Page 25 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

Charlie laughed. “Is she still salty over not being invited?”

“Oh god, yeah. That's all I’ve heard about recently. You’re so lucky you don’t live nearby. She’s been even more insufferable than usual.”

“I don’t know. I think she might be getting better.”

Jamie rolled his eyes at his sister. “You’re only saying that because you guys had that high moment two years ago and have had some weird bond ever since.”

“I think the word bond is a bit strong, but it definitely didn’thurtour relationship.” Charlie shrugged. “She was annoying about the fact that we decided to get a hotel rather than staying at their house, but I’m just thankful they’re watching all three kids until tomorrow morning.”

“Whyareyou staying at a hotel?” Jamie asked as he looked between me and his sister. “I get not wanting to stay with Mom and Dad, but you’re obviously always welcome to stay at our place.”

I felt a smirk cross my face as I thought about all of the ways I could answer that, most of which would make Jamie physically ill. “Do you want the real answer or what we told your parents? Because the real answer is that your sister just keeps getting better looking with age, so we need some alone time. Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to hear the sounds I plan to pull from her tonight.”

As expected, Jamie cringed at my words. “Ew. I’msosorry I asked.”

He turned toward Ethan, clearly looking for backup, but Ethan put his hands up as if he was surrendering. “I could have told you not to ask that. How long have you two been friends? Close to twenty years? I don’t understand how you haven’t learned by now.”

“In my defense, it didn’t bother me before she started saying these things about mysister.”

“Consider this a prolonged payback for waiting so long to tell me you had a sister.”

Jamie pointed between me and Charlie. “Can you blame me? It took you like a week to swoop in on her.”

“What can I say?” I smiled at Charlie and pulled her tight up against me. “I see what I like and I go for it. And in case it wasn’t obvious by now, I like hera lot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jamie said sarcastically. “We all know. After all this time you’re still madly in love. Yada yada.”

I kicked my foot against Jamie’s. “You love it. Don’t act like you don’t.”

“Fine. You’re right. I do.” He pointed a finger at me as if he was a parent about to lecture their child. “But no more oversharing.”

“No promises,” I said with a wink before dipping Charlie and giving her a long kiss that was so disgustingly romantic it made me weak in the knees.

When we reached the reception area, there was a large sign that had the table assignments written on it. As we searched for our names, a middle-aged woman walked up beside us. One look at her told me she had to be related to Jackie, because they looked eerily similar.

“Hello,” she said sweetly as she smiled at us. “I’m Jackie’s Aunt Dawn. I don’t believe we met. How do you all know the brides?”

“That’s actually a very funny story,” I said, unable to resist.

Charlie threw a hand over my mouth as she focused her attention on Dawn. “It’s really not that funny.” She used her free hand to point between her, Jamie, and Ethan. “The three of us graduated with Mary Beth.”

Dawn clapped her hands together as if this was the best news she ever heard. “A friendship that has stood the test of time. So sweet.”

Oh lady, you don’t know the half of it.Instead of risking my life by saying something else, I simply smiled and nodded.

We made small talk with Dawn for a few minutes before heading in the direction of our table.

“You weren’t really going to tell her the truth of how weknowMary Beth, were you?” Charlie whispered as we walked.

“Just the bullet points—Jamie did the dating. You did the banging.” I said it loud enough that Jamie and Ethan would hear, too.

Jamie shook his head at me, but he chuckled after only a few seconds of trying to keep a straight face. “It’s amazing how you have three kids, andstillhave the maturity of a high school boy.”

“Speaking of kids…” I raised both of my eyebrows at Jamie so he knew I meant business. “When areyou twogoing to have some?”

“I’m not sure.” Jamie shook his head again, but this time let out a dramatic sigh. “I’ve been trying to knock Ethan up for months, and it just doesn’t seem to be working for some reason.”

“Maybe you’re using the wrong door.”

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