Epilogue 2
OPERATION HONEY POT
CHARLIE
Livi , my almost-sister-in-law’s BFF and the woman with whom I’m sharing Maid of Honor duties, stands up in front of the guests, who are all seated in chairs in a big circle on the grass behind the row of townhomes where I live. She says, “ Okay , and now we’re going to play a game I like to call, ‘ How well do you know Mackenzie and Jace ?’”
Mackenzie is seated right next to where Livi stands, and she’s practically glowing with happiness. My brother, Jace , has had the same look as her for quite a while. I am so excited for the wedding coming up!
Everyone’s here. Mackenzie’s mom, her three sisters, my mom, some people from Mackenzie’s work, my roommate Reese , who is also my brother Miles’s best friend (and he makes sure I remember that she was his best friend first), two of my aunts, and three of Mackenzie’s , and my future sister-in-law, Zoe .
Well , she’s not officially my future sister-in-law, yet— Ledger isn’t the type to rush into something as big as an engagement, and I don’t think Zoe is, either. But I’m calling it right now that they will get engaged.
Just like I called that they were going to have their enemies-to-lovers arc on that mission. I’m rather good at noticing all the little things that show when someone likes someone else, but I’m not the only one who sees it with Ledger and Zoe . It’s plain as day to see that the two of them got in a car together, put the top down, turned onto It Will Only Ever Be You boulevard, and are currently driving, music blaring, hands in the air (except for the one on the steering wheel), straight toward Wedded Bliss and Babies town.
It may take a while to get there, but they’ll get there eventually. Those two look at each other like skydiving, sunsets, and fireworks didn’t even exist until the other stepped into their lives.
Ledger and Zoe can take as long as they want to make things official, but I’m not waiting to claim Zoe as my sister-in-law. She’s one of us, now. I’ve spent my whole life as the only sister in a family with five brothers— it’s about time we started evening out the numbers.
While Livi explains the game, I hand out the cutest papers to each person in the circle for them to mark their answers on. They’ve even got a little honeycomb and the words Bride to Bee at the top to match the theme.
Mackenzie was smart to name Livi and me as co- Maids -of- Honor . The details of things sometimes… go wrong for Livi . The details are where I shine. Plus , there is no way that I’m getting up in front of everyone to run this game, yet Livi doesn’t even mind having all eyes on her. I’ll gladly take hostess duties any day of the week, and Livi will gladly take the reins for interactive fun.
“ Okay ,” Livi says, “ Question number one: where did Jace and Mackenzie first meet? Was it A , in an escape room where they accidentally got paired together and couldn’t escape. Was it B , at a restaurant while Mackenzie was on a bad date, and Jace pretended to know her. Or was it C , at a sidewalk sale at an outdoor mall, when Jace tackled the guy who stole Mackenzie’s purse and returned it to her? Write down your answer.”
It was B ! Of all my brothers, I am closest to Jace . And although he does tell me a good amount about Mackenzie , I doubt I get as many details as Livi gets from Mackenzie . I am one hundred percent sure that Mackenzie shared the details with Livi all along the way of her and Jace meeting, dating, and falling in love.
But also, I had tapped into the cameras inside that restaurant and had been on comms with Jace , so I was present for the whole glorious date interruption where Jace and Mackenzie came up with a story together about how they knew each other. I was also on comms and cameras during the sidewalk sale with the purse snatching, so I know that happened the second time they met.
The escape room, though? Total fiction, unless Jace is holding out on me. I walk over to the refreshments table to check on everything as Livi runs this game .
People should hire me to come up with the food for any bridal shower they are planning because this spread is next-level. Jace and Mackenzie seem to have some kind of inside story related to honey, and since my roommate, Reese , is a beekeeper, I did everything honey-themed. I even got Mackenzie a sash to wear that reads Bride to Bee .
Everything is in yellow and white and spread out beautifully, if I do say so myself. The table holds all of the refreshments and also glass jars of lemon drops, butter mints, and yellow flowers. Mackenzie has taken a picture of every date that she and Jace have gone on, so I printed out their favorites and have each one stuck in a place card holder and spread throughout.
