Page 27 of Oliver
"It was an honest mistake!" Tobias protested. "Who the hell says 'pool formal' when they mean poolside formal attire?"
We fell into easy reminiscence, trading stories of our most memorable bookings over the years. It was a welcome distraction from the thoughts of Norman, of Zahra, of everything waiting for me in just a few days.
My phone lit up again.
Oh, and Ryan's not out of town anymore. He showed up at my aunt’s for dinner.
The tension returned to my shoulders immediately, my jaw clenching. Tobias noticed the shift in my demeanor.
"Everything okay?"
"Fine," I said, typing back a response.
Did he bother you?
Nothing I couldn't handle. But he's definitely not happy about you coming to the wedding.
I wasn't surprised. Ryan had never liked me, even before he’d started dating Zahra in high school. I never understood why, and I honestly didn’t care. Ryan was a typical golden boy bully, predictable and boring. But thinking of him anywhere close to Zahra…
You’ll be safely back in my arms in a few days. Let me know if he tries anything, and I’ll fly down to take care of him myself.
You always say the right thing
"Seriously, what's going on?" Tobias pressed. "You look like you're planning someone's murder."
"Just a complication," I said vaguely. "Nothing I can't handle."
Tobias studied me for a moment, then shook his head. "You know, for someone so smart, you can be really dense sometimes."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means," he said slowly, as if explaining a simple concept to a particularly stubborn child, "that you're in deeper with this woman than you want to admit."
I started to protest, but he held up a hand to stop me.
"Just...be careful, okay? This whole Norman trip—it's not just about playing boyfriend for her cousin's wedding. I know you, Oliver. You've got some other agenda brewing in that big brain of yours."
He wasn't wrong. But he didn't know the half of it.
"I appreciate the concern," I said, deflecting as I always did when conversations veered too close to personal territory. "But everything is under control."
Tobias didn't look convinced, but he dropped the subject, turning instead to a story about his latest sushi date with his boyfriend—a guy who once hired him for a date. I tried to focus on his passionate account of the dishes he ate, but my mind kept drifting to Norman, to what waited for me there.
Zahra had said everyone was excited to see me again. I doubted that was universally true. There would be a few people,my parents chief among them, who would loathe the fact that I was returning to town.
People who thought they'd seen the last of me seven years ago.
People who had no idea what was coming.
Nine
OLIVER
"The last photogot over three hundred likes," Zahra said, showing me her phone screen as I settled at her kitchen island. "Your suggestion to use the bookstore as a backdrop was genius. People love seeing couples in their natural habitat."
I glanced at the image—Zahra and I browsing books together, her leaning into my side as I pointed to something on a high shelf. Carefully staged spontaneity. The comments were filled with heart emojis and variations of "you two are adorable" and "relationship goals."
"The algorithm favors content that portrays authentic shared interests," I explained, taking out my notebook. "The bookstore setting creates a narrative of intellectual compatibility, suggesting our relationship has depth beyond physical attraction."
