Page 131 of Faking All the Way
Her voice is thick with emotion, her eyes still shining with happy tears.
“That’s what boyfriends do,” I tell her, brushing a droplet away with my thumb.
She laughs, a light sound that makes my chest feel too full, as if my heart is expanding to make room for more happiness than I knew I could feel. “No. That’s whatmyboyfriend does.”
Sam comes over a second later, and I’m suddenly a bit nervous. I know she knows the full story. Kat’s told her everything. How it started as fake, how I was helping her save face in front of her ex. How things fell apart for a few days when Alexis got in her head. How we got back together for real. All of it.
When Kat formally introduces us, still wiping at her eyes, I go to shake Sam’s hand, but she brushes that aside and hugs me instead, which catches me off guard. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Asher.”
I hug her back, seeing Kat beaming at both of us over Sam’s shoulder.
As we’re hugging, Sam murmurs quietly so only I can hear, her voice dropping low, “Don’t hurt my bestie, okay? Because if you do, I don’t care how far I have to travel or what continent I’m on. I will find you.”
“Never,” I tell her, meaning it with everything in me. “I swear.”
She draws back, studying my face for a long second. Really looking at me, like she’s trying to see past any bullshit to the truth underneath. Then she nods, seeming satisfied.
I passed the best friend test.
“Good,” she says louder, grinning. “Because she’s annoyingly happy with you, and I’d hate to have to murder someone who makes her smile like that.”
“Sam!” Kat laughs, swatting at her friend.
“What? I’m just setting expectations.”
Kat and I officially greet the rest of her family then, making the rounds. Her mom hugs us both, getting a bit teary about the whole surprise. Her dad shakes my hand with that firm grip, nodding approval. Even Josephine pulls me aside to whisper that what I did was really sweet.
Then we get sucked into playing with Megan and Oscar. Some elaborate game that Megan’s explaining, though the rules seem to change every two minutes. Oscar keeps trying to cheat in ways that are obvious to everyone, and Megan keeps calling him out on it in this very serious big sister voice.
“That’s not how it works!” she insists.
“It is too!”
“Is not!”
I end up being the referee, which is harder than it sounds. Kat’s sitting next to me on the floor, laughing as I try to mediate a dispute about whether Oscar can move his piece backwards or not.
A short while later, the doorbell rings. Beverly goes to get it, and I look up from the game.
It’s my dad and Audrey.
“Sorry we’re late,” my dad says as they come in, and I can see he’s flushed and happy. More relaxed than I’ve seen him in weeks.
Audrey laughs, shaking her head. “We were playing cards and I was winning. This one refused to concede until he’d lost fair and square. Very stubborn.”
“She cheated,” my dad says, but he’s grinning.
“I did not cheat. You’re just a sore loser.”
“I’m strategic.”
“You’re stubborn.”
I smile at their banter. My dad brought a bottle of wine, and although he’s still on crutches, he looks a lot more mobile thanwhen I first arrived in Maplewood. Happier too. There’s more color in his cheeks, more life in his eyes.
Kat glances at them as her grandmother ushers them inside, then leans close to murmur in my ear. “I like her for him.”
“Me too,” I say quietly, watching my dad help Audrey with her coat. He deserves someone after all this time alone.
