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“Why, thank you,” I said with a teasing smile.
He shook his head and then dropped his lips onto mine. The moment they touched mine, the rest of the world fell away. It would have been nice to live here in this point of time. To not have to face what was coming after that. I could delude myself about a lot of things, but not that my dad was dying. No amount of freezing time was going to change that fact.
Gavin pulled away slowly, looking down at me with those mercurial eyes. “How are you really?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you still want to go through with this?”
“Doyou?”
“Yes,” he said automatically.
I still couldn’t believe that Gavin was suggesting what he’d suggested. A fake engagement for a week to deal with his family was one thing. Arealmarriage to satisfy my father was something else entirely. We could annul it or whatever … divorce. But he’d taken it a step further. He wanted to try this.Actuallytry this. Might as well see if it worked while we were going through with it anyway.
Yet, as I looked up at him, I saw a future in those eyes. I saw all those promises we hadn’t quite made become reality. Would it be so terrible? It was certainly terrifying.
But there was something else there. Something … exciting too.
We were getting married one way or another.
Why not see if I could fall in love with him too?
“Then, let’s do it.”
His smile was brilliant as he bent down to kiss me again, sealing our promise.
It was nearly an hour before I got back to my apartment, took my own shower, and was ready for the day. We met my parents at H&H Bagels and broke the news to them. My mom cried. My dad pulled me into a tight hug. This was a big ask, and I hadnoidea how I was going to pull this off in two months, in New York City.
Back home, we could throw it together, but here?
I knew exactly who I needed to make this work. Now that the train was running down the track, there was no backing out. The engagement ring was on my finger. I was going to have to tell my boss, my friends, and the rest of the world too.
Which meant I neededhelp.
* * *
The SOS went out to my girlfriends that morning, and by the evening, we were all seated around a table at Katherine’s favorite sushi restaurant with sake for the four of us.
“Finally,” English grumbled. “I was wondering if you were going to avoid us forever.”
Lark arched an eyebrow. “So, are we going to get the whole story?”
“You know we do love a Whitley Bowen original,” Katherine purred. Her eyes were as clever as a cat. As if she’d already sussed out what this whole thing was about. Which felt impossible, but it was Katherine. I put nothing past her.
“I didn’t mean to avoid you. It’s been an interesting couple of days since I got home, which was why I wanted to get with you.”
Katherine tapped the diamond still on my left hand. “And explain why you’re still wearing this.”
English’s eyes widened. She must have missed it. “Oh my god, are you actually engaged?”
“No,” I said quickly. Then stalled. “Well, sort of.”
All three of my friends looked at me in various stages of astonishment. English had known me since college. I was the least likely of our friends toevermarry. Lark looked equally shocked. I was known for my daring breakups and petty revenges. Not forthis. Katherine just arched an eyebrow and waited. She didn’t like to be out of the know.
“Start from the beginning, Whitley Bowen,” English demanded. “Don’t leave anything out.”
So, I did as she’d asked. I confessed about our clever fake engagement. How I’d sung at the wedding and made everyone fall in love with me. And how we’d planned a big breakup after we got back.
