The Invitation

by Vi Keeland

A woman I’d recently dated a few times had told me I didn’t smile enough. I’d been polite and refrained from telling her she just wasn’t very funny,

Some of the best things in life are messy—buns, sheets after good sex, lava cake, watermelon. Do I need to go on?”

“No wonder this is so delicious. It’s the good stuff. I’ve run out of the bottles I stole from Olivia’s wedding, so you might want to hide any you have left when I’m on my way out.”

I know I can be a handful at times.” Hudson looked into my eyes. “You are a handful. But don’t worry.” He winked. “I’ve got two big hands.”

I don’t think forgiving your parents means you’re excusing their behavior. I think forgiveness is more about not letting it destroy your heart anymore.”

“Wow. Where did you come from, Hudson Rothschild? That was deep and mature. The men I usually seem to attract are shallow and immature.” He smirked. “I seem to remember you found me at a wedding you crashed.” “Oh yeah…I guess I did. Well, at least one of us is mature.”

“My father had a great sense of humor and a very distinct laugh. It was a real belly laugh—sounded like it came from somewhere deep within him. Anyone who knew him recognized it, and it always made people around him smile—even strangers. He was in the hospital for the last week of his life. One day, I was visiting while he was getting a bedside EKG. He told some corny joke and started to laugh. The joke wasn’t even that funny, but the sound of his laughter made all three of us—the technician, my dad, and me—crack up. For some reason, we just couldn’t stop laughing. She had to redo the EKG because the reading had all these big spikes on it. The electrodes had picked up my dad’s heart laughing. I asked the nurse if I could have the printout she was going to toss away, and I got this a few days after he died.”

“I wasted months going to bed alone when I could have been spending my time touching that. How would you feel about standing there for a while so I can take a good, long look? Maybe two or three hours? That should do.”

Once, when I was a kid, I’d been jumping waves at the beach and one had hit me hard. It sucked me under, and I’d tumbled around like a ragdoll, losing sight of which way was up. That—that’s how I’d felt this week without speaking to Hudson.

I’m not just asking you to marry me. I’m asking you to be my family with Charlie. So I had yours made, and then a mini replica in cubic zirconia for her—my two ladies.

Whaddya say, sweetheart? Be ours?” I looked over at Charlie. She had a giant smile on her face as she took something from behind her back and held it up. A banana with writing on it. Say yes, so we’ll never split.