Chapter 2

Spencer just stared at me like he was waiting for me to take it back.

“What did you say?”

“I said maybe we shouldn’t get married next week.”

For a second, he looked genuinely shocked. Then he gave this short, disbelieving laugh.

“Megan, are you serious? You’re calling off our wedding over a stupid bet?”

“I said put it on hold.”

“That’s basically the same thing.”

Brooke stepped in before I could answer.

“Meg, maybe just think about it for a second. The invitations already went out, and your parents have probably told everyone they know. If you cancel a week before the wedding, people are going to talk.”

She wasn’t wrong.

My parents weren’t wealthy like Spencer’s family, and they’d already spent more than they were comfortable with because they wanted the wedding to be nice. Canceling now would mean explaining everything to relatives, friends, coworkers, and everyone else who’d already made plans to come.

Spencer must’ve seen the hesitation on my face, because he relaxed a little.

“Exactly. What are you even going to tell your parents? That you canceled the wedding because of a game?”

The way he said it made something in me sink.

He wasn’t worried I might leave. He was already counting on the fact that I wouldn’t.

I looked at him and thought about the Spencer I’d known years ago, when the two of us were living in a tiny apartment and barely making rent.

Back then, his family had wanted him to be with Brooke too. Their parents had been close forever, and on paper, the two of them made perfect sense.

Spencer refused.

His parents cut him off after that. They froze his cards, took back the car they’d bought him, and made it pretty clear to people in their circle that helping him would come with consequences.

He still stayed.

One night, when things were especially bad, we were lying on a mattress because we couldn’t afford a proper bed yet. He wrapped an arm around me and said, “I don’t care what happens. I’m not leaving you.”

I believed him.

Eventually, his family backed off, and we got engaged. For a while, I honestly thought we’d made it through the hard part.

Somewhere along the way, though, things changed.

Spencer reached for my hand.

“Come on. Enough. Tonight got out of hand.”

I pulled my hand away.

“I’ll drive you home,” he said, then looked over at Colin. “She’s mad at me. Don’t take any of this seriously.”

Colin didn’t say anything.

Neither did I.

When we got to Spencer’s car, Brooke slid into the passenger seat like she always did, and I ended up in the back.

Halfway home, she started talking about the wedding.

“I was thinking the white roses might be kind of boring. What about champagne roses?”

“Sure,” Spencer said. “Whatever you think looks better.”

Brooke smiled, then glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

“What do you think, Meg? If you hate them, we can keep the white ones. It’s your wedding.”

Before I could answer, Spencer said, “She doesn’t care. Change them.”

Brooke nodded. “Okay, perfect.”

I leaned back against the seat and looked out the window.

She’d already changed the reception layout, helped redo the seating chart, and somehow become the person Spencer called whenever there was a wedding decision to make.

At some point, I’d stopped being part of the planning altogether.

“You’re right,” I said.

Spencer looked at me in the mirror.

“What?”

“I don’t care.”

He frowned, but Brooke had already started talking about centerpieces.

I took out my phone.

There was a message from Colin waiting for me.

Think about what I said.

I opened the chat and stared at it for a few seconds before typing back.

I don’t need to think about it. I’m in.

His reply came almost immediately.

You sure?

I looked up at Spencer and Brooke. They were still talking about flowers for a wedding neither of them had bothered to ask me about.

Then I typed:

Yeah.