Page 118 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

I’m the reader, trying to see around corners and parse out what the characters are saying. Whether their words mean more than one thing. Whether there are gaps to fill in. What’s a clue and what isn’t.

I know what it’s like to be in the middle of a plot.

I don’t like it.

Especially not at my best friend’s wedding.66

Harper doesn’t come back with us to the room, instead going off with Shawna to help plan the remaining details of the wedding in case it’s still happening. I watch them go with a bit of dread because I know what’s coming once Oliver and I get back to the villa.

“We don’t have to talk, though,” I say to Oliver, trying to keep my tone light. “We can not talk.”

His eyes cloud with confusion and maybe also hurt. “Eleanor.”

“Oliver.” I sigh. “Our names rhyme.”

“I...what?”

“Nothing, it’s stupid.” I step to him and take his hands, twining my fingers through his. “Don’t break up with me. Please.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then why did you say that? ‘We have to talk.’ That’s what it means.”

The corner of his mouth lifts. “So, what do you say if you just have to talk?”

“I don’t know.”

He holds our arms out to the side, then brings them back together. “Two authors, at a loss for words.”

“How many authors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”

“How many?”

“Three. One to blame their agent, one to blame their publisher, and one to blame writer’s block.”

“Who screws in the lightbulb, then?”

“It doesn’t get screwed in. Not unless there’s a deadline.”

“What are we even talking about?”

“I’m distracting you.”

He lets my hands drop. “That won’t work forever.”

“For today, though?”

“Is that wise?”

“I don’t want to be wise. I want to be with you. Wait. That’s not what I meant. Itiswise to be with you. Very wise.”

I have become a blathering idiot.

Do you think Oliver will notice?

Maybe that’s why he’s breaking up with me. Because I’m amoron.

“Are you sure about that?” he asks, and I worry for a moment I was speaking the last part out loud instead of in my head, which is a thing that happens sometimes.

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