The Art of Falling in Love with Your Fake Fiancé: A small town closed door romantic comedy (Sweetkis

13. Georgie

THIRTEEN

“Gotta admit, I am in shock,” Riley says, looking at me over her coffee, eyes narrowed. “This is a lot to take in in one sitting.”

“You’re telling me,” I mumble, my eyes following Toto as he runs with Riley’s dogs, Posh and Becks, down the hill of the dog park. The Sweetkiss Creek dog park is one of those green spaces that goes on for what feels like forever, complete with a well-positioned park bench, where we can sit and watch our “kids” as they play. “And all I’ve told you is that Duncan tried to steal a book. I’m not even warmed up yet.”

Riley glances around, peering back at the parking lot. “Well, get it all out before Bex arrives.”

Nodding, I sip my coffee. I had forgotten she’d invited Bex. “Okay, so you know how you picked me up from Levi’s apartment today, the one that he’s letting me stay in?”

She nods.

“In exchange for me staying there, we’re kinda sorta—engaged.” I let that word drop, and simply bring my coffee cup to my mouth and take another sip as her eyes grow wider by the millisecond. “And yesterday, we kissed. We didn’t just kiss, though, we blessed that apartment with our kissing alllllll over it.”

“What?” she exclaims, putting her drink down and shaking her head. “Hold on, you and Levi?”

“Also, Toto peed on Levi’s clothes.” I sit back and stare at my palm, pretending to be going over an invisible checklist. “Yep. I think I covered it all now.”

“When I got a bingo card for this month, I didn’t have any of these boxes on it,” she says, letting out a giant breath with a whoosh. “How come when I was his best friend, none of these things ever happened? I turned him over to you for taking care of, and now you’re engaged? I need to understand more.”

I shrug as she laughs, and then a car pulling into the lot distracts us. We both turn, waving to Bex as Riley grabs my hands.

“You have to tell me more. Everything, in fact.”

“Well, we’re going to try to keep it quiet, only because it’s not like we’re really engaged.” I scoot over on the bench, moving my crutches out of the way, placing them underneath us to make room for Bex.

“Who all knows?” Riley questions.

“You, me, Levi of course, his mom and Austin, and Lorna, Duncan’s grandmother.”

“You realize Lorna has been a Sweetkiss Creek resident for many years, right?” Riley brings up. “She’s in the local bridge club and plays bingo every Saturday night at the community hall. If she knows, then all her friends know you’re engaged, too.”

“Who’s engaged?” Bex asks as she sits down. She smiles my way. “Nice to see you again, Georgie.”

“Hey, Bex.” Bex is still very new to me. After moving here a few months ago, she’s started to acclimate and turn up at more events around town. A former assistant for movie star, and now a Sweetkiss Creek local, Spencer Stoll, we met her through Spencer’s wife, Amelia. In fact, she’s the one who had messaged me and asked that I please get Bex involved with my open mic night out of the sheer fact that Amelia thinks her voice is incredible. Now, after hearing it, most of the town would agree, which is why she’s got a permanent spot on the roster for Fifteen Minutes.

“I brought doughnuts.” She holds up a bag and shakes it in the air, only as she does, our three dogs appear out of nowhere, making me laugh.

“First time at a dog park?” I ask as Riley giggles beside me.

“She’s not a dog mom,” Riley acknowledges.

Bex’s eyes bounce back and forth between us. “What? What did I do?”

“First rule of the dog park: you don’t bring food.” Inclining my head toward the trio, who plant themselves in front of her with begging faces turned on, I grin. “Food-driven.”

“Oh, man,” Bex says. She goes to shove the bag inside her oversized purse, but Riley stops her.

“Nah, girl, let ‘em stare. They’re not the only creatures here who are food-driven. Pass me anything chocolate and filled with cream.”

Bex hands her the bag and then turns back to me as she sits down on the bench beside me.

“So, engaged, huh?”

Sighing, I fill her in, too, punctuating the end of my sentence with a reminder to keep the secret. Bex holds up her hand like she’s been asked to swear on the Bible. “I won’t tell a soul. But, you do know that as a bride you can get, like, a whole buttload of discounts, right?”

“Yes, I do!” She’s speaking my love language. “Yesterday, the internet introduced me to the world of engagement in ways I never thought or dreamed existed.”

Riley laughs at me. “I’ve been engaged and I don’t think I received many discounts. In fact, our wedding was really expensive…but I did get free champagne when I tried on bridal dresses.”

“I took note of that, don’t worry.” I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone, finding the list I’d saved. I tap on the note app and read. “So, two different bridal shops in town do the free champagne, I can get a discount for all of us on spa packages—if you want to be my faux bridesmaids, that is. There’s bridal discounts on gym memberships and barre classes I can take, as well as a free gift from Crate and Barrel if I register with them.”

I know my eyes have lit up and I’m looking a little unstable, but it’s exciting. Especially if you”ve not ever had any of this. Just the thought of getting all of the presents makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. A small child taking in the wonder of Christmas, if you will.

Except it’s all a lie. For a good reason, but still.

I let my eyes make their way over to Riley. “There’s no harm in just registering, right?”

“You’re going to go through the motions and pick things out for a fake wedding just to get something like a discount?”

“I’m sure Crate and Barrel would at least give me a candle. Or a picture frame,” I say, watching Riley’s eyes widen with each word. “Oh, come on. I won’t tell anyone; only you guys will know I did it.”

