“Listen, can you tell your mom not to say anything to my family?” There’s a note of worry in her voice, and rightly so. My mother can’tnottell. “Until I have a chance to speak with them?”
“That’s perfectly reasonable. But knowing my mom? The sooner, the better. You know she can’t keep a secret to save her life.”
“How about next week? Maybe if you come over for dinner, we could break the news together?”
It’s not just a wedding date now. Our families are going to think this is going somewhere. That we’re anitem.
“Both of us?” For some reason, facing my family didn’t feel like a big deal. They’re used to my absence of a dating life. But hers? That’s a different story.
I’ve always had enormous respect for her parents. James and Ann Marie Rossi always treated me like part of their family back when Eli and I were inseparable. Always an open door or a seat at their table, no questions asked.
The idea of sitting across from them and lying to their faces makes me feel sick—like a fraud who shouldn’t be dating their daughter, because she deserves better than this.
But there’s one person who won’t just be disappointed in this arrangement, he’ll be furious.
“Brendan?” Scarlett’s voice cuts through my worry.
“How do you think your brother will take this?”
“Eli? He’s going to hate it. But he’ll just have to deal with it until the wedding is over.”
We both know that her brother doesn’t just “deal with” things.
I meet her eyes and the years rewind just like that—with Eli’s voice in my ear, telling me his sisterwas off-limits.
And I agreed, thinking my friendship with him would outlast any feelings for his sister.
What an idiot I was.Our friendship didn’t last, for reasons I can’t tell Scarlett. But my feelings for her? Those haven’t changed.
My concern is that everyone will see through our charade. My family knows me too well, all my tells, and definitely knows when I’m trying too hard. They’ll take one look at the way I’m holding back and they’llknowthat we’re faking it.
Which means I just have to convince everyone we’re madly in love, while pretending I’m notactuallymadly in love.
What could possibly go wrong?
FOUR
Scarlett
“What do you mean you haven’t said yes to all of the wedding festivities? It’s like a weeklong, paid vacation.” Gabriella is standing across the barista counter from me, her brows knitted together as I slice a fresh strawberry pie I made at midnight last night. The hockey wives and girlfriends—the WAGs, as they’re known—are all at a table this morning, waiting for their pastries.
“We came to an agreement,” I say matter-of-factly. “I go with him to the wedding as his plus-one. He helps me get the vendor contract at the arena. It’s just a business transaction. That’s it.” I need tostick with the deal we agreed to. The second I start thinking of it as anything else, I’m going to get hurt. And I’ve already done that once. “I’m not there to hang out with his family or score a free stay at the Marco mansion.”
“But I would!” she shrieks.
“And I’m not you.”
I know she thinks I’m turning down the best opportunity of my life, but after seeing the look on Isabella Marco’s face, I can’t disappoint her, or anyone else in that family, more than I already have.
I feel Gabriella’s hot stare burning into me, but I refuse to let her guilt me into it. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t understand you. Why can’t you just let yourself have fun for once? You’re the one who’s totally burned out, working long shifts, while trying to help your dad. You deserve a break.”
“I appreciate your concern. But I don’t want to pretend to be Brendan’s girlfriend for an entire week. It sounds like too muchtogetherness.”
“But the Marco family doesn’t doanythingsmall. That’s why you’d have so much fun!” She gives me an enthusiastic smile, but she doesn’t understand the consequences of this decision.
It’s only been a week since I crashed into Brendan Marco and agreed to this insane charade, and I’m already second-guessing my decision to be his wedding date. I don’t need emotional complications, especially with a man who already broke my heart once.