Page 23 of You, Me, and Forever

Me: You’re serious?

Honey Badger: Dead serious.

Me: I’ve got news for you, sweetheart. I don’t have to trick a woman to get her to come home with me. And for the record, you never asked my last name. Only one of us lied about who we were and that was you. Hence the reason you are listed in my phone as Honey Badger. A little sweet, a little salty.

Honey Badger: How original of you. You’re listed in my phone now as Rich, Arrogant Prick Who Thinks He Walks on Water.

Me: That’s a mouthful. Oh wait ... you can handle a mouthful, if memory serves.

It was a low blow. But she was pissing me off. She was the one who’d lied to me. Not the other way around.

Honey Badger: I barely remember. I was just pretending I enjoyed it. I wanted to see how much I could inflate that big head of yours.

Me: Which one? I think they’re both rather inflated.

Honey Badger: Fuck you, Myles.

Me: I think you wish you could. But I shut that down, didn’t I?

Honey Badger:

Well, that went well.

I dropped my phone on the table and scratched the back of my neck. I typed in “the Blushing Bride” and searched her business.

The woman acted like she was running a Fortune 500 company, for God’s sake. It was a wedding business. People got married all the time. She was taking things a bit too seriously.

Her website was very professional, and I quickly learned quite a bit about her and her company from the “About Us” page. Montana Kingsley and Violet Beaumont were co-owners who’d met and attended college together in Colorado, and were self-proclaimed “besties.” I focused on the section about Montana, where she shared that she was raised in Blushing, Alaska, with her father. No mention of her mother or any siblings. She said that she loved helping plan other people’s happily ever after, though she herself hadn’t found her own quite yet.

Well, using a ridiculous fake name and lying about where you live and what you do for a living isn’t going to be the best way to meet your soulmate.

She shared her favorite hobbies, which were running, painting, and reading. Her favorite books wereLittle WomenandPride and Prejudice. And her favorite movies wereThe GodfatherandRocky, because she grew up watching them with her father.

Color me intrigued.

The woman was equal parts aggravating and interesting.

And for whatever fucked-up reason, I wanted to know more.

I’d been spending a lot of time at the inn over the last week since I’d arrived, and I’d briefly been introduced to Daniel Kingsley, but seeingas it was late and dinner was long over, I decided it was time I had a conversation with the man.

“Hey, Daniel. I had the short ribs for dinner tonight, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that they were the best I’ve ever had,” I said as I stood across from him while he wiped down the counter.

“Yeah?” He nodded. “That’s good to hear. I’m going to have a glass of wine; why don’t you join me?”

He moved to the refrigerator and poured us each a glass of wine before motioning for me to take a seat at the small table in the corner. It was quiet, which was in great contrast to the madness that usually happened in the kitchen during lunch and dinner shifts.

“Everything I’ve eaten from this kitchen over the last few days has been top notch. I’m impressed.” I took a sip of the chilled chardonnay. “And I’m not easily impressed.”

“I’m assuming you’ve eaten at plenty of fine-dining restaurants, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“As you should.” I set my glass down. “So, Howard tells me that you have a job lined up in Anchorage?”

“I do. They’re giving me free rein of the kitchen and the menu, so we’ll see how it goes.”

“You don’t mind commuting back and forth?”

“Nah. I’ve lived here my whole life. It’s a short boat ride over.”

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