“Nonsense! We’re going to be one big happy family now andsomeonehas to make sure you don’t blow this. The Blackthorns are high-class people. Practically New York royalty. You need to impress them and take it seriously, Hattie.”
I gawk at her. “Mom, you can’t come.”
“Of course I can, honey. I’m sure they’ll love you, but it’s EthanBlackthornwe’re talking about.” She ghosts a kiss against my cheek. “You simply can’t let a man like that start to wonder and get cold feet, can you?”
My eyeball twitches.
So. Close. To. Smacking. Her.
A whole new humiliation opens under me like a portal to hell.
I didn’t know it was possible to dread an event more, but my mom pushes the limits.
If she shows up with kale juice, I will spontaneously combust.
The implication that I’ll lose Ethan without her help also stings, even though he’s not technicallymineto lose.
“I shouldn’t distract you at work,” she says abruptly, flashing me the worst smile.
“You just figured that out, huh?”
“Ta-ta,” she calls, fluttering a hand at me as she heads for the door. The bell dings again, leaving me staring at her in disbelief.
How is thismylife?
Queen of bad choices.
First, there was that stupid librarian program when I didn’t have my head straight and Iknewthe stress would get to me, and now this.
Ethan Blackthorn.
A fake engagement.
Mymotherat a high-stakes family dinner where I’ll already be hyperventilating.
I could’ve lied.
I was the one who blurted out the dinner plans with Ethan’s parents.
The world feels darker and smaller, like I’ve been dunked in oil and tossed into a storage container.
All I want to do is scrub myself clean.
Everyone will know me as Ethan Blackthorn’s better half now. I’m no longer nice, anonymous Hattie Sage.
I’ll be Ethan Blackthorn’s fiancée. His wife.
Eventually, his ex-wife.
Holy shit, breathe!
No, I didn’t think this through.
I’m going to be a divorcée with a media footprint before thirty.
There are so many bad implications here.
It could limit my dating potential. Future boyfriends might be less forgiving if they know I married and divorced so young. I’m only twenty-five now.
