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But that didn’t seem to matter to anyone.
Let alone Gavin. Who had been looking at me with no less than abject admiration from the moment I sat next to him. That same expression still graced his face as his mother stared at the engagement ring and wiped her eyes.
“My mother would be so happy right now. The perfect woman is wearing this ring,” Gavin’s mom said.
Susannah nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
A knot of worry formed in my stomach. This was all supposed to be a cover story for the week. Gavin had needed help, and I’d thought,Why not?And now, I was realizing why not. Because, now, they thought we were getting married, and they’d be genuinely upset when we called it off next week.
My gaze must have shown something like that because Gavin intervened. “Give her some room to breathe, Mom.”
“It was just a song.”
“It was more to us,” Susannah said.
Gavin took my hand. “Let’s get you a drink.”
“Yes, please.” I smiled wanly as we retreated. “I really didn’t think it was anything crazy.”
“They’re sentimental, and you’re wrong.”
I laughed softly as we got in line for drinks. “I’m glad everyone enjoyed it. It was worth the hours I spent working on it with the band. My voice felt like popcorn when I started.”
“So, why don’t you sing anymore?”
I shrugged. “Went to UCLA. Didn’t get famous. Same old story.”
“They don’t know what they’re missing.”
“Nah, it worked out in the end. I became a doctor instead.”
“Which you’re also brilliant at.”
Gavin ordered our drinks and then passed me a whiskey sour.
“That I can agree with.” I took a big swig of my drink. “But, yeah … I have so many bad memories attached to singing from when I was growing up. My parents didn’t approve. They thought I sang just fine, but I was smart, so it was a waste of time.”
“How can it be a waste of time when you have such talent?”
“Well, they wanted me to get married to a rich man. That’s how. Medical school was myinto marry a doctor, not become one. So few people become famous singers. They didn’t approve.”
“That’s horribly outdated, even for Texas,” Gavin said with an arched eyebrow.
“Tell me about it. That’s my parents.”
“I never hear you talk about them.”
I snorted. “For good reason. There’s nothing to say that would be worth repeating.” He looked like he wanted to ask more, so I quickly changed the subject. “But why don’t you talk about your family? They’re amazing. You made it seem like it would all be overwhelming and terrible.”
“Oh, no, they’re great. It’s just that there’s so many of them, and we all have giant personalities. Bringing us together usually results in some sort of enormous fight.”
“There’s been no fighting.”
Gavin shrugged with a grin. “I am going to let you take all the credit for that.”
“Me? Why?”
“You know, they don’t want to upset my fiancée.”
