Page 22 of Fiance Next Door


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Lie. I hadn’t realized this means I’ll be lying to my dad.

“Aster? Are you still there?”

I draw a deep breath. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable about lying to my dad. I’ve never done it before.”

“What?” Peggy’s reaction makes it seem like I just told her the earth is square and not round.

“Well, maybe I have, but just small lies. This one’s big.”

“So you don’t want to do it?” Peggy asks me.

I purse my lips. I want to grant my father’s wish for real, not pretend to grant it. It just doesn’t seem right.

“I don’t know. I feel like I’m cheating my dad of something important.”

“Don’t worry,” Peggy tells me. “He won’t find out. And if ever he does, he’ll forget it eventually.”

My eyebrows go up. “Peggy!”

“Sorry,” she says halfheartedly. “But seriously, do you want to do this for your dad or not?”

“I want to make his wish come true,” I answer. “For real.”

“But you don’t have time for that, do you?”

No, I don’t.

“And he knows that,” Peggy adds. “Your father will understand.”

I stand up. “Wait. You’re saying he’ll agree to a fake wedding?”

“I thought he just wanted to take a picture of you in a wedding dress. We’ll make sure that’s real, anyway.”

I sigh. “It’s not a real wedding dress if there’s no real wedding.”

“It will be a real dress. A really nice dress.”

I shake my head. “My dad isn’t going to agree to it.”

“Then just don’t tell him it isn’t real.”

“You just said he knows I don’t have time for a real wedding,” I remind her. “He’ll know it’s fake.”

“Not if you tell him it isn’t. Tell him that you and Mason have been having a long-distance relationship, that you’ve been in love since you were kids.”

My jaw drops. “Wow. You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?”

“I just came up with that, actually,” Peggy confesses. “But it’s believable, right?”

I can’t deny that. It’s so believable, in fact, that it makes me uncomfortable, though not as much as knowing I have to lie to my dad.

“So I’ll lie to my dad?”

Yup. We’re back at the beginning.

“Aster, do you want to make your father happy or not?” Peggy asks me.

I guess that’s what everything boils down to. And I already know my answer.

“Fine.” I drop myself on the stool as I resign myself to my fate. “But how do you know Mason will agree to all this?”

We’ve already given him such a big part to play, yet he doesn’t even have a clue about this whole plan. I almost feel like I’m using him.

No. I am using him. Shit.

“I think he will,” Peggy answers.

I think so, too, but that doesn’t make me feel better about asking him to do something no one should ever be asked to do. Then again, I don’t really have a choice. I have to ask someone, and as Peggy just explained, he’s the most suitable person. Besides, he did say I could count on him if I needed anything. I didn’t think I’d take him up on the offer, but that seems to be my only option now.

“You sure?” I ask Peggy.

“Well, there’s only one way to be sure, isn’t there?” she says.

Right.

“Good luck.”

~

What I need is a glass of beer, I think as I walk to the house next door.

My heart is beating so fast I’m afraid it will fly out of my chest. My hands tremble inside my pockets. With every step I take, the voice in my head screams louder that this is a bad decision.

I know. I know. I should turn back. This is stupid. This is wrong. Still, I remember the sad smile on my dad’s face and my feet move forward.

Do it for Dad.

Eventually, I make it to the Burkes’ front door. After the second series of knocks, Giselle opens it.

She smiles. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I try to give her a smile of my own.

Her expression turns serious. “Please don’t tell me there’s something wrong with the dress.”

I raise an eyebrow. The dress?

“Oh, no.” I shake my head as I remember the bridesmaid dress I have hanging in my closet. “It’s fine.”

Giselle holds a hand to her chest and lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. Because I swear if I get another bit of bad news, I’ll pass out.”

She does look like it.

“I was hoping to talk to Mason,” I tell her.

“Oh.” She looks taken aback.

“I just wanted to ask him something,” I explain. “He came to see my dad the other day, and…”

“Of course.” Giselle nods. Her smile returns. “He’s not here right now because I sent him on an errand, but please come in.”

She opens the door wider and gestures for me to come in.

“God, I don’t know why I’m treating you like a stranger.” She slaps her forehead. “You’re my bridesmaid. I’ve known you since forever. Of course you can come in and talk to my brother or anyone in this house.”

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