Page 86 of Songs of Summer

“You ChatGPT’ed it, didn’t you?”

“I’m a journalist, you know!”

“C’mon, Matty, you wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

He turned ten shades of green.

“Oooh,” she laughed, “it’s written all over your face.”

“You got me,” he said. “Just don’t tell my mom.”

He did not use AI to write the speech, but probably would have copped to murder to cover for his guilt-ridden appearance when she’d joked about the possibility of him lying to her.

Lucky for him, she changed the subject.

“You know I always thought you and Dylan—”

“You’re not the only one.”

“I’m sure, but let me finish—after meeting Maggie, well, I’ve never seen such chemistry. You’re like Nick and Nora; you light each other up.”

“Nick and Nora? That’s an old-school reference.”

“Not to me. I teach English lit, remember? I could have referenced Beatrice and Benedick fromMuch Ado About Nothing.”

Matt laughed.

Shep approached and handed Matt a drink.

“I’m legal now, Shep,” he said, smiling. “No need to sneak me drinks anymore.”

“Says the empty-handed man. It’s an open bar, you know, my favorite kind.”

Matt gave up on his inclination to hold off on drinking and clinked Shep’s glass before taking a hefty gulp. And he thought the toast would be the hardest part of the night. The deception around hiding Maggie’s identity, and worrying about what everyone would think of him once they found out, was getting to him. Moreover, he was starting to believe that their loving couple ruse was actually the truth; on more than one occasion he had to remind himself that it wasn’t. He felt like one of those undercover cops who got in too deep. He needed his handler to grab him by the shoulders and shake him out of it.

“What were you two hobnobbing about?” Shep asked, bringing a smile to both their faces with his Shep-like turn of phrase.

“Were we hobnobbing?” Matt asked Bea with amusement.

“We were just chatting about how wonderful Maggie is, and her brother! Paul and I had a long talk with him about sabbaticals and traveling the world. He has a great career ahead of him. It’s a good life, being a professor.”

“I don’t know the brother, but that girl. There’s something about that girl. She warms my old heart,” Shep declared. “You did good, Matty.”

Dylan came running over, unknowingly saving him. “It’s time.”

The DJ asked everyone to be seated for dinner before announcing the newly minted brother and sister. They took their place at the front of the boat. It was difficult to get everyone’s attention, even with the clinking of glasses and a few ineffective shushes. Finally, Jake stood up, put his pointer fingers in his mouth, and whistled. Of course he could whistle like that. It was impressive. The sounds in the room fell away, and all you could hear was the light clanging of forks and plates as the two new siblings began their toast.

“Good evening, everyone. For the very few who don’t know us, I’m Dylan, and this is Matt, and our parents got married today.”

The room erupted in applause and laughter.

“That was easy,” Dylan whispered to Matt before he chimed in.

“To be honest, when we first learned of our parents’ romance, we were more than a little surprised.”

“Surprised is a nice way to put it. Matt called me sobbing.”

“That’s an exaggeration—there were a few tears, maybe one sob,” Matt corrected, to more laughter. “Truthfully, though, we had always known that our parents were friends, but to see their friendship blossom into something deeper was, well, nauseating at first, then somewhat tolerable, and now it is honestly pure joy for us both.

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