Ray
Every muscle in my body ached. Every... single... one.
I was running on a latte and less than four hours of sle ep, and if I wasn’t so worried about
my puffy white robe coming undone and baring myself to Wade’s female family members, I’d be
worrying instead about falling asle ep during my massage.
Arlie, Chloe, and a few of Chloe’s aunts had joined us in the spa for a girl's morning before
the wedding. I’d somehow been pressured into being alone with Wade’s side of the family, and
considering no phones were allowed in the spa, Wade had graciously offered to ke ep my phone
on him in case anything happened with Mom.
Steam filled my mouth, my nose, and my ears from every angle in the sauna. I sat in the
corner of the room, my back to one wall and my head resting against the other, with Chloe on
my left and Arlie on my right. Arlie chatted away with her sisters and Chloe, but their words
were so far away, so quiet.
So warm. So calm. “Ray?” My eyes snapped open in a second. Chloe grinned at me, her
damp hair falling over her shoulders in blonde waves.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to doze off.” “Didn’t get much sle ep last night?” she asked. I shook
my head. In the haze of exhaustion, I couldn’t tell which option was better: telling her that Wade
had k ept me up half the night or coming up with an elaborate lie. But my brain was too tired to
create something worth selling. Maybe I didn’t need an excuse.
“Wade’s a snorer,” Arlie cut in. “Always was growing up.” “Oh my god, the amount of times
he’d wake me up when we’d go on vacations. Mom always made us sle ep in the same room
and Wade always snored,” Chloe laughed, shooting her mom a sarcastic glare.
But Wade hadn’t snored last night. In fact, he hadn’t made a goddamn sound and was
sle eping peacefully and quietly when I left. “No, no, he wasn’t snoring,” I said, and as their eyes
turned to me in unison, I instantly regretted the words, my eyes flashing wide. If it wasn’t
snoring that had k ept me up, it could only be one other thing...
“Oh, honey,” Wade’s mom offered, a hint of a laugh cutting through her words. If I wasn’t so
flushed from the sauna, my face would have turned bright red. “It’s okay. We’ve all been there
with a man.”
I looked to Chloe, desperate for some sort of help. She only offered me wide eyes and a
confused stare. Wade said she knew it was an act.
“Mom, can we pretend to know absolutely nothing about Wade’s sex life? Please?”
Thank you, I mouthed. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just so curious how they ended up together, you
know? I didn’t think Wade would ever settle down,” Arlie giggled, her shoulder pressing into her
sister's arm as she looked for reassurance from them. I wished I’d caught their names earlier
when I’d been introduced, but it seemed like absolutely nothing was staying in my head today.
Exc ept for the way Wade absolutely devoured me last night. That wasn’t going anywhere
and seemed to be the one thing I could actually retain.
“To be honest, I didn’t think he would either,” I offered. The words came a little easier
through the haze of fatigue, and in truth, all I could do was hope to God I said nothing stupid.
“Do you want to know how we met? It’s, uh, a doozy.”
Chloe raised one singular brow. “Yes! Absolutely,” Arlie chimed. “It was here at the resort,” I
started. “I was staking the place out for a job interview and I thought, fuck it, why not sign up for
a skiing lesson while I’m here? But I’d never skied before so I had no idea what I was doing.”
Arlie’s smile fell as she looked at me. “You’re one of his bunnies?”
I blinked at her, the attack hitting me like a truck. He said I wasn’t. I’m not. “N-no,” I
continued. “I didn’t know who Wade was. I mean, I knew he ran the resort, but other than that I
didn’t know anything about him, not even what he looked like. I wasn’t after him like that—”
“She wasn’t, Mom. Wade told me,” Chloe offered. Arlie looked between me and her
daughter, her mouth a thin line. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what idea she was
forming of me. “Continue.”
“I... I went down the big hill, but I didn’t know how to slow down. I slammed right into him on
accident and sent us both hurtling to the ground. We were fine, but he was annoyed, and I told
him he shouldn’t be standing around at the bottom of a hill. He told me to watch where I was
going. We actually got pretty snippy with each other,” I said. “And then a couple of days later, I
walked into his office for my interview, realized he was the same man I’d crashed into, and
nearly lost my mind.”
A beat of silence. I gulped. “Then he asked me out before he hired me,” I lied. I couldn’t bear
to look at Chloe, couldn’t face her knowing she knew damn well that the story had veered away
from the truth. “He was an absolute angel to me, even after I found out about the, uh, bunny
situation. I wasn’t very nice about that. But he asked me to be his girlfriend a few months later
after he’d helped me out of a shitty situation where my car died, and I said yes. And I haven’t
looked back.”
Arlie was silent for far too long. I knew I’d fucked up. I must have. I knew I should have
talked with Wade about this beforehand, corroborated on a believable story that wasn’t the
actual one. But we’d been too busy last night to even consider it. My eyelids felt heavy as the
memories of it flooded my head, and goddammit I was so tired—
The piercing laugh that came from Arlie’s mouth was enough to startle me back into the
present situation. “Oh my gosh,” she cackled. “That’s amazing. What a story to tell your future
kids.”
Future kids. “Yeah,” I chuckled, every movement forced and unnatural. My stomach sunk,
churning with displeasure. Future kids. Future kids. Future kids. I wanted to focus on how
although half our story was fake, the sentiment of it
was there. The foundation was there. The feelings were... there. But all I could think about
was that phrase. Future kids.
“Has he, you know, said it yet?” Arlie’s sister asked. “The big three words.”
I gulped. “Love?” She nodded. It’s a long-term relationship, Ray. You both would have said it
by now. “Yeah,” I grinned. “A couple of weeks ago.”
I stuffed my hands under my legs to ke ep from showing how much they shook at just the
idea. I knew damn well that I could easily fall in love with the man I’d spent last night with, but
saying we’d already exchanged those three words was on another level entirely. I’d be
expected to say it out loud, in front of others. I’d have to say it to him.
Chloe cut in with a question to Arlie about her bridal bouquet, closing off all conversation
about Wade for the time being. I took a de ep breath and sank back against the wall, breathing
out the smallest sigh of relief when Arlie carried it from there.
I could make it through the morning. It would be fine. I hadn’t blown it. Yet.