I showed him the cover. “101 Brain-Busting Riddles for the Riddle Lover in Your Life.”

“Still sounds dirty.”

“This one’s easy,” Lulu said to Tripp. “Think about it hard.”

“If I’m thinking hard, then that is a dirty book of riddles.”

“It’s not dirty. I know what it is.” Lulu practically bounced on the couch cushions, an eager student bursting with the answer.

Tripp furrowed his brow, then shrugged. “All I can figure is it’s someone who starts out a stud but fails miserably.”

Lulu thrust a fist in the air. “Nope. It’s the letter M. Isn’t that brilliant? It comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years.”

“It is indeed brilliant,” I said.

Tripp paused, processing the riddle, then laughed. “Good one.”

He grabbed her wineglass and took a swig then set it back down on the table. “Listen, I’m man enough to admit I suck at riddles, but I am fucking awesome at feeding my woman.” He rubbed Lulu’s stomach. My jaw ticked, and I glanced at Lulu’s wineglass. It was nearly half empty now. “You want some sautéed artichokes with shiitake mushrooms and polenta? I came up with this new recipe while I was riding my bike the other day, and it’s going to make your stomach so happy that you jump me.”

She arched a brow. “Your artichokes will make me jump you? That’s what’ll do it?”

“They’ll make you come in a minute.”

I groaned. Loudly.

“Oh, please. I heard what you did to Daphne the other night,” Tripp said as he rose, mentioning the woman I’d been dating.

“Is that so?” I asked.

Tripp pumped his hips. “She was like, oh Leo, oh Leo, oh Leo. She was like that all night long.” Lulu’s eyebrows rose, and for a split second, I didn’t mind that Tripp was imitating one of my lovers in the throes of passion. Let Lulu linger on that image. Tripp continued, talking to me, “Have I mentioned I can’t wait to move in with my fiancée next week after she marries me? I can finally get away from you, Casanova.”

He acted like I had a parade of women flitting into the place at all hours. I wasn’t going to disabuse anyone of that notion.

Lulu sat up straighter, her lips quirking in curiosity. “You’re a multiple man, Leo?”

Go out on a high note. Like George Costanza. I blew on my fingernails. “When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”

Lulu laughed. “I guess you’ve got it.”

Tripp headed into the kitchen, and I returned to the book, reading more riddles to Lulu. That was my role with her. Riddle-supplier, not multiple-O-bestower.

“What has a tongue, but never talks, and has no legs, but sometimes walks?”

A beat. “A shoe.”

“What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?”

She hummed then her eyes lit up. “Your name.”

Shortly after the next riddle, Tripp cursed from the kitchen. “Shit. I’m out of mushrooms. Be right back.”

He took off for the store, and Lulu’s stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry. I can’t wait for him any longer. If I have to wait, my stomach is going to mutiny.”

“Best to avoid that sort of insurrection.”

“Don’t tell Tripp I’m going to snack.”

“It’ll be our secret.”

She grabbed a bag of popcorn, returned to the couch, and tossed a kernel into the air, catching it on her tongue. “I’m like a seal.”

“Me too.” I held open my mouth, and she tossed me one.

I caught it on the tip of my tongue and yanked it back, lizard-style. “Look at us. A couple of seals.”

“We have so much in common.”

“Because of that?”

She downshifted into serious mode. “No, but for other reasons. Think about it. We’re both driven, we’re both determined to succeed, we both work hard. And we both like Tripp. But I bet you can’t wait for him to move out so you can have this place to yourself.”

I couldn’t wait, and I would also wait a thousand years if I could keep having her here like this. I was a Lulu junkie. I’d take the pain for the hit of pleasure.

“You ready for next week?” I asked, choking on the question, but needing to ask it just the same. The more I stuck my finger in the flame, the less it would hurt when the skin burned.

“Yes. My mom’s giving me away. Which is kind of against the grain, but I’m totally excited about it.”

“It’s always been just you and her. You two are so close. It’s fitting that she does the honors.”

“It feels right, you know? She’s my family, and we’re tight.” She crunched on more popcorn, her expression turning somber, a touch of sadness in those mismatched eyes. “I feel bad that Tripp’s parents hate each other so much that they’ll be on opposite sides of the room. I hate how his dad is constantly trying to buy his love with gifts, but never time. And he needles his ex-wife like he wants to wear Vivian down. We have to make sure they don’t sit at the same table at the rehearsal dinner or the reception.”

“Yeah, that sucks. Vivian’s great, but I know she can’t stand being near his dad. I wish they could be there for Tripp instead of against each other.” I reached for more popcorn.

“That’s something else we have in common. Even though your family is traditional and mine isn’t, we both rely on them so much. I rely on my mom, and you on your parents and your brothers. But Tripp doesn’t really have anyone to rely on.”

“True.” When he was a teenager, his parents had fought and fought until they finally divorced, and the intensity of the vitriol was hard as hell on him.

She leaned closer to me, her eyes big and vulnerable. “That’s why we have to look out for him, Leo. We’re the family he wants. Promise me. Promise me that you and I will look out for him.”

I swallowed hard, past the bile of my own guilt. “He’s like a brother to me. I’ll always look out for Tripp.”

“I love that you see him that way. That’s how I see you guys too, and it makes me happy. You’re best friends, but you’re also brothers.”

“We are.” It was the truth, and a necessary reminder.

When he came home a little later, he finished the mushrooms and polenta, served us an amazing dinner, and cracked open a new bottle of wine. Lulu insisted we dance and toast to the sounds of Bruno Mars.

I called Daphne, and she joined us, and that made the rest of the night more bearable.