Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“I do really like her,” I say again, and that’s completely honest.
“She’s convinced that my brother really likes you too.”
All I can do is smile. If I speak, she’ll hear the emotion in my voice.
Mercifully, the guys rejoin us, scooting into the aisle. I’m dying to ask Ryker what on earth is going on, but then he turns around and says, “Hi, Mom.”
My heart climbs into my throat. What the heck do I say to the woman who raised him? I turn, too, as he gives her a big, adoring hug.
I melt into a puddle.
Then, I go even squishier when Chase embraces his mother with a “Hey, Mom.”
And my head fills with confusing thoughts as I fall even harder for both men.
My mind is a train depot at rush hour, racing with ideas I never expected to entertain. I barely pay attention to the ceremony, but when Erik pledges to love Lisette for the rest of his life, my throat tightens. Tears prick my eyes.
Can’t help it. I don’t even know them and I’m overwhelmed with emotions and with hope.
Maybe I am a big old traditional romantic like my parents. Or maybe I’m a romantic in a whole new way. Here I am with a heart that’s being stretched between two men.
With a hope that’s making me think everything is possible.
When the officiant asks the all-important question, the bride gives a joyful, “I do.”
“You may kiss the bride.”
Erik cups her cheeks and kisses her, and my mind races way too far ahead.
How can three people even be together? How do you get married? How do you do Thanksgiving? How do you have kids? How do you do life? What do you say to others? These are my boyfriends, and this is our girlfriend? What will everyone think?
These thoughts dog me as the wedding ends and we make our way to the reception, where the photographer snaps pictures of all the guests. Chase and I stop and smile for the camera. Then Ryker and his sister, and so on.
Finally, before we can head into the glittery room, I pull the guys into an alcove and I whisper to Ryker, “I think your sister knows,” as a warning.
He winces, like he feels bad, but he nods, resolute. “I think so too.”
“What do you think she knows?” I ask, my nerves high and kicking through me.
“That you’re not my girl,” Chase cuts in. “That you’re our girl.”
God, that word—our.
It makes me crave a brave new future so badly. And in a way, it’s a relief that Ryker’s sister isn’t cringing or saying get the hell away from me with your polyamory.
But on the other hand—the more important hand—I’m not their girl for much longer.
Only one more night.
Sure, Chase means what he says in this moment. But could he ever mean it beyond tonight? Beyond tomorrow?
I won’t know unless I put myself out there, and now isn’t the time to do it. Maybe later though. I can’t wait much longer. I feel like I’ll go mad if I don’t ask them if they want to be together with me.
For the moment, I focus on brass tacks. “Do you think she cares?”
“No, I don’t,” Ryker says, giving a simple answer to a complex question.
He’s so lucky to have a sister like that. I can’t even imagine.
“She told me what she thought was going on when I first saw her before the ceremony,” Ryker adds.
Ah, when he laughed and smirked after that hug. I’m so relieved, I can’t even be mad that he didn’t save me from the what if questions in my head.
Then, a throat clears, and I turn around and it’s Chase’s mom, all sun-kissed brown hair and a simple yellow dress. I blink, then automatically smooth a hand over my dress even though it’s not messed up.
We step out from the alcove, adopting, I’m sure, overly innocent expressions. “Hi there,” I say, my voice uncertain. Will she hate me for liking another man too?
“You’re the girl with the cute little dog,” she says, and that’s a promising start.
“I am.”
“Join us.”
My pulse spikes. Suddenly, my fake date’s mother is guiding me to her table, and the guys hang back to chat with teammates, and I’m sitting between Ryker’s mom and Chase’s mom. Ivy is across from us, as well as a younger version of the fashionista, who I learn is Ryker’s other sister, Katie. Am I in for the grilling of a lifetime?
“So, I hear you run a bookstore,” Chase’s mom says.
“I just manage it.”
“Well, that would be running it,” Ryker’s mom says in the same laconic tone of her son. She has a tattoo on her wrist. A simple circle of black ink, and the word strength.
“That’s so fantastic,” Chase’s mom says. “To spend the day surrounded by stories. To help people find stories. And you run Page Turners Book Club.”