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"She doesn't ask," I finished.

I'd noticed. Hell, she'd nearly given herself an ulcer rather than admit seeing Kenny with her former best friend hurt.

"She doesn't need someone to fix things for her," her mother clarified.

"No, she doesn’t."

"She needs someone who reminds her she doesn't have to fix everything alone."

I looked out across the lawn at the wedding party and guests. Everyone needed Mikayla. Everyone expected her to have the answers. And she gave them. Every damn time.

Maybe she needed someone who noticed when she was tired. Who made sure she'd eaten. Who didn't expect her to earn his attention by being useful.

That was a lot of responsibility for a fake boyfriend.

Especially one who'd spent his adult life making sure no woman expected anything from him.

By the time rehearsal ended, Julissa and Rob were kissing beneath the arch.

Oliver yelled, "Yeehaw!"

"I said one!" Mikayla shouted.

Everyone laughed. I handed her a bottle of water.

She looked at it, then me, then back at it again. "What's this?"

"Hydration. It's all the rage."

She lifted it to her mouth and drank half of it.

"Have you eaten since breakfast?" I asked.

"Of course."

"What?"

She hesitated. "Coffee."

"That's a beverage."

"It had milk."

"That's a cry for help."

"I'm fine."

"Didn't ask if you were fine."

"I'm always fine."

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I've noticed."

Something unreadable flashed in her eyes.

I wanted to tell her she didn't have to be fine all the damn time. She'd probably kick me in the shin. So, I handed her a granola bar.

She stared at it like it was a nuclear bomb. "Why do you have that?"