Page 37 of Our Big White Lie
I stared right back at him. “Uh, because I’m telling everyone I’m getting married even though it’s all fake? Because I’m lying to everyone, including you?”
He shrugged. “But you’re doing it so Ava’s mom gets to see her daughter be a bride.”
“I know. I know. I just…” I grimaced. “Why do I feel so scummy about it?”
“Because we’re all taught that lying is the worst thing ever no matter what.”
“You sound like you don’t think it is.”
Marco snorted. “Um, were you not there during all those years when I told everyone I was straight?” He inclined his head. “Or whenyoutold everyoneyouwere straight?”
“That’s different, though.”
“Still lying,” he said with a flippant shrug. “But it’s justified, you know? We were scared and we had to protect ourselves.”
“But that’s not what Ava and I are doing right now.”
“No, it’s not. I still think it’s an exception to the ‘lying is the worst thing ever’ rule.”
“How so?”
“Because I think you’re doing it for the right reasons. Yeah, it was a little weird to hear you say it’s all fake, but I mean—this poor woman only has so much time left, and she’s always dreamed of seeing her baby girl as a bride.” Marco shrugged again. “I can’t imagine hearing that and thinking, ‘Wow, you evil bitches are scamming everyone.’ You’re obviously trying to do something good for a mom who’s been dealt a bullshit hand.”
I rolled my shoulders and exhaled. “Okay. Okay, that’s good.” I made a face. “But why do I still feel so scummy about it?”
“Something, something, lying is bad no matter what…” He rolled his hand. “It’s social conditioning, sweetheart. The same social conditioning that says we should go above and beyond to help people who’ve been screwed over by life.”
I sighed. “Isn’t the road to Hell paved with good intentions?”
Marco pursed his lips. “Do you really want to listen to my philosophical ramblings about that?”
The laughter that bubbled up felt good. “I do. Because I always love hearing you rant and rave about things like that.” I hesitated, amusement dying away. “And maybe I need to hear it, too.”
“You probably do.” He pressed his elbow onto the back of the couch again and looked right in my eyes. “Okay, so. I can’t speak for whoever actuallysaidthe road to Hell is paved with good intentions. But my interpretation of it is that it’s mostly about people whointendto do good things, and just… don’t. They have the best of intentions, but they don’tdoanything about it. Like people who think about helping the poor or visiting that elderly family member, but the actions never materialize. The people stay poor. The family member dies before they ever go visit. The hell is, in my opinion, the guilt at realizing you could’ve donesomething, but you didn’t, and now you can’t.” He gestured at me. “In your case, you have good intentions, and you’re following them up with goodactions. You want to help Ava’s mom experience her dream, and you want Ava to be happy. Right?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“Right. So you’redoing somethingto make that happen. In fact, you’re going above and beyond what I think anyone would expect.” Marco shook his head emphatically. “Even if the universe or karma or whatever decides you made the wrong decision—that this wedding wasn’t the right thing to do—I can’t imagine anyone thinking you’re the bad guy. Or that your intentions weren’t good enough. You’re coming from a genuine place and doing everything you can to help someone else, and you’re not hurting anyone in the process. I just don’t see how anyone could come out of thinking you were in the wrong.”
I chewed my lip. “They might if they realize they brought a gift to a fake wedding.”
“There is that.” He seemed to consider it. “You haven’t sent out invites yet, have you?”
I shook my head.
“Okay, well, maybe put on them that you and Ava don’t want gifts.”
I straightened. “I… hadn’t even thought of that. That isn’t, like, some massive breach of etiquette or something?”
He scoffed. “Telling people they don’t have to bring a hundred-dollar gift, and that you just want them to show up, celebrate, and drink?” Marco waved his hand. “It might not be in the least edition of Miss Manners or whatever, but I don’t think people will be offended by it.”
That… actually brought my internal panic down a little. “That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to Ava about it tonight; something I think she’ll be onboard.”
“Of course she will. I can’t imagine either of you coming at this like a gift shakedown.”
I laughed. “No, not at all. And I mean, between the two of us, we have pretty much everything we need, you know?”
He gave me an odd look. One I couldn’t read, which said a lot since I could usually read Marco like a book. Before I could press, though, he said, “I think you’re good, then. And if anyone is really adamant about giving a gift, just tell them to donate to an animal shelter or something. That way their money still goes to a good cause.”