I’ve got cupcakes that look like they’re each part of a honeycomb, sugar cookies each frosted with two bees and the words I found my honey . I’ve got cute little honey mascarpone cheesecakes, honey hummus with veggies, blackberry and honey tarts, and a fruit board with honey-spiked cream cheese. Oh , and grilled pear, brie, and honey crostinis.
People should not hire me to do the actual baking, though, because that never goes well. But , I mean, who hasn’t had a batch of potato chip cookies in the oven when they get an emergency call to support the intelligence operative who’s intercepting a rogue agent in Berlin ? I am an excellent planner, though. Top notch. I’m good at searching for the best bakery, picking out the best items, and presenting it all in a way that is beautiful and matches the bride’s personality .
And based on the looks on everyone’s faces, it tastes every bit as good as it looks.
Which I already know, of course, because I taste-tested one of everything before I brought it out here. What ? I had to make sure I was serving high-quality refreshments.
“ Okay , question two,” Livi says. “ What did Jace and Mackenzie do on their first date? Did they A , have a picnic in the park and then play miniature golf, where Jace protected Mackenzie from a rogue golf ball. B , go to a black tie fundraising event where they both tangoed, or C , attempted to build the world’s largest pizza at a make-your-own pizza restaurant?”
A ! Man , I am killing it. It’s too bad I can’t play. Okay , even if I wasn’t hosting this, I would have an unfair advantage. I was also present (remotely) for the picnic/panic at the golf ball incident and at the black tie event. It’s too bad Jace stopped letting me tag along on his dates via comms. I miss out on so much.
Movement at the side of my townhome catches my eye and I glance over. My heart kicks up a notch at seeing that it’s my neighbor, Owen . Our units share a wall and he’s got another unit on the other side of his, so he has to come around to the space between buildings on my side to get to the garbage bins. He’s tossing in a big bag, probably from his kitchen. The man is just so cute!
He either hears or sees our group in the backyard, so he looks in our direction, curious. Our eyes meet, and he smiles. He’s got such a great smile, and I find myself smiling back with my whole face. He gives me a nod before he turns to go back to his house .
It’s been a few weeks since I hid behind the bricks for that reconnaissance mission. We didn’t talk too long that day, but I really liked getting to know him a teeny bit and seeing what he was working on. Neither of us has made any kind of move since then. I’ve mostly been admiring him from afar.
And daydreaming. Lots of daydreaming. He’s just got a face that makes me all… I don’t know. Fluttery . It’s a kind face. A happy face. But also an intriguing face. Like there is so much more about him that I don’t know. And so much that maybe he doesn’t share with anyone. It all makes me unbelievably curious about him.
And suddenly, I’m right back behind those pallets of bricks when Zoe was saying that I could learn a lot about someone by going through their garbage.
Oh , look. We are running low on honey mascarpone cheesecakes. I better go back inside and get some more. I pick up the platter and motion to Livi that I’ll be right back, just as she starts asking the next question.
“ Where did Mackenzie and Jace have their first kiss? Was it A , when they bumped into each other while Mackenzie was going on her never-miss-a-day walk and Jace was walking a dog that wasn’t his when they got caught in a downpour. Was it B , in an elevator that got stuck between two floors. Or was it C , behind the stage at the concert on Main Street while the cover band sang Man ! I Feel Like a Woman ?”
It was totally C . I wasn’t on comms at all for that one, but I did manage to get a few details about the night from Jace . I knew that he danced (on stage, even!), and I knew that they kissed. I didn’t know that it happened behind the stage or to a song about unleashing your girl power.
As I reach the end of the grass, I pick up a stick with the hand not holding the platter and head toward the garbage cans. The bag I saw Owen bring out is right on top, practically screaming I hold so many answers! It’s one of those translucent bags where you can kind of see things inside but not super well.
And really, all I can see are some banana and orange peels, Chinese food boxes, used paper towels, and eggshells. I hold the platter away from the garbage and poke at it with my stick. Then I kind of tip it up with the stick, trying to see if there’s anything visible from the side that might be more telling than what things he probably has now added to his grocery list.
I spy some food wrappers, an empty spice bottle, and an old candle almost completely melted down. If anything is interesting in there, it’s not on the surface, and the bag is too clouded to see it. I sigh and toss the stick in the garbage with everything else. I’ve learned nothing, and I really need to refill this platter. I spin toward my apartment, taking a step in that direction as I do, and crash right into Owen . I let out a squeaking sound as the force of our collision knocks the platter from my hand.
