“Let’s finish these mythical level cookies, and then why don’t you show me the rest of the house,” I say. His eyes clear, and he nods jerkily as he backs away a little, releasingmy sides. Daisy chooses to fly in at that moment, alighting onto Gage’s arm. He gives her some head scratches while he finishes his cookie, and she hilariously tries to steal some. We finish the cookies, and Gage motions for me to follow him with a small smile.
He shows me his home office off of the breakfast room. It’s sparse, but nicely furnished with tons of light flooding in to warm the space. There are miscellaneous papers and files stacked neatly next to the sleek silver laptop on the dark wood desk, a perch sits in one corner with some toys, and a squashy microfiber brown chair sits in the other corner among the bookshelves.
Daisy flits from Gage’s arm to the perch and starts playing with the bell toy there. Hermes must hear it and comes flying in.
“Daisy bell,” he says, watching her from where he landed on the floor. Little smarty wants to be part of everything.
“Alright, you two behave while I show Celeste the rest of the house,” Gage says.
“Beautiful Celeste,” is the reply from Hermes, and I laugh in surprise.
“I believe your bird is flirting with me,” I tease.
“He’s always had more game than he knows what to do with,” Gage replies dryly.
We head upstairs where he shows me the room he made into a home gym that he tells me I obviously can use whenever I want if I move in. There’s a pristine hall bath which will be mine to use, and then there’s the guest room. It’s comfortable looking and a good size, with a white bed frame, matching side tables on either side, plush looking blue bedding, a matching dresser, and a good sized closet. Soft blue walls, white curtains on the windows, and whitecarpeting make it feel airy and almost beachy. Gage rubs his neck again in that nervous way.
“If you don’t like it, you can do whatever you want to personalize it and make yourself feel at home. New paint job, new bedding, feel free to make any changes,” he says.
“It’s beautiful, I love it,” I tell him. He looks pleased to have pleased me, and it makes my chest pinch.
“I’m glad,” he says. “We should, ah, maybe head back downstairs and talk through how we want this whole thing to play out? If my birds and/or my house haven’t scared you off wanting to do it, that is.”
“Please, I’m only marrying you for the birds now, forget the endometriosis treatment or you getting your bar,” I quip to keep things light. He tosses a grin over his shoulder as he leads the way back downstairs.
“They’re easily the best reason to marry me, to be honest, so I respect that,” he says with a laugh.
They’re not the best reason, my traitorous intrusive thoughts pipe in.He’s sweet, funny, and way too charming.Well, those thoughts need to shut the hell up. That is not what this marriage is going to be about. Gage probably thinks I’m a complete mess. At least this time, I know it’s going to end and that he’ll leave, unlike everyone else who has abandoned me or shoved me off onto someone else.
“I might fight you for joint custody whenever we decide to end this,” I joke. We sit down in the living room and he grows serious.
“Celeste, we’re friends no matter what. I hope you’ll still chill with me here and see them sometimes, and visit me at the bar. Maybe we get that clarified first and foremost. However long we stay married, whatever happens, I hope we’ll stay friends.”
God, he’s so earnest and sincere as he says it. My throattightens, emotions warring in me. I’m elated he still wants to be friends when this is all over, scared to death that this fake marriage will go badly, and those stupid intrusive thoughts making me feel sad that he and I can never be more. I swallow hard.
“I want that too. I guess we should talk more about the details now? Most importantly, when and how are we doing this?”
Chapter 10
Gage
I watch as emotions play across Celeste’s face too quickly to parse out. Damn I wish I could read her mind and know what she’s thinking right now about this whole thing.
“It’s cliché as fuck, but I’m thinking eloping to the courthouse downtown might be our best bet? We’d have to apply for the license a few days before we want to do it since the turnaround is usually 3 or 4 days,” I tell her. She huffs out a laugh.
“You’ve been doing your research,” she says with a playful wink. “You were that sure I’d be all in when I came over tonight?”
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with being prepared,” I retort, and she nods with a smile.
“The courthouse sounds good. Maybe in a couple of weeks? That should give us enough time to get everything in order. We could probably tell Tania and Carlo, right? They can be our witnesses.”
“Carlo is going to be insufferable about it, since he knows I don’t want to get married, but you’re right. They should know, especially your sister,” I groan.
“Tania would be devastated if I got married, even just for convenience, without her there,” she agrees. “Your dad and brother wouldn’t care about being there?”
“I’ll invite them, too. The courthouse downtown allows up to six guests, so having the four of them there will be perfect. Gina will most likely stay home with the kids.”
She cocks her head in thought.