Page 14 of The Other Plan

That knot in my stomach turned into nausea as my mouth fell open.

She’s all alone.

Thanks for making that sound like I’m some pathetic loser, Lydia.

“Isn’t she gorgeous, Carter? Can you believe she’s still single?”

He turned toward me, and his eyes met mine. “She is gorgeous. And it’s shocking someone hasn’t snatched her up.”

“Do you have any single friends you can introduce her to?” Lydia asked, completely oblivious to the horror freezing my face. It wasn’t the first time she’d tried to set me up, but the overbearing woman had just chosen the worst possible person to be blurting out my aloneness to.

Dear sweet Jesus. If there was a version of hell I hadn’t envisioned, this was it. Having the man who’d broken my heart, the one who was now happily engaged to what I envisioned was some tall, gorgeous, leggy blonde, hearing about my dating woes was definitely a new kind of hell. And one I was currently standing in. I could almost feel the fires licking my ankles as they tried to pull me down into the darkness.

Embarrassment and horror rushed through me in waves as Carter opened his mouth to answer. And then the unthinkable happened.

“I have a boyfriend,” I spit out. The minute the words came out of my mouth, I wondered who had said them. Had I just outright lied? Made up a boyfriend that didn’t exist?

“You do?” Lydia’s eyes widened as she opened her mouth in a huge smile.

“Yes. I do.”

Carter’s face tightened as he looked at me. Was that a flash of jealousy in his eyes?

Lydia gasped. “Why didn’t you say anything when we asked? Jenna, you sneaky little thing!”

Why hadn’t I said anything? Oh, maybe because he didn’t exist. Maybe because up until this moment, I’d never realized how desperate I’d become when presented with the situation of feeling like a loser in front of the man who’d broken my heart. But instead of saying that, I said, “I didn’t want to take away attention from the wedding, so I didn’t tell you I met someone. You know... I didn’t want to, like, thunder steal. And it’s serious. Very serious. And he’s very handsome and great.”

Handsome and great? Very serious? Oh my God, what am I saying?

The flames got hotter, flickering their way toward my lying heart.

“How wonderful! What is his name?” Lydia asked.

My brain stalled out while I searched for an answer to such a basic question. Names for my fake boyfriend started flashing through my mind like lottery numbers rolling across the screen as I stood there staring at Carter.

Mike, Mark, Jim, James. Just pick one!

But I stood with my mouth gaping open while I waited for it to announce the name of the boy I’d never met... the one who didn’t exist. Then the friendly face of a man I’d known since childhood flashed into my mind, and I spit it out. “Evan. His name is Evan. He’s a paramedic up here. And handsome. Really handsome. And great. Definitely great.”

Oh God, Jenna... enough with the handsome and great.

“Well, I wish you’d have told us so we could have invited him to the festivities,” Lydia said. “Aunt Tilly will be overjoyed to know you’ve been hiding such a wonderful secret. I can’t wait to tell her. And we’ll figure out when we can meet him. Ooh! Maybe he can come to the wedding!”

I shook my head so hard I felt my brain rattle around against my skull. “He can’t. He’s busy this week. Paramedic-y stuff and such.”

“Paramedic-y stuff?” Carter arched a brow.

“Yes. He has paramedic stuff to do. Work. Training. Saving lives. Stuff like that.”

“Well, it’s a shame we won’t meet him,” Lydia said. “Next time we’re up, for sure. I’m so excited for you! We worry so much you’re going to end up alone.”

“Yep. Not alone. Nope. Not alone at all. It’s just, you know, me and Evan now.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be hearing wedding bells soon.” She waggled her perfectly manicured brows.

“I guess you never know.” I shrugged.

“Oh!” Lydia clapped her hands together. “Carter, you should get married up here and have Jenna plan it for you! She’s amazing at what she does!”