AllFreeNovel
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What. The. Fuck.I can’t help but smile. The champagne on an empty stomach isn’t helping. Chase knows I’m a bad actor. I know the show I put on during the actual engagement was pathetic. So, he probably can see right through me, and probably knows I’m crushing so hard.
However, he doesn’t pull his hand away from me.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us sooner, Judy,” Mom admonishes. “You know, I always knew she had the biggest crush on you when she was younger.”
“Mom,” I say sternly.
“Oh yeah?”
I glare at Chase. Is he seriously egging her on?
“I saw her doodling a Mrs. Judith Glad –“
“Mom! Stop!” I say through gritted teeth.
Chase laughs. A head-thrown-back kind of laugh. I’ve only seen that laugh a few times. And it’s quite a sight. To see this prim and laced-up man release a laugh like that, expose his neck, be unguarded for just a second. “Don’t be embarrassed, Jude. It’s cute.”
Cute?I’ve never heard Chase use the word “cute” to describe anything let alone my now not-so-secret obsession with him I had as a kid.
“Promise,” he adds with a tight smile.
“Well, we’ve got to go chat with –” I pretend to wave at someone behind my parents. “I’ll catch you later. Come on, honey.”
I pull Chase away from my parents and whisper in his ear, “How much champagne have you had?”
He knocks back the rest of his glass and exchanges that for a fresh one as a waiter passes in the nick of time. “I don’t know. Three glasses? Four?”
“Too much, clearly.”
Chase furrows his brow. “Something wrong?”
“You’re just being –” I grunt in frustration. “You’re beingnice.”
He laughs. “What?”
“You’re – you’re not supposed to be nice to me.”
“Obviously I am. We’re engaged, Jude, remember?”
I pull him further away from the party and around the house so we won’t be overheard. “Notreally,” I hiss.
“Yes, really. We are actually engaged. Even if the ring doesn’t fit. Just because we are doing it for strange reasons doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
I touch the ring on my finger, uncomfortable above my knuckle.
“God, I need to take this off,” he mutters, shaking off the seersucker suit jacket.
I chew on my lower lip. I feel like his kid sister’s best friend, not his fiancé. And that’s the truth of all this, isn’t it? “This is crazy.”
I expect Chase to get mad at me, and blame me for all of this. After all, it was my fault. I don’t deserve to be worried or upset or anything. And it would be fair of him to say so.
Instead, he scratches the back of his head and looks back at the party. “It’s pretty overwhelming, isn’t it?”
Is Chase actually trying to comfort me?
“Let’s think about something else for a little bit, hm?” He takes my hand and encircles it around his bicep. All sinew and muscle. “Come on.”
We walk in the opposite direction of the party, the din getting quieter and quieter as we walk amongst the willow trees. Gram’s house is like a home away from home. I know the grounds and the house so well.
