Page 85 of Love is an Open Book
Across from us, Ted bends to whisper in his wife’s ear, and Kim shakes her head. Is she telling him it’s a game? I can’t decide which is worse, Ted thinking he’s in on a secret of ours, or putting on a show for Mia’s family and reducing our relationship to pretend.
But the last time Mia dated a friend, he let her down, and I’m not going to be that guy. I’m here for her, ready to follow her lead, and trust we can sort the rest out later.
A man to the side of me mutters, “Couples therapy for a brand-new relationship? Bold.”
“Actually, that brings up a good point,” Chip says. “This is not couples therapy, nor am I a licensed therapist.” A murmur goes through the crowd and a few confused glances are exchanged. “As stated clearly on our website and promotional materials, our organization merely aims to foster bonds between people in relationships. We facilitate healthy strategies for conflict resolution, but we do not aim to provide solutions to relationship issues, nor do we make any claim to provide counseling. We simply provide a way for couples to deepen their relationship.”
He beams, but a few of the couples are whispering, and he clears his throat. “Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s finish with introductions so we can jump into the fun part.”
As the pair to the right of us introduces themselves, I bend and whisper, “Seems sketchy, but good news for us. No one’s going to poke holes in our relationship timeline.” I’m doing my best to keep things light, but I want her to tell me this isn’t fake. That we’re past pretending, and we can be ourselves.
But she just lets out a quiet laugh. “I’m not so sure. Chip has ‘awkward moments’ written all over him.”
I glance at the guy nodding intensely at another couple’s first-meeting story. “We can bail.”
“I’m not a quitter,” she whispers back.
“But your sister is here. That doesn’t bother you?” I search her face, looking for any clue.
“She knows.” Mia squeezes my hand in reassurance. Does she mean that Kim knows about the trope tests like I suspected, or did she tell her sister about how our relationship has changed? “And I’m not worried about Ted. But if you don’t want to go through with it, I get it.”
Startled to have the tables turned, I shake my head. “I told you, I’m in this, for as long as you want to keep going.”
Mia rises on her toes, lips brushing my cheek, and I have no doubt that’s real.
“Though now that you mention it, I can think of better ways to spend the afternoon.” I bob my brows suggestively and she grins, bumping my hip.
“Shh, you’re going to make me miss the directions.”
“Which would be the worst thing.”
She turns to me, eyes narrowed but sparkling. “You’re a bad influence.”
“Yet you’ve stuck around.”
“You’re going to get us called out.”
“By him?” I gesture toward the mild-mannered man currently demonstrating how to don a life vest with all the enthusiasm of a flight attendant. “Pretty sure that’s against therapist code.”
“He’s not a therapist, remember?”
Technically that should make me feel better, since my relationship with Mia won’t be under the scrutiny of a professional. But as I turn back toward the river, eyeing the flotilla of inflatable rafts, a quiver of unease shoots through me.
Therapy session or not, something tells me our relationship is about to be put to the test.
“Remember, there are no winners here,” Chip says.
“Then by default, we’re all losers,” remarks the man next to me, and from the look on Mia’s face, bobbing up and down on an inflatable tube, she probably agrees. We’re gearing up for what was described as a Truth Relay, and I can’t imagine a more terrifying game in our situation.
Chip directed one half of every couple to remain on shore, and the other to wade out to one of the floating rafts tethered in a line between two anchor points. With each honest answer, we’re allowed to take a step into the water toward our partner.If we refuse a question, we go backward. Each couple who completes the challenge receives a voucher for a sunset dinner cruise on Lake Michigan.
I may not be as competitive as Mia, but I can’t think of a more romantic date to celebrate being done with faking it. I crack my neck, ready to win. We’re going to ace this. We’re friends first, and that gives us an edge over everyone here.
Chip calls out the first question. “What’s your partner’s favorite film genre?”
Easy. “Anything with romance,” I answer.
Chip looks to Mia, and she nods enthusiastically. “Go ahead and take a step into the water,” he says.
