Page 25 of Accidentally Hitched (Unintentionally Yours #1)

Amanda

“ I wish I was Serena Van Der Woodsen,” Kate plops onto the couch next to me, with a bowl of white cheddar popcorn and a bottle of prosecco.

“Ew, why?” I ask, taking the bottle to open it for her.

The glasses are sitting on my coffee table and next to it is a whole spread of snacks.

Gossip Girl is paused on the screen. This is probably our sixth time watching it and, to be honest, I’m not really into it anymore.

It’s more of a Kate thing than a me thing, but we’ve been watching reality shows while having a cheat day on whatever diet is also in at the time at least two Saturdays a month since middle school.

The diet slash cheat day thing is also more of a Kate thing than a me thing.

“What do you mean, why?” she asks, popping two kernels into her mouth. “Her life is perfect and she’s gorgeous.”

I toss her a sideways glance and hand her a glass of wine. “Her life is far from perfect. I think that’s the entire point of the show. Also, I’m pretty sure this is one of those grass is greener scenarios. And in the world of Gossip Girl, the grass is astroturf.”

“God, you really are a Debbie Downer,” she laughs, taking the glass of wine and indulging in a large gulp.

“I’m not a downer. I’m a realist.”

“What’s the difference?” she asks with a nose crinkle. I match it, though not as naturally as she does. It’s more of a cringey grimace when I do it and we both know it. We laugh and take a sip.

Kate sighs and leans back into the couch, her shoulder against mine. “So, who would you be?” she asks.

“On this show? Nobody.”

My sister nudges me in the ribs and I love Saturdays.

None of her snobby friends around. No one she thinks she has to impress.

Not even our parents comparing every move we make, rooting for me most of the time because I am the older, more levelheaded one only to ultimately lean in Kate’s favor because she’s… Kate.

On Saturday nights, it’s just us. We don’t talk work. We don’t talk weddings. When I’m lucky, we don’t even talk about my nonexistent dating life. We talk Gossip Girl, which means I guess, I have to choose.

“Jenny,” I finally give in.

“Jenny? Seriously? If I didn’t pick Serena, I would go for Blair or at least Georgina. But Jenny?”

“I like Jenny,” I defend my answer while snagging the popcorn bowl out of her hands. “She’s edgy. I like edgy.”

“I’m aware,” she yanks the bowl back.

“And she does what she wants. Not what everyone wants her to do.”

Kate chews for a moment while we watch the show that we can basically lip sync at this point. I take a sip of prosecco and melt further into the couch. “This is nice.”

“What is? This episode? This episode is a shitshow, remember. Just wait for it.”

“No, I mean this. Us. Me and you spending time together without worrying about everything else going on in life.”

She nods and grabs a handful of chocolate covered almonds.

“Listen. I am elated to be getting married to Paul. I mean after year five of being exclusive, I thought he was never going to ask. But all the wedding preparations are exhausting. And, of course, the men aren’t involved at all.

They just stand around playing golf and talk about investing or whatever.

Meanwhile, us girls are over here shoveling out money to pay the wedding planner who I really don’t think understands what I want. ”

“Do you even know what you want?” I ask and her mouth pops open.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I just laugh. “Well, you’ve changed your mind about the location of the rehearsal dinner like six times.

And you want both indoor and outdoor for the reception, which I am not sure will work without a tent of some sort.

And you can’t decide if you want a mermaid or trumpet dress and I can’t tell the difference. ”

“You can’t tell the difference because you’ve never looked at wedding dresses before!

Also, the rehearsal dinner really matters.

It’s like the elite dinner before the dinner you are obligated to invite everyone to.

Being the one in the spotlight is exhausting, Amanda.

I know that sounds prissy, but it really is. And Paul is so…rich…”

I spit out a laugh. “You can’t be serious right now.”

“I don’t mean it as a good thing! I mean of course I don’t hate that he makes a very plump six figures.

But with that comes all this…face time. Dresses always.

Perfect make-up always. Not to mention I am expected to order salads, drink only white wine and never ever slouch which might be good for flattening my stomach but it’s hell on my lower back. ”

I blink, setting my glass down and reach for my phone. “So why are you marrying him?”

Kate looks at me, almost alarmed. Like she didn’t just hear everything that came out of her mouth. Like she doesn’t ever think about the thoughts that live in her head, puppeting her through her life.

