Page 125 of Fake it for Keeps

With our quarter-pounders, fries, and sodas in hand, the driver started on the trek out to the Hamptons. I’d spent the last two days orchestrating this, coordinating with vendors, bribing people to drop everything and make this happen. Last-minute, on actual Valentine’s Day? The bribes weren’t cheap.

Frankie had helped. She never complained. Never lectured, but I knew she was still a little apprehensive. She was a good sister.

We ate our greasy food and worked on the final details. When we pulled up to the beach house, I saw that every dollar had been worth it. The property had been transformed.

Heated glass enclosures wrapped around the back porch and spilled out onto what would have been the snow-covered beach. It was the most obnoxious billionaire solution for having a wedding in the Hamptons in February, but I didn’t care. Hallie deserved something magical, and if that meant spending an obscene amount of money on temporary structures and industrial heaters, so be it.

Spread the wealth, right? I couldn’t take it with me. And Hallie deserved something nice after what we’d been through together.

“Holy shit,” Frankie breathed as we got out of the car. “Colt, this is incredible.”

“Yeah?” I looked at her, suddenly nervous. “You think Hallie will like it? Should I have gone with a bigger enclosure?”

“She’s going to lose her mind.” Frankie was already filming, panning across the setup. “Whoever you hired did an amazing job.”

We walked through the enclosures together. I inspected every detail. The ceremony would take place on the back porch, the same porch where Hallie’s father had hung that crooked screen door. I specifically told the crew not to fix it. Hallie loved it just the way it was, squeaky and lopsided.

The porch itself was decorated with candles in glass hurricane lamps—hundreds of them, creating a warm glow even in the afternoon light. The color scheme was silver, gold, and a light sand color that matched the beach beyond, with occasional pops of dark green from winter foliage.

Everything was elegant. Classy. Perfect.

“Talk me through it,” Frankie said, still filming. “What made you choose this place?”

“Because it’s Hallie’s,” I said simply. “This house is everything to her. Her father built half of it with his own hands. She has memories in every room. When she talks about it, her whole face lights up.” I touched the crooked screen door gently. “I wanted her to get married somewhere that matters. Not some fancy ballroom in Manhattan that would have been about me. This is about her. About us.”

Frankie’s eyes were suspiciously bright behind her phone. “That’s really sweet, Colt.”

“Don’t get sappy on me.” But I was smiling as I continued through the space, checking sight lines and making sure the aisle was clear.

The chairs were simple white folding chairs that would seat about thirty people. Not the two hundred we’d originally planned. Just family and close friends. The people who actually mattered.

“How did you even pull this off in two days?” Frankie asked.

She had helped with a lot of the planning, but not all of it. And the video she was creating was for Hallie for later. Frankie was interviewing me. One day, ten, twenty years down the road, I wanted Hallie to watch the video and know how much I loved her. What lengths I was willing to go to for her.

“I made a lot of phone calls. Spent a lot of money. Called in a lot of favors.” I shrugged. “When you’re Colt Jesson, people tend to move mountains. If you pay them enough.”

“Modest as always.”

“It’s not modesty. It’s reality.” I moved to the end of the aisle, where I would stand and wait for Hallie. The view from here was perfect—the ocean beyond, the house behind, Hallie walking toward me down an aisle lined with candles.

My heart skipped a beat. In a few hours, this would be real.

“So,” Frankie said, lowering her phone. “Ring check?”

I pulled the small box from my inside jacket pocket and held it up.

“Let me see,” she demanded.

I flipped it open playfully, angling it away from her phone’s camera, then snapped it closed before she could get a good look.

“Colt!” She pouted. “That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair.” I grinned at her. “Don’t worry. You’ll see it soon enough.”

“You’re the worst.”

I pocketed the ring box and checked my watch. Guests would start arriving soon. And Hallie would be here in about an hour to get ready upstairs while I stayed down here, keeping the ceremony space a surprise until the last possible moment.