Page 127 of The Wedding

She thought Etta would respond, but she took Jamie’s hand instead, studying the lines in her skin and the freckles dotting her body. “As time goes by, they will see that you are perfect for me. They don’t have to like you, but I’m sure they’ll come to respect you enough. Or at least enough to get bored with you. Someone else will come along to stir up the gossip mill.”

“I know.”

“Can you do that for me? Can you deal with all of that? Those people? The things they say? Although, if you tell me when it happens, I’ll help you. That’s part of my job as your wife.”

“I think I can…” Jamie mulled that over. Could she handle it for years on end? Could she handle the judgment? Not being invited to parties that could help her wife’s career? Hosting parties that inevitably screwed something up because she didn’t know details? She wasn’t an Adele or Monique, who could become chameleons in the world of the rich… deceiving people, making them think they came from money because they lived it so effortlessly. Jamie could only be herself. People would have to either take it or leave it. If it bothered her too much? Bye bye. She was off to Rio, Paris, Oslo, some place where nobody cared who she was. She would have the money for it. Asking Etta to give her some funds to go somewhere for a few days was as easy as… well, asking Etta for money. That was something Jamie had gotten used to over the months.Hey, when the woman has billions of dollars, why does she care?

“Life is supposed to be easy for you when you’re with me, my flower.” Hearing her say that was one of life’s greatest pleasures. “It’s the least I could do for you… having you in my life makes my life more enjoyable. I want to do anything I can to make sure you stay in it.”

“You can start by not springing shit like a prenup on me.” Jamie could be droll, too.

“Point taken. Are we good now?”

“What? No way. My lawyer called me an hour ago to say he finished going over the details of the prenup we ‘negotiated’ Sunday and found a few, shall we say, discrepancies. Did you know that I’m only worth 10% of your money if I lose a limb? That’s cold, man.”

“You’re right. It should be twenty.”

Adele probably didn’t get that smack in earlier, let alone on the head. Jamie made do by lightly punching Etta in the shoulder and getting up to put the wine bottle and glass away. She didn’t make it very far. Etta grabbed her, pulling her into her lap and planting a kiss on her cheek.

What a hard life Jamie Joy lived.

Chapter 41

When it came to grown adults who spent their formative years at the lower classes, there was only one thing for long distance acquaintances to do in the evening after a long day of work, school or, in Jamie’s case, wedding planning.

“You’re gonna get us killed!” Jamie shrieked, leaping on the couch as she watched Etta’s character charge into an obvious ambush. The TV lit up in a riot of colors as Etta was taken out by another team of two, leaving Jamie’s character to single-handedly defend a large fort in the middle of nowhere. “Oh my God, why do I play with you?”

Etta slumped against the couch and dropped the controller. “Because I paid for it.”

“I like that answer,” Varen’s voice said in their headset. The only reason this gathering was possible was because she and girlfriend Nala were both home early on a Wednesday afternoon over on the west coast.Etta would never. Come home early, that is.Apparently, everything Jamie ever heard about west coast people taking things easy was true. “I should use it more often when I’m asked shit like that.”

“Shut up,” Nala snapped. Jamie couldn’t see either of them, but sheimagined them sitting on a couch somewhere in Portland, wearing jeans and hoodies, surrounded by dirty dishes or take-out boxes. That was the kind of life Jamie romanticized when hanging out with her fiancée on a weeknight. “I made you dinner.”

“What does that have to do with anything? It was burnt, anyway…”

“Shut up!”

This whole night happened because Jamie found Nala online and asked if she wanted to play. After hashing out that no, someone did not have to be a bridesmaid after all, Nala announced that her girlfriend wanted to play with them. So happened that Etta was wandering out of her office and toward the den. Etta was the worst gamer in the world, but Jamie would rather have her as a shitty gaming partner than some computer robot programmed by… well, probably programmed by someone like Varen.

It was a good thing they all got along. Varen’s humor wasn’t as dry as Etta’s, but they had made each other laugh more than once – not counting the time Varen expressed incredible disbelief that Etta could be so bad by likening her to a chimp playing ping pong. They were already slated to come to the wedding the following month, but if they hadn’t been, this night would have sealed the deal.

“Fuck me,” Jamie muttered. She couldn’t believe how bad Etta was sometimes.

“That could be arranged.” Etta patted her bare leg loudly, making sure the sound traveled across their mics. “Sounds like my kind of game.”

“Shut up!”

“Your woman’s a bad influence on mine, Ms. Lane.”

“Probably a good idea to keep them as far apart as possible, I agree with you. They’ll only inflate each other’s insubordination until you and I are in San Antonio getting drinks and wondering how we ended up there.”

“San Antonio?” Jamie was totally lost. “Please.”

They played another round, Jamie and Etta getting their asses kickedonce more. What else was new? Jamie may have known they didn’t stand a chance to win against seasoned pros like Varen and Nala, but she still liked the idea that they could have won, darn it.Etta and I need to play more often.At some point, she has to get decent enough, right?Probably not. Etta was a master of many things – business, innovation, fucking – but she was never going to be good at video games. It was a miracle Jamie could even get her to play.I should put my cat on the controller. She’d do a better job.The loaf was currently on the adjacent chair, hanging over the edge with her stomach exposed to the air.

“Unfortunately, I have an early morning tomorrow,” Varen announced after their last round. “Got things to do before turning in.”

Jamie swore she heard“Like me!”in the distance.