Page 52 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Dang!’ Kat exclaims. ‘I knew it was too much to hope for that you’d say you got them from Target.’

‘What’s Target?’ Lee asks, shooting me a worried look.

Kat gasps. ‘Oh, you poor, sweet child. You don’t know what you’re missing out on. Don’t worry, I’ll take you.’

‘Thanks,’ Lee manages, but a small smile tugs at her lips. Maybe Kat’s steamroller approach is actually going to pay off. It would be nice for Lee to have friends if she’s stuck here for the next few weeks.

Mei leans over and holds her hand out for Lee to shake. ‘I’m Mei,’ she says, ‘I’m tonight’s designated driver so I’m nursing one beer and unfortunately not tipsy at all.’

‘Not that Mei talks as much as Kat even when she’s hammered,’ Luke puts in, earning himself a shove from his sister.

We all take our seats and Kat holds up her glass. ‘Okay, a toast to the newlyweds!’

‘Do they count as newlyweds if they’ve been married for a year?’ Mei muses.

‘I think if you found out you were married less than a week ago, you should definitely qualify for newlywed status, right?’ Lee says, her posture still stiff. ‘We shouldn’t have to miss out on our honeymoon period just because we got so drunk we didn’t know we were married. That sort of thing could happen to anyone.’

‘That’s right,’ I agree as the others laugh and again I watch something like relief flicker across Lee’s face. ‘In fact, I think we should still be able to register for gifts at this point. There’s a crêpe pan I’ve been eyeing up.’

‘Please god, no more pancakes,’ Lee groans before smiling at me. It’s a real smile, one that shows off her dimples, and it feels like a wave of sunlight falling across the table.

‘You said you liked them,’ I protest, trying not to look flustered.

‘I said they had a unique flavour,’ Lee corrects me. ‘And you knew exactly what that meant.’

‘A very polite way of saying they tasted like sewage?’ I ask.

‘Exactly.’

When I laugh and look away from her it’s to find the other three members of our group watching us with avid interest.

‘All this British banter,’ Kat swoons, and Lee blushes. I think for a moment she’d forgotten it wasn’t just the two of us. I know I had.

‘Please don’t try and do the accent,’ I grimace. ‘I haven’t recovered from Art’s Victorian chimney sweep moment.’

Luke grunts in agreement.

‘Congrats on surviving your first town meeting, Lee,’ Mei says. ‘Was it everything you imagined it would be?’

‘There were a lot more bird-related issues than I’d anticipated,’ Lee says diplomatically.

‘Fucking Russell,’ Kat murmurs into her cocktail glass. ‘Talk about ruining the mood when I finally got Tyler back to my place last week.’

‘Can we not get started on your sex life?’ Luke groans.

‘I’m not going to have any sex life if Russell has anything to say about it,’ Kat grumbles darkly into her drink. ‘I swear that bird knows when anyone’s about to get lucky.’

‘Frankly, I think if he stopped you from sleeping with Tyler, Russell’s doing a community service,’ Mei says, and she and Luke tap beer bottles in their own toast.

‘That guy is the worst,’ Mei tells Lee in an exaggerated whisper.

‘Listen, not all of us can accidentally marry a hot single dad in Vegas,’ Kat says and takes another sip of her drink. ‘It’s slim pickings out here.’

‘Actually,’ Lee pipes up, ‘my friend was saying that we’re basically a marriage of convenience trope.’

‘Yes!’ Kat hoots.

‘What do you mean a trope?’ I ask.