Chapter 11 Rachel
Currently playing: Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder
***
Forcing Adam to walk into the café first, I waited outside the entrance, mentally singing “Big Me” by Foo fighters.
It was just over two minutes. I knew because I had been singing it for years as my brushing my teeth song. Two minutes seemed like a perfect amount of non-suspicious time for my entrance to the table. It wasn’t so late that I was being rude, but it meant I didn’t have to walk in with Adam.
My hands shook as I reached the last chorus and ran them through my hair. It took a lot for me to get anxious. I was a more confident person than most, and if this had been anything simpler, I could have passed it up as a laughable thing. But this was real. It was semipermanent. Or at least permanent until I had saved up enough and felt comfortable signing off on the papers. So maybe two years?
And really, in the grand scheme of life, what was two years? Just a blink. It would come and go, and we’d look back on it with fond memories. Like a best friend marriage pact that had come to fruition. Except this was on a whim. And we were using it as an excuse to bring in extra income. That part, I didn’t feel too bad about, considering we’d gotten married and then come up with the idea of reaping the benefits from it. So it wasn’t technically illegal. At least in my head, anyway.
Reaching the end of the song, I took a deep breath and forced my legs to move inside the area. My eyes searched the room, snagging on a table in the far corner full of Wells family faces.
With my thumb, I turned my ring around, leaving the diamond on the underside of my finger. I’d keep it under the table 90 percent of the time, and when the time was right, Adam and I would figure out how to break the news to everyone. Simple.
“Good morning.” I sighed and took the only open seat. Adam was on my left, and Nathan sat on my right.
They all replied with their own greetings, and the casual, relaxed tone of it all helped my shoulders drop a little. It was stupid of me to freak out. These were my people. More than they knew at the moment, but still. They had treated me with nothing but kindness and acceptance from the moment I met each of them. Why would I expect anything different now?
Calla and Layla both made eyes at me as I sat down. Layla lowered her brows at me and then obnoxiously widened her eyes at Adam sitting next to me. Yes, I’d married my best friend’s brother-in-law without a word to her until after the ceremony was over, and now I was sitting across from her, pretending as though it had never happened. I could already hear her nagging in my ear like the sound of Howler. Rachel! How dare you marry my brother-in-law without calling me?
I gave a sympathetic smile, my cheeks pulling tight and my eyes full of sorrow. I really hadn’t meant to leave her out, and if I could go back in time, I would have gladly done things differently. But I only had that vision now, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Small talk erupted around the table, discussions of Marigold and Liam’s reception, and the boys talking about how excited they were to have their parents under the same roof again. Nathan and Calla went on about their perfect jobs. It all felt entirely normal, and I was entirely grateful for normal at the moment.
Once we all settled with food on our plates, the discussions died down.
While everyone was occupied, I felt a light touch above my knee. Out of the corner of my eye, Adam kept eating as though nothing had changed. His fingers rubbed back and forth with a comforting firmness. Ease washed over me even further. I almost felt ridiculous for beginning to freak out earlier.
His pointer finger gave a delicate tap.
Are you okay? it said.
I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand. Perfectly fine, I replied.
Crew suddenly slammed his fork down on the table, jolting the rest of us at the table. His eyebrows furrowed and his mouth twisted. “Is no one going to talk about it?”
Mama B tilted her head to the side. “Talk about what, dear?”
Crew all but stood, leaning over the table and pointing at Adam and then at me.
Oh lord. Warmth rose into my cheeks in a blush. No, a blush was subtle. This was a bright, red-hot heat that made me look like a traffic sign.
“Adam and Rachel. Clearly, they got married last night, and we’re sitting here eating Mickey Mouse–shaped chocolate-chip waffles as if nothing has happened.”
Adam cleared his throat. “You’re the only one eating that.”
“Not the point.”
Nathan chimed in. “Did you make that yourself at the waffle bar?”
Crew groaned. “Still not the point.”
I raised my left hand, turning around the mountain on my finger. Okay, it wasn’t that big. Or maybe it was. I didn’t exactly know ring etiquette, but this one felt larger than most. Flashing the ring to his family, I sighed. “It’s true.”
Layla and Calla let out synchronized fake gasps, hands reaching up to clutch strings of pearls that weren’t there. Bless them.
My eyes stayed on Adam’s parents as I waited for shock to sink in. It never did. Mama B’s face stayed the same, except her eyes softened toward me. Jerry gave an affirming nod to Adam, which he returned.
Luke turned his gaze from Layla over to Adam. “How did that happen?”
Adam shrugged, not looking up from his bacon and taking a bite as though nothing had happened. “Been thinking about it for a while.”
I knew it wasn’t the truth deep down. The logical side of my brain kept that in check. But it didn’t stop my gut from doing full-on somersaults. This giant, tattooed, motorcycle-riding bear saying he had been thinking of putting a ring on it “for a while” was not going to just casually fly out of my brain. Despite our friendship over the years, I couldn’t simply turn off a magic switch and ignore Adam’s undeniable attractiveness. Hearing him affirm me and not chalk it up to a mistake warmed my heart.
Mama B spoke up at that. “Ah, love can come from all corners, can’t it?”
“What’s the plan now?” Nathan questioned.
“Taking it a day at a time. We just got married. We want to figure it all out as we go,” Adam answered, still not looking anyone in the eye.
“Do you guys know what you’re going to do from here?” Luke asked.
“How come the guy who stays in his Batman cave got married before I did?” Crew interrupted before Adam could answer.
We each continued eating as his family hit us with a barrage of questions and Adam handled each one with Olympic grace. I took a deep breath in relief, squeezing Adam’s hand beside me. We would pull this off. Not because of anything I could do, but because of him.