“And this is Veronica.” Angelo gestured to a petite dark-haired woman. “She owns and runs a coffee shop called the Chi-Bean. She is Thad’s fiancée.”
“You’re the one that he took to Disney?” Kara asked.
On the drive to the shopping district Angelo had mentioned that Thad had taken Veronica to Disney to propose to her with the help of Veronica’s 4-year-old daughter, Lyra. They’d flown back early after learning of Angelo’s accident, but they’d still had some time to celebrate their new engagement.
“Yes.” Veronica lifted up her hand to show her engagement ring and all the women gathered around to see it. Kara admired the beautiful diamond set into the gold band. Her own hand felt oddly… empty. Strange, she would feel that way, given that she and Angelo weren’t actually engaged.
“Congratulations,” Kara said to Veronica who was still blushing from all the attention.
“Angelo, why don’t you and Asher wait in those chairs over there while we girls take Kara to shop.” Shana pointed to a pair of large, comfortable armchairs. “We’ll be going in and out of the dressing room just over here.”
Angelo exchanged a look with Asher who had just walked up to them after parking the car.
Asher nodded. “That should be fine. No one should leave the area without telling me,” he instructed Kara and the others.
“We won’t. Everything we need is in this part of the department store.”
Angelo leaned into speak to Shana, and Kara turned to look around at the huge racks of clothing surrounding her. It might be fun to try a few things on, if she just pretended it was like dressing up as a kid. She’d done that once with one of her mother’s nice dresses and a pair of heels. It was the only time Kara had a chance to pretend she was normal.
“Alright, this way. We’re on a mission, ladies,” Shana announced and took Kara’s hand to guide her to one of the casual clothing sections. Once they were out of range of the men’s hearing, but still in sight, the women circled around Kara and started bombarding her with questions about Angelo.
“Hold on,” Kara held up a hand. “One a time.Please.”
Shana cleared her throat. “We… um… know about yoursituation.”
“Doeseveryoneknow?” Kara ground out. “Angelo can’t keep anything a secret. What’s the point of fake engagement if everyone knows it’s fake?” She almost groaned.
“Don’t blame Angelo,” Felicity interjected. “Roarke, Jared and Thad told us, not Angelo. We needed to know what was going on. That being said, what we want to know is… are you and Angelo… you know… like reallytogetheror?—”
“No, it’s just a cover story,” Kara replied. “I only said I was his fiancée when the ambulance wasn’t going to let me accompany him to the hospital. It was stupid of me, and I didn’t think it through until Angelo’s family were all suddenly around me, hugging me in the waiting room and…”
“I would have done the same thing,” Veronica said and placed a hand on Kara’s forearm.
Shana stepped a little closer to Kara. “Even if it is just a story…that doesn’t explain how Angelo looks at you.”
“What?” Kara asked. “We don’t have any feelings, we just…” She couldn’t tell these women who were all so in love with their men that she’d just had casual sex with Angelo the night before. They’d jump to too many conclusions and they’d be wrong. There was nothing between her and Angelo. There couldn’t be.
She felt like she’d be letting them down if she said she and Angelo were only having a casual sexual relationship. Of course… last night had meant something to her, but she just didn’t dare let herself really feel the truth of that. It was better to bury it so when she had to leave him, she could do it with less pain.
“No feelings? You better tell him that because it looks like he’s really into you,” Felicity added.
“It’s only an act,” Kara lied. At least it was a lie for her.
“It’s all an act… until one day it isn’t,” Shana said softly. “You might find you are in love at the end of this.”
It was hard to picture a future where she wasn’t being chased. She knew in theory that a day might come when she wouldn’t have to run, but her programming was so deep now that she wasn’t sure she’d even recognize when it was safe to stop… to stay in one place and just live.
“Please… I don’t want to talk about it,” Kara said, her tone held a note of pleading that she hated but the others respected her request.
“Okay, let’s get you some new clothes.” Shana said. “I was told you needed a bathing suit, some good fun casual clothes, a bunch of shoes and anything else you wanted.”
“A bathing suit? It’s winter…”
Shana winked at her. “Angelo mentioned something about giving you swimming lessons at Thad’s hotel?”
“Oh… right.” She’d completely forgotten that. “Shana, I can’t afford any of that?—”
Shana laughed softly and held up a black credit card. “You’re not, honey. Angelo’s paying.”