The pair exchange a look, Riley still shaking her head. “You just said you’re trying to be careful and keep this quiet, right?”

“Right, which is why I scratched off ‘putting engagement announcements in local paper.’ See.” I point to the phone as if I had really written it down. “It’s not even here.”

“You’re …I don”t know what you are. I’m both in awe and worried for you.” Riley chuckles.

“So, does anyone want to try on dresses this week?” I wiggle my eyebrows, letting my head spin back and forth between the two of them. “Champagne on me.”

“You’re literally unhinged.” Riley leans around me and looks at Bex. “Do not listen to her nor let her talk you into any of it. No bueno, as they say.”

Bex laughs, then turns her expression serious. “I do like a cake tasting.”

She’s so right. I add that to my list. “I had not thought of that…”

“Stop,” Riley spits out, laughing. She kicks at my crutches under the bench. “I’ll take these away so you can’t go anywhere.”

“I’m not an invalid, and I’m allowed to stop using them tomorrow, so that foils your plan.” I take another sip of my coffee before nudging her with my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I will not do any of these things.”

When Riley looks at me intensely, I put a hand on my heart. “I swear.”

“I’d love to know how all of this transpired so quickly,” Riley says. “We haven’t even discussed your make-out session.”

“What?” Bex shrieks. “You made out with the hot NFL player?”

“We did, but it was more like a stress release, I think. He was in a towel, we’d been laughing—”

“A towel?” Riley’s look is incredulous. “I’ve known that boy for years and have only seen him in swimming trunks. Never a towel.”

“But were you engaged to him?” Bex asks, looking pointedly in Riley’s direction as they both laugh.

“Don’t be a smart-ass, Bex, you just got to town.” I say this teasingly, wagging a finger at her as she holds up her hands in mock surrender. I turn my attention back to Riley. “It was a series of unfortunate circumstances that have led us to this. It’s out of sheer need.”

“The kissing? What did you need…mouth to mouth?”

“Breath mint check,” Bex adds as Riley slaps her with a high-five.

“I think I’m done,” I say, starting to stand but realizing my foot still kind of hurts, so instead, I throw myself against the back of the bench. “Are you two finished?”

“Not by a country mile,” Riley purrs. “We still need to discuss where your engagement ring is. And what was it like kissing him?”

I look down at my left hand, staring at the ring finger. “I didn’t even consider a ring.”

“Who cares about that?” Bex chides. ”Hello! What was it like when he kissed you?”

“In a word, hot.” As I say it, a very wicked grin creeps across my face. “I didn’t want it to stop, ever.”

My hand flies to my mouth in reflex as the memory of his soft lips closing down on mine hits me like a ton of bricks. These two see it and they don”t miss a beat.

“Oh wow,” Bex whispers. “Did you see that? She’s reacting like he just did it.”

“I know,” Riley acknowledges. “Your cheeks are even flushed. Wow. You’re catching feelings for him, aren’t you?”

“I’m not catching anything.” I swat Riley’s arm. “We’re helping each other out.”

Riley tilts her head to the side. “With kisses.”

“Not just that,” I argue. “With lots of things.”

Riley’s eyebrows lift.

I shake a finger at her. “Not those things that you’re thinking about.”

She winks at me as she whistles, calling the dogs back up to us. “This is a conversation we need to finish, but I gotta go pick up Jake.” Jake December is her ice hockey-playing husband. His team, the River City Renegades, had been away in Canada playing a series of games and he’s finally coming home for a quick break. I know this because it’s all she talked about in the car on the way over to the dog park. She reaches under the bench and grabs my crutches, handing them to me.

“Thanks,” I say, using them to stand up. “One more day, then all gone.”

“How many people do you know have dropped their phone on their foot and ended up on crutches?” Riley asks no one in particular.

“The same number of people I’ve known to fake an engagement,” Bex retorts. These two are on fire.

I don’t say anything back, I simply hand Riley Toto’s leash. She takes it from me and looks at Bex.

“Can you help me get these three dogs in the car?”

They corral our crew, and after clicking leashes onto collars, make their way over to our cars. I follow behind, taking my time. My foot may ache, but I’m not in pain like I have been, evidence of its healing. But I do let Riley’s words sink in. After all, she’s been Levi’s bestie for reals since they were kids.

What am I doing? Am I safe? Is my heart?

Will Duncan be okay in all of this?

I’m still trying to sort out my feelings for Levi; I only know that they are big and wide, like a canyon. Or the ocean, really, as I’m beginning to realize. I’ve had tingles for the past year when I’ve thought about him, but those tingles have been replaced ever since our kiss. Now, I feel a heat rippling across me when he comes to mind. It’s like I’ve been in a dark room for ages and someone’s turned on a light. It’s not really bright, but it’s enough for me to see what’s in front of me and has been all along.

This doesn’t change that I need to prepare myself for the fact that Levi could be only in it for the way things look. Maybe he got carried away when we kissed. Maybe it’s me and I was the one who got carried away. Am I a harlot? A shrew needing to be tamed? Am I probably putting too much weight on this?

Yeah. Probably.

As for getting carried away, it’s something I can’t be sure of until I see him next. I can only protect myself so much, but the question remains.

Can I pretend to be engaged to the man I’m falling for and not lose my heart and soul in the process?