When We're Thirty, Casey Dembowski [best reads of all time txt] 📗

knew she was alive and well. And tonight, Hannah wanted to share her news with someone, not explain it. She swiped around until she found her text conversation with her sister. She glanced up at the time in the corner of her phone—nine forty-five. Not too late, but Stephanie was an old twenty-six.

I’m getting married in two days, she typed, the words unbelievable even to herself.

Stephanie’s response was fast, which usually meant she’d caught her scrolling in bed. Ruh-roh—preggo?

She’d have to get used to that reaction. It would be the norm, and no one was going to believe she wasn’t pregnant until her belly remained flat—well, flattish. But knowing didn’t help the flip-flop in her stomach as she reread Stephanie’s words.

Another text came in before she could come up with a proper response. Charli says she didn’t think Brian had it in him.

Well, if there was ever an opening, that was it. Not pregnant, and not to Brian.

Hannah didn’t have to wait long. She’d only counted to twenty before her sister’s picture popped up on the screen. She wondered if it would be Stephanie or the hybrid, “Charlanie”—Charlotte and Stephanie. The static of speakerphone came through on the other line. Charlanie it was. Hannah pushed the thought away. She liked Charlotte. But Charlotte and Stephanie had been hard to handle from the beginning, always attached at the hip, talking in that royal relationship “we.” Time and marriage hadn’t made it any better.

“Explain,” Stephanie said in response to Hannah’s greeting.

Hannah chewed on her thumbnail, regret settling deep inside of her. There was no way she could tell her the truth. Lying wasn’t Stephanie’s specialty, and one wrong look from their mother and Stephanie would spill every one of Hannah’s secrets—she had in the past. But Hannah had to say something. “Do you remember Will Thorne?”

“Your friend from college? Yes.”

Last night, she and Will had briefly discussed the need for a backstory, something along the lines of having reconnected a few months prior. But having to formulate it on the spot and have it be less than scandalous—Brian had been present at a family event on Labor Day—left Hannah at a loss.

“What’s going on?” Stephanie asked.

It took Hannah a moment to realize she’d been taken off speakerphone, which meant for once, she just had her sister. She wished that changed anything.

“Will and I reconnected a few months ago. It was totally platonic, but then things with Brian took a wrong turn... and I’m getting married in two days,” she said, the weight of the lie lessening with each word.

“How are you getting married in two days? Does Mom know?” Stephanie was getting worked up now. Hannah heard it building with each syllable.

“No, and you can’t tell her, Stephanie. It’s just going to be a really small thing. I thought maybe it would be better to let Mom think we were just engaged for a while. Ease her into it.”   Calling Stephanie had been a mistake. She should’ve just manned up and apologized to Kate. This news was never going to stay quiet.

“She’s going to kill you.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have involved you.” Hannah hoped she sounded remorseful and not regretful, but at this point, she couldn’t tell the difference. The lies and the truth were too meshed together.

“Of course you should involve me. I’m your sister.” Hannah could feel the depth of Stephanie’s eye roll through the airwaves. “That’s like the whole point of my existence.”

There had been a time when that was the unequivocal truth. A time before houses in the suburbs and model domesticity. Before midweek concerts, two a.m. deadlines, and a city had stolen Hannah’s heart. Back then, it had been cute that Stephanie couldn’t keep a secret instead of being a fatal flaw. Not that they weren’t close, because they were, but slowly, their disparate styles had caused their lives to diverge.

“You know Mom will be mad at you simply for knowing the truth,” Hannah said, shifting her phone to her other ear.

“So I won’t tell her.” For the first time, Hannah sensed a hint of frustration in her sister. Stephanie had definitely picked up on Hannah’s subtle attempts at backpedaling. “When you show up with Will and a wedding band, I’ll act appropriately shocked. And I’ll barely have to fake it.”

“You are going to lie? To Mom?”

“Trust me, Mom’s not going to be mad at me for, like, the next nine months and probably for the next few years after that.”

“Wh—” No way. “You’re pregnant?”

“Surprise, Auntie Hannah!”

“Way to bury the lede!”

“Um, where in the conversation that started with ‘I’m getting married to some random guy in two days’ was I supposed to slip that in?” Stephanie giggled. The lightness of her laugh carried through to Hannah, calming her head and heart. “It’s still really early. I don’t want to tell Mom until I’m further along. So... I’ll keep your secret, and you’ll keep mine. Deal?”

If they had been together, Stephanie would have had her pinky out. Without a pinky swear, everything was hearsay and words. Without a pinky swear, all bets were off.

Hannah linked her own pinkies together. “Deal.”

Chapter 10Will

Tahiti, Maui, Turks. Will scanned the Wellington Thorne database for honeymoon destinations—and there were plenty—but he couldn’t decide. None of them screamed “Hannah,” and all of them had been on his list of proposal vacations for Madison. Maybe Europe. Hannah had gone before. Perhaps there was somewhere she wanted to see again. There was only one way to find out. He dialed her number on his office phone.

She picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hello, my darling fiancée,” he said, cluing her in. He hadn’t considered that she wouldn’t recognize his office number. “Do you have a second?”

“Not really, but what’s up?” She sounded distant. Wherever she was, it was crowded and loud. He imagined her sitting in a restaurant in SoHo, waiting for some musician only heard on Alt Nation.

“Where would you like to honeymoon?”

She laughed but quieted when he