Page 54 of Take Me to the Wedding

“Such a trouper.” Ani, who was wearing a green brimmed safari hat and green utility shorts with her hiking boots, said, patting him on the back as she passed us up.

“Anything for you, my love,” he said back.

Okay, so they were getting along better. That was good to see.

A quiet moo and a faint nicker sounded from the barn, which was now fading into the distance as we entered the woods. I reminded myself again that this was a very low-risk hike. If a ten-year-old could play a video game while hiking a well-worn path, why could I not dispel a strange feeling of doom?

Tyler joined Ani up front. That left Mia and me to bring up the rear. “Hey, wait up,” Mia said in an insistent voice as she ran to catch up, hands on hips.

I gave my sister a big smile and an elbow nudge as she appeared beside me. “How are you this fine morning?”

“Great, but don’t try to deflect. What’s going on between you and Sam?”

Once Mia grabbed onto something, she didn’t let go until she’d wrung out every bit of info possible. She wasn’t beyond threatening to use it to get what she wanted either. Case in point: I’d done a cross-country road trip during spring break freshman year with four other guys in my buddy’s barely functional ten-year-old Kia, knowing that our parents would never approve. I’d told them I would be visiting one of my friends, which was technically true—in San Francisco, that is. Mia had kept her mouth shut, even when our car broke down outside of Vegas and I’d run out of money after pitching in for the repairs. The price I paid for her Venmo financial bailout was having to set her up with a friend of mine she had a crush on. Besides paying the cash back with interest, that is.

This time I decided to protect myself. “Oh that,” I said in a mock-serious tone, lowering my eyes to the ground.

“What do you mean?” She shook me by the arm.

I gave her my most saintly smile. “We’ve decided to get along—for the sake of the wedding.”

She frowned deeply. I have to give my sister credit—she was smart. It was difficult to pull one over on her. But not impossible.

“You two have decided to suddenly ‘get along’?” She did air quotes.

I nodded. “Yup. We’ve buried the hatchet. And it wasn’t easy.” That was all true, wasn’t it?

“Cut the baloney, bro. I know everything. And just in caseyoumight not know, Sam’s gotten through school on scholarships and worked to pay for everything they didn’t cover, and she doesn’t care what anyone thinks because she’s been single-handedly raising her younger sister since their grandma died. And you do know that Sam is financially responsible for her sister in college, right?”

She took a deep breath after that mouthful. “Wait.Payingfor her college?”

“She moonlights. And took out loans. It hasn’t been easy. But then, nothing about her life has been.”

I guess I looked stunned. I certainly felt that way. But that didn’t stop Mia from laying into me.

“So I would be very careful about giving Sam flirty personal first aid or trying to come to her rescue by offering to clean chicken shit off her shoes. She doesn’t need the help. I especially wouldn’t do it with cutesy banter and a big dopey grin on your face.”

Wait. Big dopey grin? No. That wasn’t me. I wasnotflirting.

Was I?

“Also, I don’t really understand how or why Sam happened to be helping you with Lilly but put a stop to that immediately.”

So bossy. Some things never changed. “That’s over. And you don’t have to worry about me and Lilly,” I said in a firm tone.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s nothing between us.” I winced. Mia had a way of forcing info out of me, and it worked. Every. Single. Time.

“Wait.” She halted on the path. “Repeat that?”

“You heard me. She’s not who I thought she was.”

“Okay. All right. Good.” She seemed to be trying to calm herself down. “Now say I don’t have to worry about Sam. Right?”

I was silent.

She punched me in the arm. Again. “Ow! Hey, stop that right now.” God, I hated sisters.

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