Page 59 of How to Ruin a Wedding

“ButI’mnot.”

“Good for you.” Bethany squeezes Olive’s cheeks. “But until you have your own place, you live under my—what I like to think are—pretty easygoing rules.”

Olive scoffs. “I can’t have a phone. I can’t have a dog. It’s like youhateme.”

“If I hated you, darling, you’d be shipped off to some boarding school by now, but I like waking up to this pretty little face every morning.”

“Stop it.” She jerks away. “You’re being soselfish.”

“Me?” Bethany points to herself. “You want me to suffer every morning in my own house?”

“Who cares if you have a runny nose every now and then?”

“You cute little brat—”

“The shelter Sora is at is a no-kill,” I interrupt, holding my hands out. “I’m planning on visiting Sora sometime this week. You can come with me and check on him.” I look to Bethany. “If that’s okay with you?”

“Please.” Olive grips Bethany’s arm.

“Of course. Now take back what you said.”

Olive grins. “You’re generous and pretty and smart.”

Bethany laughs, then faces me. “Anders said you worked at a shelter when you could. I guess the love runs deep—and I understand that. You love dogs, and I’m a horsewoman myself. Ride every weekend at my favorite farm. Volunteer there, too, when they need a hand managing things.”

Again with Anders speaking about me. Of course, it could be from Bethany just having a conversation with him like we’re having one now. But the idea of him speaking about me without me around feels like we’re real.

And we’re absolutely not.

“It does,” I say. “I’ve always wanted to run my own shelter.”

“So I hear,” Bethany says. “You know, there areplentyof opportunities here in Charleston. Lots of places to invest in, buildings to lease out.”

“Are there?” I say, my words stretched out to hide my shock.

Bethany narrows her eyes at me. “So you want Anders to move to New York?”

Ah.She’s worried I’m taking her nephew away. I should have picked up on that sooner and gone along with it. Now it’ll look like I’m just trying to appease her.

“Not really,” I say, going with as much of the truth as I can. “To be honest, the traveling hasn’t taken a toll on us. Moving one place or the other isn’t something we’ve discussed yet.”

“I don’t want Anders to move,” Olive says. “He already travels a lot anyway.”

“He talks about you so sweetly,” I tell her. “I think he misses you just as much when he’s away. You don’t have to worry about him going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Really?” Olive goes wide eyed.

“Really,” I promise.

Bethany still has her gaze trained on me. “Would you be opposed to moving down here, if the conversation did come up?”

I rub my thumb across my bottom lip. “You know, I don’t think living down here would be too bad. It’s cozy but not too small town, but not overwhelming either. It’s this perfect in-between where a fifteen-minute drive can get you out by the peace of the water or the buzz of a city.”

“That’s good to hear,” Bethany says, “and I’m sorry to keep prying when you’re obviously going through a religious experience each time you take a bite, but I’d love to be sure that you’re serious about my Anders.”

This was expected, of course. You can’t position yourself as someone’s partner, especially one who isn’t known for showing his girlfriends off, and not expect them to have questions and suspicions.

Bethany goes on. “I’m sure he’s told you a bit about his upbringing, but I consider Anders to be my son. He was my firstborn baby, and I know he seems like he’s always put together, like he takes everything on the chin—I mean, he was the best man at his first love’s wedding.He’ll never complain about a thing, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t hurt or angry or any negative emotion he likes to hide away.”