Page 20 of Friend Me

“Jay’s putting up everyone, not just me, right?” He popped the trunk.

“Uh-huh.” Jackson had booked a nearby hotel for regular guests like Tyler, and the wedding party was staying at the vineyard’s onsite inn. I pulled my dress bag off the top of the suitcases.

He walked up the steps and held the door for me. That was Tyler, my old-fashioned, southern gentleman. He held doors even when he wasn’t pretending to be my date.

When my eyes adjusted from the dazzling sunlight outside to the darker interior, I saw something that made me extra thankful Tyler was there behind me.

Jamila Jallow spun to face us at the rumble of my suitcase’s wheels on the tile floor. “Marlee Rice,” she said, smiling, “it’s good to see you again. Your style is to die for. I love your shoes.”

“Thanks.” They were just knockoff Manolo Blahnik pumps in petal pink. Nothing as fabulous as her spangled Jimmy Choos.

Cooper strolled up to stand at her side. I wished I knew if the key he handed Jamila matched his own or if they had separate rooms.

“Hi, Marlee. Tyler.” He shook our hands. “Mila, this is Tyler Young, one of our developers. I won’t tell you how talented he is. I wouldn’t want you trying to poach him from us.”

Her laugh was loud and brash. “Even I wouldn’t try to steal one of Jackson’s favorite programmers at his wedding.” She clutched Cooper’s arm. I wished I could have done that.

Tyler shook Jamila’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Jallow. I read your blog post last week. Your ideas about machine learning are inspirational. I’d love to talk with you about it sometime.”

“Please, it’s Jamila or Mila. Cooper, look the other way.” She slipped a card out of her tiny designer shoulder bag and handed it to Tyler. “In case we don’t get to talk this weekend, call me and we’ll set something up.”

Tyler was making the same fanboy face he did in Jackson’s presence. And why wouldn’t he? She was brilliant, elegant, poised, funny, and too damned nice. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn’t.

Cooper touched her arm, sparking a flame of jealousy in my heart. “Hands off Jackson’s protégé. Come on, let’s go get a drink before the rehearsal.”

A look passed between them, and then she smiled at us. “See you later.” They turned toward the stairs. No couple could be more opposite in appearance: Cooper’s blond highlights, lightly tanned skin, and icy blue eyes contrasted with Jamila’s ebony hair, dark skin, and deep, almost-black eyes. But they fit together, their regal self-assurance, their years of friendship binding them in ways I’d never experienced. They were perfect for each other. And I remained outside their bubble of shared history, of longstanding friendship, of privilege earned through intelligence and success. Why would Cooper choose me, the poor “before” version of Cinderella, over Jamila’s glamour?

Tyler nudged me. His smile seemed forced. “Let’s check you in.”

“Oh. Right.” I was here for Alicia, and I needed to dress for the rehearsal. Even if watching Cooper with Jamila made me want to hide in my room all weekend.

After I checked in, Tyler carried my bags up to my room. He set my suitcase just inside the door before turning to go. The thought of watching Jamila with Cooper at the rehearsal—or worse, sitting at the dinner alone—sent a chill through me.

“I’ll see you at the rehearsal dinner, right?” My voice was higher-pitched than I wanted it to be.

“Of course.” His face was cautiously blank. “Unless you don’t want to—”

“No!” I held out a hand. “We’re friends, right?”

He clasped my hand in his larger one, his long fingers wrapping around the back. His warm, comforting grasp eased the tension that had constricted my ribs since our encounter with Cooper and Jamila.

His dimples made an appearance. “Friends. And wedding dates. And drinking buddies, right?”

“Itisa winery.”

“I think we’re going to need a lot of wine to get us through this.”

“What, you mean pretending?”

That expression he made sometimes crossed his face. I hadn’t figured it out yet. A tightening of the eyes and mouth, almost like pain. But it was gone in a second, and his words didn’t match it. “Nah, that’ll be easy. I’m just worried about Jay’s family. Alicia says they can be a lot.”

“Aw. You’re so sweet to worry about Alicia. She’ll be fine. And we will, too. Like you said, the wine will get us through.”

“Isn’t that from ‘You and Me Against the World’ by Helen Reddy?”

“That’s one of my dad’s favorites. I thought you only knew emo alt-rock music. But I believe she said it was memories that’d get us through.”

“Memories, wine, friends. It’s all good.”

That grin. Those dimples. Yeah, we’d make it through. Even if Cooper was with Jamila, a weekend with my buddy Tyler was going to be a blast.

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