“Besides, Prime is a date spot,” Remi added. “Going with Keiran would be kind of weird. But a bestie date would be fair and appropriate.”

It would be weird. How would something like that even go? They’d had fun today. A fluke. Possibly never to be repeated. But an actual meal at a place like Prime? It was best not to tip the balance of their dynamic too much. Who knew what shift in the universe they might create?

Prime with Keiran wasn’t happening. “Maybe I should offer to take Tyler,” she mused.

“I think the hell not!” Remi protested. “I thought you weren’t going for a second date?”

“I might give him another chance. Just to be sure.”

“Well, do that some other place.”

Cherisse extracted the voucher from her bestie’s hand and grinned. “We’ll see.”

Chapter 11

APRIL

Cherisse

“WEAR THE FUCK-ME HEELS.”

Said heels slipped from Cherisse’s hand and fell to her bedroom floor as she shot Reba a glare. Grin still in place, Reba shrugged. “What? Those shoes are hot, and Tyler’s cute.”

She stared down at the shoes, a treat-yourself splurge that she had basically done with her eyes closed, not looking too closely at the price tag. Post-breakup shoes. They were these hot neon pink stilettos that made her feel super-sexy, and she’d only worn them once.

In between working with Keiran on the party, baking up a storm to replenish her goodies in the groceries and bakeries, and brainstorming the dessert station ideas for Ava’s wedding and the other wedding that came before her sister’s, she’d decided to give Tyler another chance. She really had nothing to lose, told herself she was doing this to keep her mother off her back and show that she was giving her dates a fair chance. Two dates was fair enough time to decide this wasn’t going to work, right?

“I have no intention of fucking Tyler.” She nudged the shoes with her foot. Tyler was good-looking, but there was zero chemistry on her end. She’d gotten more of a jolt when she’d touched Keiran’s face to remove that smudge of flour, which was an entirely weird thing to recall in this moment.

Reba twirled a pink lock of her hair around her finger. “They give the illusion of being DTF. You don’t actually have to, obviously.” She drummed her bright yellow nails against Cherisse’s bed. “He might end up showing a different side of himself. I mean, you and Keiran have been getting along lately, right? You had fun at the brunch. The world is full of strange and wonderful happenings.”

“Yeah, we have, and we did.”

The planning process with Keiran was an odd mix of small arguments but mostly them actually getting shit done without any major blow-ups. They’d split the tasks evenly and provided each other with updates. The party was scheduled for a few weeks before the wedding, so they were steadily getting things done. Cherisse breathed a sigh of relief with each item she crossed off her lists. They’d made it through the baking session, with Keiran actually admitting he’d been genuinely surprised at what the preparation entailed.