“Yeah.” He spent a longer time than necessary brushing dirt off his pants and hands before finally looking at her. “So you gonna help me out or what?”
“Help you how?” When he sighed and dropped his head, she realized what he was asking. “Oh, wait. You think I’m going togoto this wedding with you and pretend to be your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
“Carly, come on. Yeah, it was stupid, but we have each other’s back, right? We always do.”
“This is next-level shit. Besides, I’m a horrible actress. Did you forget that one time I joined the drama club in school the year they didThe Wizard of Oz? I wasn’t good enough to get cast as a flying monkey and they don’t even talk.”
“This isn’t really acting, though. You love me.”
“Not carnally.”
He pressed his foot hard against the tire tread, checking to see if it was holding air. “Remember the time you went to college and forgot your favorite slippers? And you were so homesick, you cried and I drove seven hours roundtrip to bring you your slippers and got back just in time to go straight to work?”
“I didn’t ask you to.” But the slippers and seeing his face had been enough to keep her from quitting and going home. And it was just one of God only knew how many times he’d been there for her, so she sighed. “I’ll think about it. Is that tire good to go, or what? The horseflies found us and I think they’ve invited their friends to dinner.”
“Yeah. No pressure, but how long do you think you’ll need to think about it?”
She just laughed and hit the button to start her quad. Let him sweat for a while, she thought. Maybe the horseflies would flock to him, instead, and he deserved it. This was by far the most ridiculous situation he’d ever dragged her into.
Chapter Two
Noah was pretty sure Carly would give in and go to the wedding with him. She’d always been there for him and always would be. But she was going to make him suffer first because it was a big ask and he deserved it. And because she could.
Rather than letting her know the suspense was slowly killing him inside, which would only encourage her, he didn’t bring up the wedding for the rest of the afternoon. The sooner he had her answer, the sooner he could either breathe easy or come up with a shitty plan B that might save not only his job, but his friendship with Jim and Emily. But he didn’t push her.
Every time they stopped to have a drink and make sure his tire was still holding air, he let her talk about sports and books and family without bringing it up. They talked about television shows in the truck on the way home. And they didn’t talk at all while hosing down the machines and putting their gear away in the shed behind his cottage.
Maybe someday he’d buy a house with a big garage, but he liked his four-season cottage on the lake. And since there was no sign of a wife or kids on the horizon, he wasn’t in a hurry. He knew how his luck ran. As soon as he signed on a thirty-year mortgage for a house, he’d meet the woman he wanted to marry and she’d hate it.
“About this wedding thing,” she said when they were done, and Noah’s stomach tightened. “I have a list of demands.”
That made him laugh, and some of the tension eased. “It’s not a hostage negotiation.”
“It kind of is. Weddings arenotmy favorite thing. Weddings when I only know one person and that person is not the bride or the groom are even worse.”
“A free weekend at a resort on the Cape isn’t a hardship.” She just shrugged, poker face firmly in place. She was better at this than he was, so there was no point in dragging it out. “What are your demands?”
“You’re paying for the room.”
“Of course.”
“And food.”
He sighed. This was going to be an expensive trip. But if he was bringing a real girlfriend, he’d be the one paying, so he may as well cough up for his fake girlfriend, too. “I’ve seen you put away prime rib. I think we need some parameters.”
She laughed. “You’ll probably feed me fast food on the road and the resort will provide the rest, so you’re getting off easy, whiner. Oh, and I get to pick the radio stations.”
“No.”
“Non-negotiable.”
He shook his head. “The driver picks the music. Everybody knows that.”
“I’m not spending hours stuck with you in Cape Cod summer traffic listening to guys cry about women running off with their tractors.”
