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I put my phone away and tried to tune back into the conversation.
“And then Gigi told me that she hadn’t come all the way back from Martha’s Vineyard only to have me embarrass her, so I went out on stage and danced my heart out.” Ellie smiled artlessly. “She’s taught me so much.”
“Wow. That’s um...” Adam’s voice trailed off.
I nodded sympathetically, understanding from personal experience that it was difficult to know how to respond to tales of Ellie’s childhood.
He turned to me. “Have you given any more thought to coming on the cruise?”
I stared back at him, my heart starting to pound. “I have, actually.”
“Great. Well, um...” Adam handed me a plastic-bound portfolio. “This contains an information sheet I compiled about all the people attending the trip.”
I glanced at the typed coversheet behind the clear cover. “The Donaldson Report.” Could have been the script for a nightly news show my dad would watch.
Then Adam flipped open another portfolio. “I also prepared a few talking points about the benefits of the trip.” He cleared his throat. “The cruise will provide an opportunity for you to take a break from the stress of work and enjoy a few days of relaxation and fun on the high seas.” He sounded like he was reading a travel brochure, but with a tone sterile enough to perform surgery.
Ellie stifled a laugh.
As funny as it would have been to let him continue, I interrupted his list. “I’ll go.”
Adam’s responding smile was equally delighted and surprised, and my heart gave an answering flutter. “Really?”
“Yes.” It seemed like a good cause, and it might help me out too.
Ellie clapped with delight. “Yay! We havesomuch to prepare.”
“I’ll pay for anything you need,” Adam offered. “And if there’s anything else I can do, just let me know.”
“Actually...” I took a deep breath. “My sister’s getting married next month and my mom really wants me to bring a date. Would you possibly be okay with coming to the wedding... you know... as my fake boyfriend?”
Adam’s expression went serious again. “Where’s the wedding?”
“Asheville, North Carolina.”
Adam’s mouth worked, but no sound came out. My heart sank for reasons I couldn’t begin to explain. He clearly didn’t want to say yes. I had thought he seemed trustworthy, but was he just putting on a show? I’d been down that road before, and it was a trip I didn’t want to take again.
“That sounds like a really fair exchange to me,” Ellie inserted. She turned to Adam. “Five days with your family, and five with Jenna’s. You won’t even have to worry about killing anyone if you mess up, like Jenna will have to if your grandma finds out she’s not your real girlfriend.”
I winced at her indelicate phrasing. “You wouldn’t have to come for the whole trip, or even a full five days. There’s a small, regional airport. You could just fly in and out the day of the wedding. But you don’t have to come at all if you don’t want to.”
“No, Ellie’s right,” Adam said quickly. “Of course I’ll come, for however long you need me.”
“Thanks,” I told him, unsure how to feel about the whole thing. Relieved I wouldn’t have to attend the wedding with Travis or Justin? Disappointed by Adam’s obvious hesitation? I tried to make a little joke. “We’ll be pros at faking our relationship by then.”
Adam smiled politely. “Seems probable.”
After we finished our sushi, Adam and I hammered out a few more trip details, and then Ellie hustled me home to begin planning out our shopping.
As I forwarded Adam the wedding itinerary from the passenger seat of Ellie’s car, my thoughts remained fixed on my new fake boyfriend. His sweet concern for his grandmother had done something funny to me. But he also clearly hadn’t wanted to agree to help me out in return.
The only thing I knew for sure is that I would have to be careful not to let my feelings get out of hand. I couldn’t afford to let a silly crush put my heart in danger again.
Forty minutes before departure to Miami, I sat at the gate at Philadelphia International Airport, staring fixedly at the concourse as if the power of my mind could cause Jenna to materialize before me. Other than a few glimpses around the hospital, we hadn’t seen each other since last Saturday, at my apartment. But we had texted about our plans as recently as last night.
I glanced over the messages just to make sure I hadn’t misread something. Jenna’s last text read, “See you tomorrow.” No obscure meaning there.
At twenty-four minutes to take off my concern turned into alarm. What was keeping her? Traffic seemed unlikely at seven in the morning. Had Jenna overslept? Maybe I shouldn’t have selected such an early flight, but Grandma wanted to meet for lunch in Little Havana before we boarded the ship.
