That would make a good place to set up the bar. There’s a tent for that too, right?”

“Yep,” Perry said.

“All right then. Sounds good so far. We’re moving right along. Does that help, Chase?” I asked, smiling.

“Yes.” He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed it, keeping his eyes on me, the green in his irises enhanced by the spring grasses surrounding us. I felt like a pure sloshing sap.

“Chase,” I whispered, almost as a warning. I was embarrassed at how easily he could turn me on, and I was not going to get fucking wet right there. Talk about inappropriate.

He released my hand and, with a grin, headed back to Stephen. I turned back to Perry. “Okay, so we could line up a bunch of chairs here, and this ground is flat enough to serve as an aisle. What about….” She was staring at me weirdly. “What?”

“You’re just so cute together.”

“Yes, Perry, but so are you and Stephen. We can talk about Chase and me later, but I think you guys are a little more important right now.”

“I was thinking about something, Jills. Don’t get all batshit on me here, but the bachelorette party is next weekend, and Daniel keeps asking me. I can’t put it off any longer. What do you say about inviting Cassie?”

“What?” Could my mouth get any wider? “You actually want her there?”

“No, but I don’t want her at the wedding either, and I’m not going to tell Daniel he can’t bring a date. Maybe it’s time just to let all this go and let them be. You said everything went fine at the school play, right? You were all together then.”

“It went fine because I didn’t have to talk or look at her. I just watched the kids.”

She sighed. “I know you don’t like or trust her—I don’t either—but you should be concentrating more on your own life. Moving forward with Chase.”

She had to be suffering from pre-wedding mush brain. “You’re supposed to be the bitch here, Perry, not the nice one, remember? All you’ve done since Cassie popped up is convince me how much she needs to be taken down.”

A tall, willowy Cassie sprout that needed to be mowed over with a very sharp blade. Perry knew how detrimental it was the longer that psycho lurked around our family. Each day she roped Daniel in more and more. But now that I thought about it, Perry had softened her stance in the past couple weeks. It seemed like right around that night at The Groove.

“I know, but maybe I was wrong?”

“No. I specifically recall you telling me that you’re always right.”

She sighed. “I hate how she affects you, Jills. You have better things in your life to focus on. Maybe we need to switch tactics. Try a little ‘keep your friends close, your enemies closer’ type of thing. All we’ve managed to accomplish so far is making you crazy. Crazier.”

“But the condoms!” That still really irked me. I wanted to present Cassie with a huge-ass box of her own, then inflate them in her throat. “How can I be all nice to her when she’s having sex right under my nose, usingmycondoms?” Yeah, double standard. I wasn’t fluffing up the bedroom pillows for my son to have his romps, but I could stomach it a lot better if it were with anicegirl.

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