Owen drops what he is holding, twists, and manages to catch the platter without a single little cheesecake falling off.
“ We’ve got to stop running into each other like this,” he says, an amused smile on his face .
I swear, he was completely out of sight when I started looking at his trash! How did he even know I was here?
It suddenly feels very hot. And I have a strong urge to hurry back to the party. Or into my apartment. Whichever is faster. Instead of trying to gracefully exit this awkward moment, I make it more awkward.
“ At least this time, what I dropped isn’t spread across the front yard.” I cannot believe I just reminded him of the incident with the tear in my wet laundry bag and the trail of tush covers and booby traps I left strewn for all to see. I nod at the cheesecakes. “ Thanks for saving the day for these.”
“ Glad I could help,” he says, handing the platter back to me. “ Now , if I could just keep from dropping things.”
I glance down to see that what he’d been holding until he decided to go all superhero and catch a flying cheesecake-laden platter in mid-air was a second garbage bag. This one is much smaller— maybe something he forgot the first time around. That’s why he saw me here. I crouch down to pick it up for him at the same time he bends to pick it up, and we bonk heads.
Seriously , we bonk heads . Like toddlers do in situations like this. I swear, I am not this inept normally! Something about being around Owen just makes me forget how to work my body. And my brain. Which is immediately evident in the fact that I still grab hold of the bag, even though he’s grabbing hold of it, too. We both stand with the bag between us like it’s a baton in the world’s slowest relay race.
And I just look at him, like I’m trying to memorize the way his eyes crinkle at the corners or the way his cheek dimples as he smiles. Or the way his scruff looks perfectly touchable. Thankfully , I do manage to let go before it starts to feel like we’re in a standoff, and he tosses it into the bin. Then he nods at his bigger garbage bag that’s lying right on top and raises an eyebrow. “ Find anything interesting?”
My face flames with heat. So he definitely witnessed that. “ I , uh,” I say, trying to quickly come up with a reason why I had been poking his garbage bag with a stick. “ When I saw you over here, I thought that your hair looked like it smelled great. I was wondering what kind of shampoo you used, and I thought I saw a bottle in your bag.”
His eyes shift to his garbage bag so mine do, too. There is nothing visible that looks even remotely like it could be a bottle of anything. My face is not cooling down anytime soon.
Then , his eyes come back to mine and he seems to be trying to suppress a smile as he says, “ If there’s anything you want to know about me, you can ask.”
“ Thanks ,” I say. “ I will.” The smart thing to do right now would be to ask him something I’ve been curious about. Or to say something witty. Or to get my flirt on. Be a honey pot. But I just told the man I was searching his garbage for a shampoo bottle because, from a distance, his hair looks as if it smells nice . I think it’s best if I don’t ask right now. It’s like the quote that says something like, It’s better to not talk and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt .
I figure that from this point onward, I have two options.
One : I can avoid Owen . Avoiding Owen will avoid the whole “body and mind forgetting how to work in his presence” thing. This will, in turn, keep my face from harnessing the heat of the sun.
Or two: I can do exposure therapy. Maybe if I’m around Owen enough, his power to incapacitate my brain will lessen.
Option one sounds safe. I like safe. Option two makes my heart race just thinking about it. A bad kind of race, in the way that only thoughts of future awkward embarrassment can cause.
But also a good kind of race, like maybe I’ll be able to find out more about this man. I can tell that he’s one of those people who are happy as their default state, but no one is as perennially happy as Owen seems to be. Everyone has something going on under the surface. Some people just like to hide their something behind an ever-present smile. And this racing heart of mine? It wants to discover what’s behind that ever-present smile of his.
But , since I already decided that I shouldn’t ask any questions and risk showing just how disconnected my brain is around him, I just lift the tray a bit and say, “ Well , I better go… get this refilled so I can get back to the party.”
Then , instead of heading toward the front of my place so I can go inside and actually refill the tray, I prove how disconnected my brain is around him and head toward the party.
It’s too late to turn back, though. So I just put a hand on my face to cool it. Just before I reach the refreshments table, though, I have to know that he’s gone. I take a glance back and see him standing by the trash bins still, giving me an amused smile.