Page 27 of Accidental Wedding Crasher
“I don’t know that I appreciate being compared to a stubborn high schooler.”
“Then stop acting like one.” Mia gave him a stern look, and Evan bowed his head in a nod.
“Fair point. Ihavebeen distracted. But to be fair, I’ve been distracted with work, not videogames or Chia Pets or whatever high schoolers these days are into.”
“It’s Chia Pets.” Mia patted his arm. “Definitely Chia Pets. If you meet a high schooler, be sure to talk about Chia Pets.”
Evan narrowed his eyes. “I feel like you’re messing with me.”
“Definitely not.” Mia turned, flipping her hair, and started back toward the villa. Without looking, she knew that Evan would follow.
He was being weird still — distant and too focused on work — but they’d regained some of the easy banter they’d had at the last wedding, and Mia had to admit that she was enjoying it. Itwas fun to flirt and tease and joke. But she had to be careful; she couldn’t let herself believe that they were doing anything more than flirting and joking. There would be no more kissing. And there would be no more of her heart doing backflips and her knees growing weak when he was close. Or, at least, she would try to ignore any heart backflips and knee weakness she encountered.
After all, Evan was handsome, charming, and funny, but he was also obsessed with work, had ghosted her for a month, and had abandoned her with his family at the first opportunity.
They climbed the stairs to their room, where Mia opened the door onto the balcony. The sun was dipping to the horizon now, casting bright oranges and pinks and reds across the sky, and a faint chill had entered the air. Mia grabbed a sweater and went to sit on one of the balcony’s chairs. A moment later, Evan followed. They sat quietly for a few minutes, looking out over the rolling fields and hills dotted with stone houses and farms, before Evan cleared his throat.
“So, what do we need to talk about?”
“First, I’ve got a lot of questions about our relationship,” Mia said. “Like how we met, how long we’ve been dating, that kind of thing. I told the same story about the mango that we told at the last wedding when people asked how we met, and I said we’ve been dating for eight months.”
“Great.” Evan raised his eyebrows. “That all seems fine.”
“But the bigger problem is that your family expects me to know you, at least a little, and they’ll expectyouto knowme, too. Your mom mentioned that you’d founded your company right after your college graduation, and she asked me to confirm theyear. And later, Luka made a joke about a soccer team that he seemed to think I should understand. Stuff like that. If we don’t know anything about each other, your family will start to get suspicious.”
“Okay, fair enough.” Evan sat back, crossing one ankle over his knee. “I’ll give you a quick history, then. So, I graduated from Stanford with my BA in business studies and went straight for my MBA, also at Stanford. The MBA graduation is probably what my mom was asking about. I moved to San Francisco a little while later, because Silicon Valley is the place to be for a tech start-up, and I’ve been there ever since. The soccer joke was probably about my ongoing feud with Luka about the best soccer team. He says Real Madrid; I say FC Barcelona.”
“I didn’t know you were a soccer fan,” Mia said, surprised.
“I don’t have a bunch of shirts with the FC Barcelona logo or anything, but I do watch games when I have the chance.”
“Cool. Have you seen one in person?”
“Yeah.” Evan nodded. “A few years ago, Luka dragged me to Spain to see the teams play head-to-head in La Liga.”
“Aw.” Mia smiled. “That’s sweet of him. It must have been a fun trip.”
Evan looked away, and Mia’s eyes narrowed. “Let me guess… You worked the whole time.”
“We were launching a new product two weeks after the game,” Evan protested. “The work was important.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Wow.”
Evan sighed. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t my best move. But my family doesn’t understand how important my career is.”
“Right, because surgeons like your brother are known for not taking their work seriously.” Mia narrowed her eyes at him.
“It’s different for Luka. It’s like he has a switch in his brain. When he’s at the hospital, that’s all that exists, and when he’s home, the hospital doesn’t exist anymore.”
“That’s a good strategy.” Mia sat back. “Okay, so we know that you’re a soccer fan, a workaholic, and a Stanford graduate. What else do I need to know about you?”
“You’ve already met my family, so you know I have an older brother and plenty of cousins.” Evan drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “I think that’s it.”
“How about exes?” Mia asked. “I wouldn’t want to be caught off guard if you’ve had some serious relationship I don’t know about.” Despite her best intentions, her heart clenched as she waited for his answer.
“Nope, nothing of note. I never really dated anyone long enough to do family introductions.” Evan paused. “I suppose that makes me sound very shallow.”
“Not really.” Mia bit her lip and hesitated. “To be honest... I haven’t dated anyone long enough for family introductions, either.”
