Page 155 of Forever

Tanner smiled, but it looked sad. “I’ve experienced more love and loss in my life than anyone else here.”

I wasn’t sure he knew that for a fact…

“And I know moving forward isn’t easy. But I am just so proud of you, Brooklyn. For embracing today. For being fearless. For believing that the love Matt has for you isn’t replaceable. Because you’re not replaceable. You’re perfectly…you. And the two of you are a perfect match.”

I looked over at Brooklyn. There were tears in her eyes again.

“Even if I can’t verify it,” Tanner said. “I know it. I’ve made enough matches over the years to know. This right here is true love in its most pure form. And it’s worth waiting a hundred years for. Luckily the two of you didn’t need to wait quite that long.” He smiled. “And I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate my favorite couple. And to thank you for both being so wonderful to me. You are both so kind and…”

Suddenly the music changed. Tanner looked around again.

I definitely knew this song. It wasRussian DancefromThe Nutcrackerthis time. It started getting louder.

“Where is this coming from?” Tanner asked and looked around again. “I’m so confused.”

Rob giggled even louder.

And then the volume increased again and the white pumpkin closest to Tanner exploded, sending brown goo in every direction. Some of it hit him right in the face, speckling his cheeks in brown.

Fuck, was that chocolate pudding?

Everyone near the pumpkin pushed their seats back, trying to get away from the mess.

Tanner wiped his hand across his face, smearing the chocolate pudding.

Rob burst out laughing.

Brooklyn threw her hand over her mouth in horror.

James groaned and shook his head.

Rob started pointing at the pumpkins as one by one they exploded down the length of the table. Each hard note of the violins caused another explosion. Rob kept pointing, acting like he was the conductor of this nightmare.

And I realized he definitely was.What. The. Fuck. Rob!

One of the cornucopias exploded, sending chocolate pudding and an assortment of zucchinis flying through the air. A zucchini hit the string lights, causing them to blink and sag down toward the table.

I pushed my seat back and pulled Brooklyn back too as mayhem broke loose.

The pumpkins down the center of the table exploded one after another as Rob kept pointing in rhythm to the music. And then the next cornucopia exploded. Everything in it was decimated this time, chunks of different colored gourds flying everywhere.

One slimy piece hit my cheek as more pudding flew through the air. I tried to block it from Brooklyn, but we both took it in the face.

I tried to wipe it out of my eyes.

“Rob, stop this!” Brooklyn screamed at the top of her lungs.

Rob just laughed. “But you said…”

Someone else screaming drowned out his words.

More lights fell and people started to get tangled up in them as they slipped in the chocolate pudding.

The lights connected to the Christmas tree. And it was only a matter of seconds before the huge tree started to fall. It smashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows in Tanner’s living room. For a moment I thought I was going to break through, but it bounced off and slammed onto the couch instead. It knocked over a few candles on an end table in the process, and then the whole tree caught fire.

I instinctively put my hand over my junk, remembering my pants lighting up like a Christmas tree on that blind date from hell.

The blaze quickly spread to the couch. It was nowhere near me, but I still kept my hand in the front of my pants.

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