“I’m marrying him because I love him. He treats me well. He takes care of me. And…who else would I marry?”

“I know math was never your strong suit, Katy, but there are a lot of men in the world you’ve never met.

There could be one out there that would love to sit on the couch with you, eating flavored popcorn and watching shows you loved in high school simply because nothing they’ve made in the past 15 years has been as good.

Someone who loves something you love, and you connect with them on a deeper level than you can with anyone else. ”

If it makes her think, she doesn’t show it. She pours herself some more wine and shakes her head. “Someday, you’ll be in love. And then you’ll get it.”

I look at my phone just as a text pops up. I swallow, intending to just shove it aside and read it later. But Kate sees the screen before I can tuck it away.

“Your boss is texting you on a Saturday night? He does know you are allowed to have time off, right?”

“Of course he does. I doubt it’s important.”

“Well, I wanna know what he’s got to say at 6pm on your day off.”

I shake my head with an exhale, knowing she isn’t going to drop it. So, I pull up the text stream.

Callum- Hey, I know it’s girls’ night with your sister, but any chance you’d want to grab dinner?

“See? He’s just asking about a business dinner. Nothing over the top.”

I go to toss my phone aside but before I can, Kate grabs it.

“I think you should go,” she says, flashing the screen at my face so it will unlock.

“Kate! We are having a girl’s night. I can have dinner with my boss another night.”

“Do you really think this is a business dinner, Amanda? God, you really don’t get out, do you?”

Panic flutters into my chest like a swarm of birds fleeing from danger. “Of course it’s just a business dinner. He’s my boss.”

“Who texts you on the weekend with no context asking you to go out with him! That’s classic workplace love in the works, Mandy. Oh, but that’s right…you’re casually dating or talking to that Silver Fox from Vegas.”

“Right…” I nod.

“Whatever happened with that anyways? Did you end up going out?”

“I’ve…seen him. Yes.”

I’m not lying. But I’m not fully telling the truth either. And as someone who always tells the truth, I can feel the omission burning a hole in my stomach like Indian food I should’ve never eaten.

“And? You didn’t tell me? How did it go? It must not have been that great. Was it more of a smoke and mirrors thing? It’s okay if he really was a ‘for one night only’ sort of experience. At least he was hot, and you got laid.”

“He’s my boss!” I blurt out.

Kate stops, blinking at me. “Who’s your boss?”

“The guy from Vegas. It turns out, he’s my boss…”

“Cal is…Oh. My. God. Cal? As in Callum? As in Hardin?! Amanda! Oh, my God!”

I can’t tell if she is mad or excited or disappointed or something else. All I know is the progressive pitch of her voice is going to make the neighbors shih tzus bark.

“I know, it’s wild.” I cover my face with my hands before it turns red. Though Kate knows me well enough to know that my cheeks are the color of shame.

“Wild? Amanda! What are the odds?”

“Oh, trust me,” I half laugh. “We have talked plenty about odds and luck and everything else. At first, I thought it was just a bad dream. But unless I’m still asleep, it turns out this is just my life.”

Kate shakes her head with a tight smile, wrapping her brain around everything I just told her. I brace myself, expecting the obvious criticism, complete with a plot twist at the end where she makes my problems all about her. How I didn’t tell her. How it must make her look.

But she doesn’t go off on me like she normally would. Instead, she grabs my phone again, pulling up the text stream.

“Kate! What are you–”

“ I would love to have dinner! ”

Kate types out the text and hits send.

“Kate. What are you doing? Kate…” I growl the last word because her fingers are busy typing again.

“ And make the reservation for four. ”

Kate laughs and tosses the phone back at me.

“What are you doing?!”

“Making it a double date.”

“A double date? Why?”

Her smile fades and her blonde eyebrows point in all seriousness. “Because I want to meet this man.”

“You already have met him,” I shove up from the couch, clearing the table since we are obviously going out now.

“I want to meet your boss, not the guy you fucked in Vegas. You know, since you’ve been hiding him from me.”

“He’ll never go for that,” I shake my head and my phone buzzes on the couch again.

We both dive for it but luckily I get ahold of it before my backstabbing sister can.

Callum- Dinner for four at Tony’s Cantina. Done.

What. The. Fuck.