Page 18 of Enchanted to Meet You

“Right.” He smiled, but there was something more careful beneath it now, as though he knew we were both stepping into something neither of us really understood yet. “Fake dating.”

He reached for the door, but before he opened it, he glanced back at me.

“Ready?”

I looked at him, then at the doorway, and finally at the party waiting on the other side. I thought about Kelcey’s expression, Landon’s smirk, the people who had seen us disappear together, and the very real possibility that the second we stepped back into that room, we’d have to start convincing everyone—including ourselves—that this was exactly what we’d intended all along.

“No.”

His smile returned.

“Perfect.”

Then he opened the door, and together, we stepped back into the party. The hallway spat us back out into the main current of the party, and I braced myself, half-expecting every head to swivel toward us the second we reappeared, some invisible neon sign flashing they were just in the closet over our heads. Nobody looked twice. The party had moved on without us in the way parties always do, indifferent to whatever had or hadn’t happened three rooms away—the same knot of Crofton guys shoving each other near the stairs, the same girls laughing too hard by the drinks table, the bass thudding along at the exact same tempo, like the last ten minutes of my life had happened in some separate, sealed-off pocket of time that the rest of the house hadn’t been invited into.

I drew in a breath and looked up to Rhys only to find his eyes already on me. I gave a slight dip of my chin as if to say I was ready. And then he slipped his hand into mine, I pasted my best lovesick smile onto my face, and we stepped into the party, ready to fool everyone.

six

“But why does a baby shower include a guided tour of the country club?” Clementine asked when we were at the mall the next day. My best friend took my phone from my hand, zooming in on the picture of the invitation with a frown on her lips.

“Beats me.” I stole the iced coffee from her, taking a long gulp. I’d only gotten a small coffee while she’d gotten a large, and I was regretting my choice.

“I bet she’s soft-launching the idea of having a wedding there,” Nora said. We stepped onto the escalator to the second floor, Nora and Clementine on the same step as they stared at my phone. “I guarantee you it’s going to happen within a year.”

Nora used to be much more shy, and even as little as six months ago, she wouldn’t have dreamed of saying something like that to my face. We’d only really become friends in the fall, right around the time she started dating my brother, but already, she was like a sister to me and I was so happy she felt like she could talk openly. I didn’t need people tiptoeing around me.

“I’m still surprised they didn’t elope after she found out she was pregnant,” Clementine said. She handed me back my phone and I handed her back her drink. “You know, go on a trip somewhere fancy and come back with a diamond ring on her finger.”

“Can’t get married to your mistress if you’re not divorced from your wife yet,” I said in a false-cheerful voice. I immediately cringed at how callous my words sounded, especially when they both looked away uncomfortably, but it was the truth. Divorce took time, and though Mum wasn’t exactly confiding in us, I did know it wasn’t finalized yet. I wasn’t sure the exact laws on getting remarried, but I was sure the government didn’t allow there to be overlap. “Anyway, knowing Hilary, she’s going to want it to be a big event and she will not want to be pregnant for it.”

I sounded like I knew Hilary so well, but in actuality, I’d never met her. I only felt like I knew her because of all of Imogen’s stories. She’d spent a couple of months visiting Dad and Hilary behind our backs—a surprising betrayal, but one we’ve all long-since forgiven her for—and the stories she had about my father’s girlfriend made me glad I’d never been in the same room as her before.

We stepped off the escalator and Clementine spun around, her pink hair whipping around and falling over her shoulder.

“Should we go buy you a fancy dress just in case?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows. “Unless you think she’ll make you a bridesmaid.”

I pretended to gag. “She better not. I’d have to throw hands.”

“But you still need a dress for the baby shower,” Nora reminded me. “And don’t forget—” She put on a high-pitched posh voice, “—whites or neutrals only, please.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, don’t remind me.” I eyed her. “And what about you?”

“What about me?” Nora asks, her eyes running over the windows of the shops we passed.

“Are you coming to the baby shower?” That stopped her short. The people behind us grumbled as they had to flow around us in the crowded hall. I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“You want me to go to your father’s mistress’s baby shower?” Nora asked, saying each word sounding like she’d never said them before in her life.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I want you to,” I said, awkwardly shifting the shopping bags in my hands. “More like… I just assumed that maybe you’d come along.”

“I don’t really see Sebastian deciding to go to this thing,” Clementine chimed in. “Baby showers tend to be a girls-only event.”

“Then Nora can be like his representative,” I said brightly. Nora’s face made it very clear what she thought of that plan. I sighed. “Forget it, I didn’t really think you would come.”

Heck, I wasn’t even sure if I was going. Everything about that invitation had turned my stomach, from Hilary calling it a “fresh start” to the schedule of events looking more like a cocktail hour than anything. My feelings on this pregnancy were decidedly negative and I had no interest in attending an event where I’d have to pretend to be happy about it. I was surprised Hilary had even invited us at all, considering the radio silence for the last eleven months and how she’d spoken to Imogen when she found out she was pregnant, essentially casting her off as lesser because she wasn’t Hilary’s child. A little piece of me hoped that my dad had asked—insisted, even—that she did it, but I was smart enough not to hold onto that hope. My dad didn’t want me enough to stick around last year, and his feelings wouldn’t have changed by now. I made my peace with it a long time ago.

“I’m surprised you’re going,” Nora said. “You were all talking a big game yesterday about how to say no.”