I laughed. I was going to tell her soon, but not now. “Don’t worry about that,” I said, just to mess with her.
The pissy look she shot me was well worth it and with a grin, I memorized it, tucking it safely away with all my other favorite memories of her.
34
AJ
“I knew something was up!” Georgia yelled triumphantly, making me hold the phone briefly away from my ear.
Admittedly, I’d completely ignored all her calls since finding the tabs on Adam’s laptop yesterday evening. And since the night had continued to go completely off-course, I’d taken awhile to recover from the roller coaster and finally call her back.
But I was making it up to her now, giving her the full story of what happened between the last time we spoke yesterday to about an hour ago, when Holland and Iain came over.
“Wait, so how did they react to the news?” Georgia asked excitedly.
I snorted. “They made the sound I just made. And then hugged us and said ‘took long enough.’”
“Oh. That’s less exciting than I expected.”
“It’s okay, I’ve had my fill of excitement in the past twenty-four hours. In the past month, really.”
“I’ll say. You got to fuck your hot boss and now he’s in lov
e with you.”
I laughed at her phrasing. “That’s… actually perfectly accurate.”
I still had a sliver of instinct to deny things, but now I realized I didn’t have to. I could say all the crazy things I’d fantasized about in the past month out loud now.
I loved Adam. More than my heart could really take. And miraculously—incredibly—he felt the same way about me.
“So. Am I gonna be the maid of honor?”
“Georgia.”
“What?” she laughed. “It’s not that weird a question. You guys have been together for five years, technically. You’ve lived a life together. Plus, he knows you in ways that other one could never even begin to,” she said, cracking me up, because she was apparently past the point of addressing my ex by name. “So why the heck can’t wedding bells happen soon?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Georgia. Probably because I don’t even want anyone at work knowing yet. I’ve already decided I want to be an agent for at least a year before I come out as his girlfriend.”
“Fair enough. But after that, am I maid of honor or is it Emily?”
“Can’t it be both of you?”
“Yes. But I’m the one that plans the bachelorette. She can do all the other serious planning.”
“Honestly, we both know she’d prefer that,” I snorted just as Holland yelled “where’s AJ” from the deck, and loud enough that Georgia gasped like she was in trouble and rushed to get off the phone.
The next few hours were spent just lounging, eating sushi that we ordered and drinking wine that Iain brought over. It felt particularly indulgent since we were supposed to be in Arizona to watch some clients’ games. But we’d postponed it by a day just to spend more time with Holland and Iain, who were still hilariously nonplussed about Adam and I being together.
“Honestly, the only shock comes from the fact that I thought Adam was too stupid to ever realize it,” Holland said, making me burst out laughing as Adam made an offended sound behind me.
We were lounging on the far side of the pool with Holland and Iain cozied together on the couch across from us, two couples separated by a table littered with empty wine bottles and plates. It was the perfect double date I never knew I wanted.
“Damn. And here I thought this whole announcement was going to be a feel-good moment,” Adam said, making Holland laugh with me.
“What? Don’t get me wrong, I’m freakin’ ecstatic. But Iain got most of that out yesterday when he told me you guys left together. I literally blew out his eardrums. I squealed and shrieked like such a crazy person that I tired myself out and I don’t have the energy to replicate that reaction for you now,” she said, and now Iain was laughing his ass off. “But know that I couldn’t be happier for you guys. And for the record, neither of you had a big reaction when Iain and I came out as a couple.”
“True,” Adam and I said at once, since I’d basically been telling him for months that something was going on with Holland and Iain, and while he staunchly didn’t believe me, he still didn’t give much of a reaction when Holland finally told him. Priority had gone to cursing the fact that he’d lost a bet to me.