Page 40 of Our Big White Lie
“Me too, honestly. I hadn’t really given it much thought, but I think I was avoiding it because it gave me the ick.” I sighed and set my coffee cup on the counter behind me. “If it ever comes out that we weren’t getting married for real, I don’t want people to think we were just trying to get gifts.”
“Right?” Tori absently petted Tucker, who’d perched on the counter beside the stove. “Do you think your mom will be upset if we don’t have a bridal shower?”
My first instinct was to say no. Mom loved the idea of seeing me as a bride, but I didn’t think she was particularly attached to bridal showers. Except maybe she was? She’d beengently nudging me about it lately, including when we’d been out shopping the other day. I honestly couldn’t say.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll talk to her. I don’tthinkit’ll be an issue, though.”
“Why don’t we talk to her together?” Tori suggested. “So she knows this is something we’ve both thought through?”
“Good idea. I’ll text her and see if we can have dinner or something tomorrow.”
“Perfect.”
With that settled, we continued starting our days, but the elephant was still sitting patiently in the room. How much longer were we going to ignore it? Especially with our engagement photos tomorrow afternoon?
As she was getting situated on the couch to log in to work, I said, “Tori.”
She looked up at me, and from the way she chewed her lip, I had to wonder if she already knew what I was going to bring up.
I swallowed. “We should, um… The other night…”
She winced, cheeks coloring as she dropped her gaze. “Yeah. We should…” She gulped. “We should talk about that.”
I leaned my hip against the back of the couch. “It… It doesn’t have to change anything.” I searched her face. “Does it?”
She studied me, her eyes and lips giving away nothing. This was one of the few times in my life when I couldn’t read Tori’s expression, and I would’ve sold my soul to be able to read her mind.
After an uncomfortably long moment, she nodded. “It doesn’t have to, no. We just need the camera and our guests to believe that we’re really doing this.” Her smile wasn’t as convincing as she’d probably hoped, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what she was holding back. Or what I wished she’d say versus what I was afraid she would.
I swallowed. “Right, we just need people to believe us.” I laughed uncomfortably. “I, uh… I think we can sell it.”
Tori’s laugh was about as genuine as mine, but like she had, I pretended not to notice. She absently ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. “At least now we won’t be caught off-guard when someone tells us to kiss on camera. Plenty of practice.”
“Yeah. Definitely, uh… Definitely plenty of practice.” Why was it so tempting to suggest that since practice makes perfect—I cleared my throat as some heat bloomed in my cheeks. “Anyway. I should get to work. I’ll, um… I’ll see you tonight.”
Her smile was full of relief. I wanted to believe it was because we’d put this to bed.
I had a feeling it was because I was leaving.
The morning’s awkwardness was determined to hold on, but we tempered it with some normal texting throughout the day.
That one squirrel is back. Tucker is furious.
LOL The big one that he hates?
Yep. It’s sitting right outside the window and staring at him. He’s growling. LOL
What a big scary boy LMAO
OMG why can’t they fire Gretchen?? (skull emoji)
Ugh what did she do this time?
just micromanaging things that don’t need to be micromanaged and ignoring things that are going to cause big problems.
Yikes
I think Molly’s trying to put a hex on her
