Page 154 of Lemon Crush

“Oh no, you don’t.” I swatted his chest playfully. “The sci-fi geek doesn’t get to ‘I know’ me after I put myself out there for everyone with a radio to hear and you waited so long to say it.”

“I love you too,” he said, with humor twinkling in his eyes. “I meant it when I said you won’t be alone again, August. If you changed your mind and decided to move away tomorrow, I’d be right behind you. I refuse to spend another minute without you. Is that better?”

“Meh.”

We both laughed. And then he kissed me until I was saying yes again.

Yes.

Yes.

“If you say no to everything, you’ll miss…everything.”

She was right again.

This was what she’d been talking about.

This was everything.

31

AUGUST

Two months later…

I was leaningover a barstool in the transformed backroom of the icehouse, breathing into a paper bag so I wouldn’t hyperventilate.

What old wife came up with this tale? How was it even supposed to work? It wasn’t helping my breathing at all.

I heard a weird yodel followed by an excited bark and opened my eyes in time to see Wanda and Merlin racing in from the hallway, their leashes trailing behind them. The festive matching red-and-green bandanas around their necks were so cute they almost made me smile.

It looked like the troublemaking duo had escaped their sitters. I had no idea Merlin could still move like that. The vet had been shocked the last time we went for a checkup. He was talking years instead of months now. Who knew all the grumpy old wizard needed to start a new lease on life was somebody of his own to love?

Or that I would become a dogmother like my sister, so enamored with these two they could probably set a neighborhood block on fire and I’d secretly find it adorable.

“Sorry, sorry,” Phoebe said as she hustled in after them. She was wearing a scarlet-hued Maid Marian dress and a matching carrier full of Sammy Lane strapped to her chest. “I saw them heading this way, but I didn’t cut them off fast enough.”

I waved away her apology before lowering the pointless paper bag in annoyance. “They’re the least of my problems.”

“Uh-oh.” Phoebe stared at me as she kissed the top of her baby’s blonde head. “Auntie August looks like she’s about to take a runner, Sam.”

“Take a runner?”

She made a face. “Todd was sick ofStargate, so he got BritBox to keep us company during all the late-night feedings, and I think it’s starting to rub off on me. I’msothankful to be back at work. And I meant thinking of skipping town. Fleeing all the people waiting outside for your big entrance.”

Oh. That.

“She better not run,” Bernie threatened upon makingherentrance. The short emerald-green dress highlighted her lean muscles and long legs. The small red flowers in her braid and the bow-and-arrow earrings were an inspired touch. “This event has been decades in the making.”

My sister stood beside her in a strikingly simple and—unique to this group—modernyellow dress that highlighted her flawless brown skin. She gave Bernie a look so dry, leaves would have crumbled to dust around her. “I don’t know ifthisparticular event was decades in the making.”

“I thought Matrons of Honor were supposed to be supportive,” Phoebe said in a disbelieving tone as she gestured to my semi-prone position.

“I’m completely supportive!” Morgan defended. “August knows I didn’t mean the actual wedding. They’re great together and she’s beautiful and I’m so happy she’s doing this. I just meant…you know.The theme.”

She gestured toward the bar and what I knew lay beyond.

This was what happened when I, in a moment of weakness and lemony camaraderie—and after realizing the time crunch involved—decided to turn my wedding planning into another team project.

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