Page 124 of Problematic Summer Romance

“I think I get it,” I whisper. “What’s happening.”

His lips twitch. “Yeah?”

“Do you think—”

“So,” Eli says in his loud, hockey team MVP voice. His grin is not his regular one. This might be the happiest I’ve ever seen my brother. “Thank you for coming. Both of you.”

I bite back a smile. “You practically abducted us.”

“Yeah, well. You needed abducting, Maya. Rue and I talked about it, and we decided that you were the only person we couldn’t do this without.”

I blow out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. I’m going to give you a kidney.”

“And Hark”—he turns to Conor—“you are my best man and my oldest friend.”

A smirk plays on Conor’s lips. “But that’s not why I’m here, is it?”

“Nope.” Eli points at Salvatore, who’s staring at his empty cigarette pack with a desolate expression. “I need you to explain to this government official that he needs to marry Rue and me. Right now. With the fastest ceremony he is capableof.”

2 days beforethe wedding

The day of thewedding

Chapter 38

They kiss right as the sun emerges from the water.

A truly cinematic moment that would have made for a perfect picture. No one takes any, but it doesn’t matter. Neither Eli, nor Rue, will ever forget.

“We just want to be married,”Eli told us, at once deeply relieved and outrageously happy.“I need to be married to her. Everything else—I’m sure there was a time when I gave a fuck, but that’s so long gone, I can’t even recall it. I’m ready for this woman to be legally mandated to never leave my side—”

“Not how the law works,” Rue murmured, unfazed.

“—until the day we both die in our sleep, surrounded by our immortal dogs and millions of plants.”

Conor and I exchanged a look. Then a smile. Then he said: “Solid choice. I approve. Signor Salvatore?”

I watch Rue’s arms close around Eli’s neck, but the glare of the rising sun turns them into little more than contours, dark shapesagainst the horizon. Maybe this is what relationships are. How people’s lives unfold. Opaque from the outside, the layers and depths impossible to grasp.

I will never fully understand Rue and Eli’s odd, mismatched love, but they fought for it. They made this happen. This happiness, it didn’t just fall into their lap. They compromised, and—

It all happens at once. Tears streak my cheeks. Conor’s arm draws me into the warmth of his chest. “Hush,” he murmurs against my hair. “It’s all good.”

Rue and Eli break apart. My brother beams, looks in our direction as if to say,Maya, Hark, did you see this? Did you see me marry her? Do you see my wife?Rue, though, tugs at his hand, asking for one more second of his undivided attention.

“Just,” she says, and it’s so oddly out of character for her. The hesitation. The way her voice carries to us. “Thank you. For not giving up on me, even thoughIhad given up on me.”

Eli’s reply is an extended murmur in her ear. The tears rear back, flooding my eyes.

“That’s not like you,” my brother tuts, turning in my direction. “Bawling at a wedding.”

I wipe my cheek with the heel of my hand. “I’m not bawling.”

“Of course not, pumpkin.” He hasn’t called me that…God. Since I was twelve, maybe. Dad’s funeral. Gently, he coaxes me out of Conor’s arms and into his own.

“I’m so happy for you. I don’t know why I’m making such a scene. It’s just—things were so shitty for a while, and we were so alone, and I’m…really,reallyhappy that you have this.”

“I know.” His palm travels up and down my back. And then it’s Rue’s turn, which…doesn’t happen a lot. In fact, it may be ourfirst hug. She’s much taller than I am, and despite her softness there is something rigid about this, a sense of discomfort on her part. It makes me love her even more.

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