Page 26 of Something Tangled Something True
“Let’s get married,” she confirms.
I spin her around to fully face me, gripping her hips, lifting her up off the ground with ease, and twirling her around in circles. Her arms wind around my neck, and a boyish grin curves my lips when I hear that whimsical, carefree laugh of hers.
Her head is tossed back as laughter fills the void of years without it, withouther.All the emotions I’d been holding in since she left me seem to flood in, threatening to drag me out to sea, but instead of allowing them to, I hang on to Lola like a buoy.
When I finally put her down, her expression smooths, and she distances herself from me. “This isn’t real though, okay?” Ah, setting expectations already. Probably for the best. “This place is our home, Ryder. Even if I haven’t lived here in years, it’s still home. These people?Theyare my home. So if at any point this becomes too much for either of us, or one of uschanges our mind, we have to let it go and figure out another way to work out our problems.”
I nod, the thrill of her saying yes far more potent than the disappointment at her rationale.
“Boundaries. Got it,” I tell her. “Whatever you need, darlin’.”
She steps further into my space, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her cheek on my chest. “Thank you, Ryder,” she whispers, and my heart constricts from her soft-spoken words. I love Lola Lima, and regardless of whether she still feels the same, I’m determined to treat her with every bit of respect and love she never got from the man before me.
It’s late,really late,as I sit on the sofa in my living room beside Lola.
“I think that’s about it,” she says. “Anything else to add?”
I stare down at the yellow-lined page of the legal pad in my lap, and I shake my head no.
1. No PDA unless surrounded by town gossips.
2. If one of us is uncomfortable with something, we’re open about it, and the other person backs off.
3. If romantic feelings begin to develop, we tell the other person immediately.
3b. If our emotions start to develop and threaten our friendship, we end things.
4. We support each other like a real couple would.
5. After Lolahas found a job that offers adequate health insurance, the marriage will end (unless we both agree to stay married forever and always –Ryder).
6. No sex.
“I don’t think so, darlin’. We’ve been at it for an hour, going over every possible rule rolling through that beautiful head of yours.”
A blush creeps up her neck, and she turns away in embarrassment.
“This is a strange arrangement, and I’m sure there isn’t some checklist we could find online for this sort of thing, seeing as it’s literallyinsurance fraud,” she points out, making me feel queasy.
“Which is exactly why our families and Mayte need to be in on it too. Without them understanding and helping us sell this, we’d have people investigating us for sure.”
“And that’s the last thing either of us needs,” she agrees.
Chapter Seventeen
TYING THE KNOT
MONDAY, APRIL 28
My hands shakeas we stand on the porch of the main house. Ryder grabs one of them, pulling my knuckles up to his mouth, but before his lips can make contact, he drops them, squeezing gently. “Sorry, boundaries,” he explains, as if he just remembered they exist at all.
Ryder and I have never been good with boundaries. We’ve always jumped headfirst into everything, and I’m terrified this will be no different. I’m basically about to be living out every childhood, middle grade, and high school fantasy I ever had with this man, and it’s allfake.
Eighteen-year-old Lola would be extremely disappointed at how our life has panned out so far, and she’d bescreamingat me for putting any kind of distance between me and Ryder.
“Ready?” he asks.
I shake my head, wind tangling my curls around my face. He reaches out on instinct, brushing the errant curls away with a grimace.
