I Choose Him, Your Worst Enemy novel Chapter 161

Wynette had promised to spend the night, so Lila had a room waiting for her.

It was thoroughly, unapologetically princess-coded, right down to the soft curtains and the delicate furniture.

Lila smiled as she showed her in. "This is Joanne's room. She said you two are close, and she thought you'd be comfortable here."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Gallagher. I really don't mind at all," Wynette said, and she genuinely meant it.

Lila caught her hands and held them warmly between her own. "You and Joanne are practically sisters, sweetheart. Don't go calling me Mrs. Gallagher like we're strangers. I still remember when Joanne dragged you over here as a little thing, you were barely this tall.

"Time really does fly." Lila's voice turned soft and fond. "That tiny little girl grew up into such a lovely young woman. Joanne was always running wild back then, but somehow she'd actually sit still and behave like a proper little lady whenever you were around."

The mention of Joanne lit up Lila's whole face, the affection she had for her granddaughter spilling warm and unguarded into every word.

Wynette honestly didn't remember much about her early visits to the Gallagher residence.

Lila, clearly, remembered everything. "Oh, and the time you two played wedding," Lila went on, her eyes crinkling. "Joanne threw an absolute fit and declared that you had to be her sister-in-law. She refused to hear otherwise. She cornered Adriel and told him he absolutely had to marry you.

"I don't even know where she found the veil, but she did." Lila paused, then brightened considerably. "Actually, I still have the photos."

It had been pure luck that Lila's youngest son had just gotten a new camera that day, and Joanne had screamed loud enough and long enough that he'd eventually caved and taken a few shots.

Lila had kept every single one.

Wynette's mind went completely, helplessly blank.

I'd played wedding with Adriel? When had that happened?

My memory just silently deleted an entire incident?

Then Lila produced a photo album, opened it, and there was the evidence.

Little Wynette in a forest green vintage dress, a decorative fan held up in both hands, a white bridal veil pinned crookedly over her hair.

And there was little Adriel in a miniature black suit with a tiny red bow tie, his small face arranged in an expression of such solemn gravity it was almost comical.

So he hadn't smiled much as a kid either.

In the photo, the two of them were facing each other in what was clearly a very serious attempt at a wedding ceremony, Adriel performing a stiff, formal little bow with all the ceremony of a knight receiving a title.

There was another shot of him lifting the veil, his expression thunderously unimpressed.

Wynette stared at the photos and felt her entire face ignite.

She had absolutely no memory of this. None whatsoever. How old had she even been?

She was just an oversized potato back then.

She wanted to sink directly into the floor and stay there.

It was bad enough that she had zero recollection of it. The fact that photographic proof existed and was currently living in Lila's personal collection made it somehow so much worse.

Oh God, no, no, no.

Lila noticed Wynette's mortified expression and smiled sweetly at her. "You were absolutely precious as a little girl. Your mother always dressed you up so beautifully, like a little doll. I adored it.

"And Joanne, goodness." Lila's smile deepened into something deeply amused. "She'd heard the phrase 'sister-in-law' in a show, went and demanded a full explanation from her grandfather, figured out what it meant, and immediately pointed straight at you and announced that you were going to be hers."

The memory was clearly one of Lila's favorites, because she was laughing softly before she even finished telling it. "After that, Joanne followed you around calling you her little sister-in-law every chance she got. Adriel turned bright red and kept telling her to stop."

Looking back on it now, Lila thought, that child had simply always known what she wanted, and had gone after it without a second of hesitation.

Wynette sat there with the expression of someone who had been very thoroughly blindsided, because she truly, genuinely had no memory of any of this.

Wynette gave her hand a warm squeeze. "Lila, I'll call her soon and give her a proper talking-to on your behalf. I'll make sure she comes straight here the moment she's back from her next trip."

"Oh, I don't need her to bother," Lila said, with a huff that fooled absolutely nobody. "That girl's run off her feet as it is."

Wynette could see right through it, and so she played along cheerfully, joining in on a gentle, entirely affectionate roast of Joanne that kept Lila laughing and thoroughly entertained.

They talked for a long, easy while after that, but eventually Lila's exhaustion caught up with her, and she excused herself to bed with a warm goodnight.

Not long after she left, Wynette's phone buzzed. Joanne.

Wynette stared at the screen with the look of someone who had just realized that mentioning a person was enough to summon them.

She'd literally just finished discussing Joanne with Lila. And here she was.

Wynette answered, and Joanne's voice burst through the speaker before she even finished lifting it to her ear. "My absolute favorite person in the world! Grandpa just texted me that you and my brother are there with him and Grandma, is that real? Is that actually happening right now? You went back to the family house with my brother!

"Okay, you need to tell me everything immediately," Joanne continued, barely pausing for air. "Is this what I think it is? Is something going on between you and my brother?"

Her inner gossip had been fully, irrevocably activated. She'd known it. She'd always known there was something there.

Wynette was still working out what to say when Joanne steamrolled ahead again. "Grandpa told me Adriel has fancied you for a really long time. He's been carrying a torch for you this whole time and it's actually you, I'm literally losing my mind right now. Is he officially pursuing you? Is that what this is?"

Joanne didn't wait for a response before launching into her pitch. "Wynette, listen to me. My brother is genuinely one of the best people alive. But don't make it easy for him, okay? Make him work for it. Let yourself see what it's like when all that ice finally melts. Because I promise you, the warmth underneath is something else entirely. He's the best big brother in the entire world, and I mean that completely."

Then her voice jumped half an octave higher. "My best friend is going to become my sister-in-law. Why am I this emotional right now? I'm so happy I can't even think straight! My brother is so brave, no wait, he has incredible taste, yes, that's what I meant, incredible taste, absolutely outstanding!"

She was so delighted she'd started talking in circles, the words tumbling over each other in a bright, giddy rush.

She proceeded to spend the next several minutes flooding Wynette with every reason Adriel was a wonderful human being, with the focused energy of someone trying to close a very important sale before the end of the day.

Despite herself, Wynette found the whole thing impossibly endearing.