Page 81 of The Wedding Confession

ENSLEY

The first thing I notice when I wake up is a terrible crick in my neck. For a moment, I can’t quite get my bearings. There’s a warm, fuzzy ball by my shoulder.

And I’m under a blanket.

And there’s a rock under my head.

I shift to figure out what I’ve been sleeping on.

Oh.

It’s Drew’s chest.

He’s out. I move slowly and subtly to take everything in.

I’m still in the gold dress. No shoes.

There’s a blanket over us. That wasn’t there before.

The fuzzy ball is Sasha, curled around my shoulder but lying under Drew’s neck.

We’re quite a picture.

I vaguely remember sitting down, bone tired after the search for the kitten and then the fight to clean her up.

We must have fallen asleep.

Me first, if Drew got a blanket.

It’s nice, though. He’s shirtless, like when we were washing the cat.

Which I don’t recommend, by the way. We both had to coat ourselves in antibacterial cream because of the scratches.

But this moment might be worth it. Sasha senses I’m awake and opens a single blue eye. She takes me in, then makes a big show of closing it again.

I get it. Let’s stay asleep.

But my neck is in a weird position. The more I think about it, the more I need to move. Pretty soon, my neck is screaming and even though I’m with Sasha and would like to stay here forever and ever, the gold dress is sticking to me, the blanket is hot, Sasha’s fur is tickling me, and I have to pee.

Also, we did not have sex.

Damn it.

Does morning still count as date two?

I hear a jingling tune in the kitchen. It’s my phone, and it’s Tillie. Her ringtone is “Highway to Hell,” a funny piano version she hates. I keep it just to irritate her.

She’s probably wondering where I am. She’s leaving today, heading back to Alabama to finish out the month and pack.

I’m supposed to be there to take her to the bus station, since I need the car.

Damn it.

I think I’ll ease away from Drew and Sasha, as if I could extricate myself without them noticing. But the moment I move more than a couple of inches, Sasha yawns and stretches, digging her claws into Drew’s chest.

He awakes with a start and picks up the kitten to set her on the back of the sofa. “Destroy that instead,” he says, his voice gravelly with sleep. Then his eyes meet mine. “You’re awake.”

A hundred competing emotions hit me at once. Happiness, that we’re here together this morning. Contentment, lying on his chest, his arms around me.

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