Page 92 of How to Ruin a Wedding

“Well, the day after we—” Even thinking about what we did at the bar makes my cheeks flare. “After the bar, you avoided me. I remember. I figured you wanted to act like it didn’t happen.”

“I avoided you, Lucinda, because it was painfully obvious you were listing every single reason why that night was a bad idea, and I didn’t want to have the conversation where you give voice to those thoughts.”

I press my fingers into my temples. “Okay, so I was wrong about that. But I’m not wrong about the rest.”

“Why did you get me the gift?” he asks.

“What?”

He repeats the question, but I’m not entirely sure of my answer. “I don’t know; I didn’t really think about it. I saw it, thought you’d think it was funny, and got it.”

“Because you like me.”

“Well, yeah, you’re a pretty likable guy. Who doesn’t like you?”

“You like me as more than a friend. You know exactly what I mean.”

Of course I do, but the point of this conversation is to draw very necessary lines between us. “I’m not sure why that matters here.”

“It matters because I like you too.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know everything about me. You don’t know if you’ll be bored of me in a couple of weeks.”

“I know enough to know you’re wrong,” he counters, “and I can learn more too. I’m not asking you to fall in love with me at this moment. But you’re here, right now, and for a while. I want to explore you, and if you want to stay with me, even when this is all over, is that so bad?”

“I—” This is not at all how I pictured this conversation would go. Especially after talking with Bethany. I thought he’d agree just to appease me, and we’d move on. Easy, if a little awkward, and then normal. Like two roommates who work together. “How would this ever work?”

“How wouldn’t it?”

“How would you explain me to your family?”

“I don’t have to tell them how we actually met, what’s happening with Valerie. There wouldn’t be a problem. They all like you already.”

“Valerie would find out eventually.”

“She won’t,” he says, firm. “And even if she did, we’d deal with it.I’lldeal with it. I’ll take all the blame. I’d handle the brunt of it all.”

I shake my head. “And what about when it’s been long enough that your family starts to notice I don’t actually have the job you told them I did?”

“By then,” he says, “you’ll be working at the shelter. We can tell them the truth about that.”

“We live in different states,” I remind him.

“I like to travel.”

“Anders,” I say.

“Lucinda,” he says.

“I’m being serious here.”

“As am I.” He pulls me closer to him. “Tell me you don’t want to explore whatever this connection between us is, and I won’t pursue you. I’ll be polite, help you when you need it, and we won’t speak at all outside of work, I promise. Tell me now, and I’ll do it.”

I stare at him. “You told me you thought love was fleeting. That people don’t know how to stay in it.”

“I did.” Anders nods.

“So why are you saying all this now?”