UNEDITED
*You have to read The Truth About Faking before reading this novella!*
This is a novella about Jake and Gemma's wedding and the events leading up to it.
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Gemma
The sun has just dipped behind the mountains when Morgane and I open the patio doors, allowing golden light to spill into the Lake House and the musky scent of lake water to fill our nostrils. It's dark enough that the lights strewn in the willow trees glimmer. In the distance, water laps against the pebbled shore. Beautiful bouquets of baby's breath and lavender line the stamped concrete of the patio, stretching out to the shore of Okanagan Lake. The ceremony lasted exactly the right amount of time; dusk is my favourite time of the day. It's when all the colours are bold and alluring, emphasizing their natural beauty. And the Okanagan doesn't fall short.
"It's beautiful," I breathe. "Morgane, thank you so much for putting this together."
She smiles at me; her lips are painted a nude pink and her lashes sparkle with glitter. "My planning skills are flawless, aren't they?" she teases.
I roll my eyes. "Well... I don't know about flawless..."
Morgane punches my bicep. "Admit it, Gemma. This wedding was flawless because of me and Penelope." She side-glances me. "I'm very fond of Penelope. She's been a great addition to our group. If she weren't so hung up on Cassian, I would ask her out on a date."
I chuckle, despite the pang of sadness that vibrates through my heart when I glance over my shoulder. Penelope and Cassian are standing next to the bar, grabbing drinks to celebrate the wedding. As usual, they're goading each other; he's dangling a glass of champagne over her head while she tries to grab it. I wish Cassian could see the way Penelope looks at him. The chemistry between them is anything but platonic.
"Goddamn you, Cassian!" Penelope exclaims. She brings her heel down on Cassian's polished dress shoe. "Give me my champagne!"
Cassian shrieks in pain, dropping the crystal flute of champagne and cursing like a sailor. It shatters across the hardwood, looking like millions of tiny diamonds."What the fuck, Pen? You didn't need to impale me with your heel!"
Penelope levels her glare with Cassian, setting her lips into a firm line. "Consider this a lesson—you never, ever stand between a woman and her champagne. You need to clean up your mess, by the way."
Cassian leans up against a barstool and reaches for his foot, rubbing the dent in his shoe. "Noted," he groans.
A wicked smile curls Penelope's lip as she fills another crystal flute with the bubbly drink. Amused, I turn back to Morgane. "Don't forget Hanna," I reply. A crease forms between my eyebrows. "And Parker and Reid. My parents helped out, too. Everyone here basically—"
Morgane clamps her hand over my mouth. She's lucky I decided to wear a lip stain instead of lipstick for tonight's party or else I would smack her. It's not morally up to code to waste the finer things in life. Like lipstick—it's too expensive to waste. Morgane shushes me. "Shut up, Gemma. Let me have my moment."
