Queen of Babble Gets Hitched Read Free

summer. Because Chaz told him that Diet Coke was the way to my heart.
    But that doesn’t mean I’m in love with Chaz, does it?
    Of course not! How could I think anything so silly?
    My eyes fill with tears. Really, Luke’s the most thoughtful fiancé in the whole world. Also the handsomest, standing there in his Hugo Boss overcoat, with his long dark eyelashes curling so perfectly… and without the help of a Shu Uemura eyelash curler, even. He’d looked so cute when he’d been kneeling there in that exact spot in the slush a half hour ago, so hopeful and nervous. How could I have said anything but yes when he’d proposed?
    Not that saying anything but yes had even occurred to me. Well, except for a few seconds, maybe. To punish him for that whole “I don’t know if I see you in my future” thing.
    “I just want to let you know that when I look into my future, I see nothing but you.” That’s what Chaz had whispered in my ear at some point during the wedding last night.
    Then he’d whispered, “And you’re not even wearing Spanx.”
    I shake my head. Why do I keep thinking about Chaz? He wears University of Michigan baseball caps nearly all the time.
    In public.
    Luke’s face falls. “What?” he asks. “What’d I do? You don’t drink Diet Coke anymore. Is that it? I can get something else. What do you want? Diet Dr Pepper?”
    “No!” I try to laugh breezily. Oh God. What’s wrong with me? “Of course I still drink Diet Coke. I’m sorry. Wow, it’s really cold out here. Come in.” I move out of the doorway so he can do just that.
    “I thought you’d never ask.” Luke gives me one of those grins that still cause my insides to go weak. He stops in the doorway just long enough to brush my cheek with his lips, letting them linger for a moment in my hair.
    “It’s good to be home,” he murmurs before moving past me. “Which is wherever you are. I know that now.”
    Oh! How sweet!
    And how could Chaz ever accuse Luke of not knowing what he wants? He knows exactly what he wants. Me!
    It just took him a little while to realize it. He needed a gentle nudge. In the form of my breaking up with him and moving out of the apartment we were sharing.
    “So this is the new place, huh?” Luke is looking around at the somewhat dingy and exceptionally narrow hallway.
    “It gets better,” I say.
    “No,” Luke says, his tone apologetic. “I like it. It has character.”
    It isn’t, I tell myself as I follow Luke, Chaz’s fault. Not really. He’s just never known happiness—true, romantic happiness—as great as what Luke and I share. So of course when he sees it, he looks on it with suspicion. Of course he doubts our chances of success.
    But when he sees us together—how happy we are, now that we’re really and truly committed to each other—he’ll change his mind. He’ll come around. He’ll see how wrong he was to say all those horrible things.
    And someday Chaz will find a girl—the right girl for him—who’ll make him as happy as I know I make Luke… and he’ll make her as happy as Luke makes me.
    And then everything will be all right.
    Wait and see. Just wait and see.
    “Here we are,” I say when we reach the door to my new apartment, which I fling open. “Home sweet home.”
    “It’s great,” Luke says enthusiastically as he follows me inside.
    I smile at him. “You don’t have to pretend to like it. I know it’s horrible. But it’s mine. And as soon as I get the time—and some extra money—I’m going to fix it up.”
    “No, Lizzie, it really is great.” Luke sets down the Starbucks bag and the Diet Coke and puts his arms around me. “It’s like you. Completely whimsical and totally charming.”
    “I hope it’s not like me,” I say with a laugh. “I hope I’m not covered in big blobby rose wallpaper with slopey floors and cracks in my ceiling.”
    “You know what I mean,” Luke says, nuzzling my neck. “It’s unique. Like you. It already smells like you. God, I