Page 87 of Wedding Bet

“So, Jamie, I hear you can cook ameanchocolate cake,” Kace Tomlin said to me. Kace was Nathan’s partner and was a world-famous pro quarterback, and he was justhere, in front of me.

“I can say that I don’tsuckat baking cake,” I admitted.

“Good enough for me,” Kace said, giving me a pat on the back. “Then you’re invited to my cookout next weekend. Be there! That means you, too, Landry.”

“Hey, where’s my cookout invite?” Storm Rosling called out from the next group over. He was also a pro football player on the Denver Ferals, and dating Landry’s best friend Emmett.

Kace waved a hand through the air. “Storm, you know you’re always invited. I’ll be mad if I don’t see you there, too.”

This place was stuffed to the brim full of cool people. People I liked being around, and people who didn’t treat you any differently if you were a multimillionaire or just getting by, like me.

I looked over and saw that at a booth, next to Chase, even my mom was here.

And I swore another tear was about to stream down my face.

“Chase got you to come out to a brewery, huh?” I asked as I walked over and hugged Mom.

She beamed up at me. “I was pretty exhausted after yesterday, but I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she said. “Both my babies under one roof. And did you see they have a boozy mango cocktail here?”

My mom was mango obsessed, and already she’d found her favorite thing on the menu.

“I heard somebody say mango,” Rush, the brewery owner, called out from behind the bar. “Coming right up.”

Mom clapped her hands together. “Yep. I think I’m going to love it here.”

My heart was so full it could burst.

Landry found me soon after, coming up to put his arms around me as Chase and Adam got caught up in a conversation with my mom.

“My marshmallow,” he said softly near my ear, pressing a kiss to my earlobe and gently swaying with me in his arms.

It felt like a whole different world, so long ago, when he’d first called me that. It had come to mean something even sweeter with time—I was proud to be something soft and sweet for him. Well, hard and sweet, sometimes.

“When in the fresh hell did I get so lucky?” I asked him.

“I don’t think it’s luck,” Landry said. “You were so qualified for this job.”

“Not just the job, though,” I said, turning and looking into his eyes. “You. Us. A little over a year ago, I still thought I wouldn’t be ready for a serious relationship foryears.”

“Tell me about it,” he said. “I don’t know how I deserve you, but I’m not complaining.”

“Hey. Let me show you something,” I said, pulling out my phone. I opened the screen to show him a picture of a smallhouse. It was set into the mountains, surrounded by pine trees filtering in beautiful light, like everything here in Jade River.

“That’s such a cute house.”

“It really is,” I said, staring down at the screen. My heart beat a little bit faster. “Apparently, this little beauty is up for rent starting in January. And that’ll be right around when my six-month apartment lease here ends,” I told Landry. I watched as his expression changed rapidly, from neutral curiosity to excitement.

“Yes,” he blurted out before I could say anything. “Immediately yes.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Landry, I haven’t even said anything yet,” I told him, giving him a little playful shove. “There’s no guarantees, obviously, and we’re in a super competitive rental market. But… if you were up for it, we could do this together. And I couldactuallysplit the rent with you, with my new job.”

Inside, I knew that Landry had enough money to buy most of the houses on the entire block, if he really wanted to. But he also knew how important it was for me to contribute, equally, and for the first time, I knew I could.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, and I know renting even a tiny, affordable place doesn’t make that much sense, because you have the Denver penthouse too—”

Landry broke me off with a kiss. “I would be so happy to split a place with you, Jamie,” he murmured, taking a deep breath. He rested his forehead on mine. “We can still spend some time at my LA house, too, but… I’d ditch the Denver penthouse, Jamie. I’d love to be here with you.”

Excitement filled every cell in my body. “We’re really going to do this,” I said.

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