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“Come on, Whit. You don’t have to pretend with me. I know you for exactly who you are. I’ve been there through all your ridiculous stories. I figured at the end of this one, when it all came together, you’d do what you always do—run.”
“I don’t always run.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Oh, no? Then, you didn’t move to California instead of dealing with Robert and Gavin three years ago?”
“Well …”
“Or disappear back to New York when your girlfriend of a year made one mistake in California?”
I bit my lip. “That was different.”
“It’s always different. You know you’re like this. I don’t even know why you’re arguing.”
“Fine.” I brushed my hands down the skirt. “I’m a bad girlfriend. I know that. I don’t want a relationship when it gets hard, and I won’t deal with bullshit. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Katherine smiled, slow and dangerous. “And yet”—she gestured to the wedding dress—“you haven’t ripped the dress off of your body yet.”
I turned back to the mirror to catch my reflection. I couldn’t imagine stepping out of the dress and never wearing it again. It fit me as well as the diamond ring on my finger. As well as Gavin fit in my life.
“I like it,” I finally said.
“No, you like Gavin King.” She tilted her head. “Dare I say, you love him?”
I swallowed. “I … I don’t know. Do I? How do you know that sort of thing anyway?”
Katherine’s smile grew. “Because you didn’t deny it with every fiber of your being. You want to marry him in a week. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” I got out, my voice thick with emotion.
“This is your wildest story,” she said with a laugh as she took my hand. For that second, both of us dropped the bravado that held us up. “I’m happy for you, Whit. I wanted this for you. I wanted Gavin for you. He’s a good guy when he wants to be, and he wants that with you. I saw it before you ever did.”
I flushed. “Thanks, Katherine. For the dress. For … everything.”
“Thank me by getting married in a week and being deliriously happy. That’s all I want in return.”
I nodded and pulled her unceremoniously into a hug. She laughed and hugged me back.
“Don’t mess up the dress,” Katherine said but with no real bite.
“I’m gettingmarriedin a week.”
It felt surreal. I never thought the day would come. When I’d agreed to this fake marriage, I’d never once guessed it would turn completely real in the meantime. I couldn’t wait to tell Gavin on our wedding night.
PARTV
GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES
29
WHITLEY
“You’ll say yourI dos,” the officiant said from the front of the ballroom. “Then, you’ll kiss.”
I clutched the bridal shower bouquet that Cora had made for me tight in my hands until my knuckles turned white. Gavin stood across from me at the rehearsal for our wedding.
“Do we get to practice the kiss?” he asked with a mischievous smile on his lips.
Everyone laughed. Such a Gavin thing to ask.
