Page 44 of Why Not Forever?

“I have a few games for us this evening, including our very first semi-icebreaker, though most people here know each other fairly well already. Everyone has a drink, non-alcoholic for the pregnant ladies and the underaged?”

“I’m eighteen!” Lacey, Ava’s sister, calls. “I’m legal age in Alberta.”

“We’re not in Alberta,” Derek says and everyone laughs.

Lis gives Lacey a hug and whispers something in her ear that makes the girl smile.

“First game is calledDrink If. Rules are simple. I’ll read a card, and you’ll drink if it applies to you. I’ve gone through these and removed the ones that don’t apply, considering you guys are already married.” He picks up the first card. “Drink if you’re single.”

Lacey lifts her glass. “Am I the only one here who’s single?”

“Nope.” Taylor and the woman he brought with him stand next to Lacey and tap their drinks together in a three-way cheers. “Syn and I are just friends,” he says, though I hear Adalie snort, and I wonder how true that statement really is. Taylor ignores her. “To being single among a bunch of couples.” They drink together.

Derek lifts the next card. “Drink if you’re the oldest in the room.” He points to one of his brothers-in-law who rolls his eyes and takes a drink.

“Here’s a good one. Drink if you’re still sober.”

Everyone drinks.

“Two more. I altered this one because only one person is at ten or more, but four more people are at nine. So. Drink if you’ve known the bride for nine or more years.”

Vic smiles at her friends and they all move together. Vic calls me over.

Adalie’s smile is warm when she says, “To friends who are more like family.”

We clink our drinks together.

Then Derek pulls another card, frowns and says, “I meant to take that one out.”

“What does it say?” Gina, one of his sisters, asks.

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll grab another.”

“Come on,” Trish, his other sister, says. “It can’t be that bad.”

Derek looks at Vic and hands her the card. “It’s your party. You decide if you want to do it.”

She reads the card, then looks up at me. “Drink if you’ve hooked up with someone who has the same name as the bride’s soon-to-be spouse.” She holds my gaze as she takes a drink.

Because shehashooked up with someone with my name. She hooked up withme.

And now everyone knows it. For some of the people here, it shouldn’t be a shock, considering we’re married. But of the people who know our marriage is supposed to be just on paper, only Spencer and Wyatt know about that one night seven and a half years ago.

Derek manages to contain his reaction, but Adalie is looking between us in shock until Spencer nudges her, speaking to her quietly. “It’s not weird that they’ve hooked up, Adalie. They’re married. Remember?”

She blinks. “Right. Yeah. I thought she meant she hooked up with a second guy named Tanner?” She says the lie like a question because Adalie is sweet and terrible at lying. “I mean, that would be super crazy, right?”

“It would be,” Vic says, taking another drink just because. She looks completely composed, but she’s gripping her beer so tightly her knuckles are white. “But no. I meant this Tanner.”

Derek mentions the game is over for now, that we’ll come back to it throughout the night. For now, there are other games and the photo booth, and everyone moves off to other activities.

“I’m sorry,” Derek says, picking up the cards and going through them. “I thought I took out all the ones that saidsoon-to-be. And the that were a little x-rated. Mostly since Lacey is here and my sisters.” He glances up at us. “But I’d like a few more details on this development.”

“When?” Adalie asks, her voice little more than a whisper.

I glance around, making sure no one who shouldn’t know is within earshot. “Seven years ago,” I say.

“Almost eight, now,” Vic says. I look at her. She’s watching me. Watching for my reaction to her letting her friends know what happened.

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