Chapter 21: In Her Own Voice

Darek's POV

Lila took the phone out of Ansley's hand and read the first line before anyone had told her to.

"Okay, rules," she said. "Zero to ten. Closest wins."

Her voice was steady, and that was the worst part.

She read Devin's lines and her own, each in its own voice.

I stood at the side table with my hand over the laptop's lid and watched the room.

My hands had not stopped sweating since December.

The hall was so quiet that I could hear the radiator ticking behind the stage.

"Prize?" Lila read. "Winner picks something for the loser. Anything?" She paused. "Anything."

In the third row, one of Ansley's church ladies put a hand over her mouth.

"I want you to date someone," Lila read. "Someone safe. Someone who'll never ask where you are or who you're with."

Nobody moved.

"Someone who'll marry you so your parents leave us alone."

Devin's mother, in the last row, shut her eyes.

Beside her, Devin's father didn't blink, and he didn't look away from his son.

"Devin says: and you?" Lila read. "And I say: I'll be her best friend."

She stopped.

For the first time her eyes went to the second row, where her mother sat without moving.

"Keep reading," her mother said.

Keep reading free with an account. Start 92 Days Before Our Wedding, My Best Friend Won... from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.