Page 14 of Our Big White Lie
“Oh, sweet Jesus.” He facepalmed. Then he glared at me. “Are you proud of yourself, Victoria? Are you proud of what you just said?”
I quirked my lips and shrugged. “Kinda, yeah.”
Marco tsked. “Reported and blocked.”
I snickered. “Whatever. You love me.”
“Ugh. I do. And I’m disgusted with myself.”
“Likewise, darling.” I blew him a kiss.
“Anyway.”He sipped his coffee. “Why do you ask? Do you need someone to officiate your unholy union with Ava?”
I half-shrugged. “Obviously.”
A huge smile broke out as he sat up. “Oh, I was hoping you would!”
“Yeah? Why didn’t you say something?”
“Well, I didn’t want to impose. And besides, won’t your grandma get pissy about me as your officiant?” He glared at me. “Or did you finally admit that you werelyingabout me?”
“I haven’t told her.” I sipped my coffee. “I mean, if I don’t tell her, then maybe she and my aunt won’t come to the wedding, so…” I toasted with my mug. “Solves a few problems, doesn’t it?”
Marco snorted. “Oh my God. You’re seriously going to use that to scare them away from your wedding?”
“Well, it isn’t like I can just uninvite them. My family would go nuts!”
He inclined his head. “But it’s okay to let people think they won’t come because I wasallegedlyordained by the Church of Satan?”
I shrugged innocently. “I’m stillinvitingthem.”
“Do you think they’ll come?”
With a groan, I said, “God, I hope not.”
“But it could be fun!” He grinned wickedly. “I could wear bright red contact lenses and give the old bats menacing looks throughout the ceremony!”
I laughed. “Damn it. Thatwouldbe fun.” And Ava’s mom would get a kick out of it, too, but I didn’t mention that because I didn’t want to tip my hand too far. It felt weird, keeping something like this from Marco. He knew things about me that almost no one else did—the only person on the planet who knew more of my secrets was Ava. I didn’t like hiding this one from him.
But I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tell anyone except Ava. We had to keep this between us or things could?—
“Hey.” Marco nudged my foot with his. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere.” I shook myself and picked up my coffee again. “Just… I guess it’s a little overwhelming to think about. Getting married and all that.” I laughed nervously, hoping it telegraphed stress and nerves instead of fear that I was making a huge mistake.
It must have, because Marco smiled. “It’s a lot. I remember.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You eloped.”
“I know! And do you know how stressful it is to try to plan a trip anywhere with that man, never mind make sure we come back legally married?” He gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head. “A full-on high-octane wedding would have made the ’til death do us part thing moot because I wouldn’t have survived the rehearsal.”
I was giggling uncontrollably by the time he’d finished. “God, you are such a drama queen.”
He huffed sharply. “Derrick made me show him that I had my passport on my personseven timesbefore we even made it to security, Victoria.Seven.Times.”
“Uh-huh, and if memory serves, that’s because you once had to run after an Uber driver after it fell out of your pocket and?—”
“Oh, shut up.” He harumphed and went for his coffee, muttering, “Bitch” just before he took a sip.
