“So pretending Elliot is your fiancé will help with that?” Laney’s brows draw together. “Wait, did Elliot actually agree to this?”
I nod. “He did. I convinced him that the only way she’s going to leave is if she thinks she doesn’t have a chance.”
“Do you think she’s going to believe that you two are together? I mean, I find it hard to believe anyone will with the way you two bicker.”
I move toward the couch and rest my arm along the back. “You’ve read plenty of enemies-to-lovers romances, Laney. It’s not that far-fetched.”
She tilts her head from side to side. “True. But why an engagement? Why not just boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“An engagement is serious. And when I get to act like we’re in love in front of Tori, it’s going to make her hate me even more.” Rubbing my hands together, I add, “I can’t wait.”
“I’m beginning to think this idea was more for your benefit than Elliot’s.”
I shrug. “Maybe, but the last thing he wants is that woman back in his life, and I’ve seen him come so far in the past year.” I dart my gaze to the side of the room. “I’d hate to see him entertain anything that she has to say.” When I meet Laney’s eyes again, there’s an arch in her brow.I roll my eyes. “It’s not like that, and you know it. Besides, he’s telling the boys too so everyone is aware of the farce.”
“Are you going to tell Carol and Nick?” Laney asks, referring to my foster parents.
“Most likely. I don’t feel comfortable lying to them, but Elliot can’t tell his parents, given that his dad is the one who brought Tori back into their lives to begin with.”
Laney purses her lips in thought. “I don’t know, I find that strange. I mean, if some man broke my heart like that, I know damn well that my dad would never want me to give him a second chance.”
“Uh, Fletcher did break your heart before, Laney.”
“Yeah, but my dad didn’t know about that,” she counters.
“True. And yes, I agree, there’s something weird going on there, but Elliot can worry about that later. Right now, we just need to act fast to make sure everyone is on board with this new relationship development.”
My best friend shakes her head for the hundredth time. “I still can’t believe that you think you’re going to pull this off. What happens when he touches you? Or kisses you?” she asks. “Have you thought about that?”
My stomach twists again because it’s those exact thoughts that made me so antsy in the first place. Elliot and I didn’t talk about that before he left Blossom Brews earlier, but it dawned on me on the way home.
I’m going to have to pretend that I’m in love with Elliot Thorne. I’m not sure if that’s worse than being in the same room with Vinnie again or not. But at this point, I’m willing to find out.
“I’m not an idiot, Laney.”
“I never said you were, Dilynne. But this is Elliot we’re talking about. You two barely tolerate each other most days.”
“We’ve gotten a little better over the past year.”
Laney narrows her eyes at me. “Yeah, and I’m the only one who knows about that.”
After Tori left on the day of the wedding, my heart broke for Elliot in a way that took even me by surprise. This man that I’d spent hating and tolerating for years was suddenly on the brink of the worst heartbreak he’d ever experienced, and for some reason, I felt sorry for him, especially after going through that type of hurt myself.
When my relationship with Vinnie went south, it affected me more than when Henley and I went into foster care. It was worse than when Tori spread rumors about me being a lesbian in high school. And it stung more than when I learned exactly what Elliot Thorne thought of me before he graduated.
That’s another reason my desire to help him took me by such surprise, but in that moment, I felt for him as a human being—not as one of my brother’s best friends, not as this guy that made me question my identity, and not as the idiot who didn’t listen when I told him that Tori wasn’t a good person.
No. I just saw him as a man who put his trust in another person and got burned, much like I did with Vinnie.
So, I wanted to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone.
The last thing I imagined is that some sort of friendship would develop between us, but it did. However, over the past few months, Elliot has started pushing me away again, so I’m not even sure that anything real has come from it. All I know is that Laney was the only reason I survived the worst time in my life, and I’m glad I was able to be there for Elliot. Everyone deserves someone like that.
“I’m glad that you were there for him, Dilynne, but everyone else doesn’t know that, so they’re really going to have a hard time believing that this thing between you two is real.”
“Then we just tell them what was going on this whole time and use that to explain why our feelings shifted,” I say, tying an imaginary bow in the air in front of me. “Voila!”
Laney’s hesitation shows in the pinch of her brow. “I don’t know…”