Page 16 of Dearly Unbeloved
And I have the perfect thing to take the heat off Jazz.
The nice thing to do would be to warn Sierra, but I don’t see any way to do that without making things more awkward.
I clear my throat, and everyone looks at me. “Sierra and I got married last weekend.”
Jaws drop, and hands are slapped to mouths, but the silence is deafening. It’s Cal who finally breaks it, clapping his hands and making Maggie jump beside him.
“That’s lovely news, girls. Such a surprise, really, could never have guessed, but I’m happy for you. Aren’t we happy for them, love?” He nudges Maggie, but she just narrows her eyes at him.
“Did you know about this?”
Sierra mutters something that sounds suspiciously like, “Fucking hell, Cal,” under her breath before speaking up. “I had to tell Cal, since Jazz is now my sister-in-law, and that could be a conflict of interest at work. Legally, he wasn’t allowed to tell you.”
“I think we’ve strayed away from what’s important here,” Xan says, disbelief on his face. “What the hell? You two hate each other.”
Sierra and I exchange a glance, and I try not to look like I loathe her. Based on her answering grimace, I’m not sure I succeeded. “Well, you know what they say. There’s a fine line between love and hate.”
“Yeah, and you were firmly on the hate side, like last week.” Xan scrunches his face up, like he just can’t comprehend it. And really, who can blame him? This was a bad idea. We should’ve told everyone individually.
“Hate’s a strong word,” Sierra says, grabbing my hand and threading our fingers together. It’s awkward and clumsy, but I’m hoping everyone is too stuck on the shock of our announcement to notice.
“You came to work a few weeks ago and ranted for almost an hour about how you couldn’t understand Rose and I coming from the same DNA because she, I’m quoting here, ‘doesn’t have a likable bone in her body,’” Jazz says.
Ouch.It’s not the worst thing either of us has said about the other in the year we’ve been living together, but it still stings. I want nothing more than to pull my hand away, except maybe to leave,but I can’t.
“That was then, and this is now,” Sierra replies, like it’s the most simple thing in the world.
“When did you even have time to get married in Vegas? We were with you all weekend except when we left you doing shots with those red-headed twins,” Maggie says.
“Well,” Sierra begins, “that’s actually what made us figure out how strongly we felt about each other. You know, we were about to leave with the twins, and we realized we didn’t want to go home with them because…”
She looks at me, eyebrows raised and dark eyes panicked.
“Because we were already home, with each other,” I finish lamely. God, I might be sick.
“Aww,” Liam says, the only one at the table who doesn’t look like he’s been clubbed over the head. “I’ve been rooting for you guys to have a hate-to-love, roommates-to-lovers arc since day one.” He gasps. “Roomhateto love. I think this is great.”
“Not everything is a romance book, Liam,” Maggie says.
He raises an eyebrow. “Okay, miss boss-employee, age gap?—”
Jazz nudges him until he closes his mouth. Once Maggie and Liam start quibbling, it can go on for a while. Jazz shakes her head, sitting back and sighing up at the ceiling. “This just feels like it’s come out of nowhere.”
I know it’s not a real marriage, and I know we blindsided everyone, so I can’t explain why the reaction of the people we care most about stings. It shouldn’t feel as personal as it does.
“It’s not nowhere,” Sierra says. She sounds a little tired, like maybe she wants to get out of here as much as I do. “Don’t you remember the day I met Rose? I told you then I thought she was beautiful.”
“I believe your exact words were ‘she’s pretty hot,’ actually. And I told you to stay away from my baby sister.”
I frown at Sierra. I didn’t know that they’d spoken about me at all. That day is kind of a blur for me. I showed up at the office to beg Jazz to let me stay with her since my parents had just kicked me out. Truthfully, I barely remember meeting Sierra.
“You did tell me to stay away from her, that’s true. But you married your best friend’s stepson.” Sierra shrugs, and Jazz snorts.
“It’s hard to argue with that.”
“Liam’s right. You guys are perfect together. We’re happy for you,” Danisha says, and, slowly but surely, congratulations are muttered around the table. I can’t say they seem genuine, but it’s better than silence.
“Well,” Maggie says, with a truly baffled smile. “I’d say this calls for…” She glances at Jazz.
