Page 70 of The True Love Experiment

With a grin, I reach up and tug the end, untying it in a smooth pull.

Fizzy’s answering smile is a bolt of sunlight.

“I figure you should do something in return after I fastened those seven thousand tiny buttons.”

The unintended innuendo hangs heavy in the air between us. She steps toward me, still smiling as she takes hold of the tie, tugging it to align the ends evenly around my neck. “I didn’t get the impression you were under duress.”

“I’ll send you the bill for my arthritis prescriptions.”

She hums and her smile lingers, softening. “Are you ready for today? It might be overwhelming.”

“I hope so. It’s been a while since I attended a fancy wedding.”

“Yours?”

I laugh. “No. I went as someone’s plus-one.”

“Did that night end withyourchastity intact?”

I let out a hearty laugh. “Oh yes. She was a friend of a coworker and had recently relocated from Arizona. I knew from the moment I picked her up that something was off, but she insisted she was fine.”

“Oh boy.”

“Indeed. She cried during the ceremony—”

“Understandable.”

“Absolutely, but then also cried during dinner and the first dance. When I finally asked if she really was all right, she admitted that her husband had left her for his assistant, and that’s why she’d relocated to be closer to her parents.” Fizzy’s wince deepens as she focuses on the bow tie. “When the guests were invited to make toasts, she held her glass aloft and told the happy couple to enjoy the night because love is an illusion and men are incapable of keeping their dicks in their pants.”

“You realize I’m stealing this story, right?”

I nod. “So, it’s a low bar, but I’m guessing no matter what happens tonight, it will be better than that.”

Fizzy laughs. “Glass half-full, I like it. But you have no idea how huge my family is. Statistically speaking, that’s a lot of crazy.”

With her focus still on the bow tie, I take the opportunity toopenly stare at her. “Evan did pull me aside and give me some inside scoop.”

Fizzy’s hands go still. “He did?”

“What to give, some of the things you’ve probably been doing this morning, like the tea ceremony—”

Her bursting laugh interrupts me. “Did he tell you that Peter would be on a wild scavenger hunt?”

I shake my head, mesmerized by the way her lips plump into a sweet pout when she thinks over her explanation. “In our community, the tea ceremony is a big deal. It usually happens in the morning, and the bride and groom are kept apart. The groom is given a list of tasks to prove his love for the bride before the family decides he’s worthy enough. It’s all a game, but Kailey’s three sisters were the ones to pull it all together and he had to do beer pong at seven this morning—”

“Actual beer?”

She nods, beaming. “Then they made him drink some kind of random fridge concoction—we were all gagging. He had to answer trivia about Kailey, and then dance and sing for everyone.”

“The singing and dancing in front of everyone—”

“Am I describing your literal nightmare?”

I begin to say yes but then, for a feverish pulse, I imagine an alternate universe where it is me at this ceremony, proving my worth to this woman right here. My hesitation melts. “No” comes out instead. “If I was in love, I’d do it all.”

“Carry ten gallons of water half a block using only leaky buckets?”

I reach up, dragging a strand of hair away from her bottom lip. “Of course.”

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