Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
T he next day, Cassie was in the middle of working on a new line of gemstone necklaces when a soft rapping sounded from her front door.
“Knock, knock! It’s your maid of honor, and I come bearing gifts.”
Cassie hurried to the door, opening it to face her best friend with a wary smile on her face. “It better not be more alcohol.”
Charlie groaned. “Do not say the A word around me. I’m still recovering. I can’t even look at the stuff right now.”
“You work at a distillery.”
Her friend shrugged, stepping inside and heading to the couch in the living room. “I’ve been working mostly from home this week.”
“If you didn’t bring any booze, what do you have for me?”
“Magazines. A freaking boatload of them.”
Charlie tipped the canvas tote bag she wore over her shoulder out onto the coffee table. Dozens of bridal magazines dumped into a haphazard pile on the polished wood.
“Wow, that’s…are they all different?”
“Yup. Who knew there was so much wedding stuff in the world, right?”
She certainly didn’t. The small mountain of happily smiling women dressed in white lace and silk stared at her, mocking her with their perfectly styled photos. It all looked so…phony. Kind of like her upcoming nuptials. She could easily be one of the posed brides staring into a camera, faking the happiest day of her life, because that’s exactly what she planned to do. She and Del were just pretending, or had been until…
Crap, she didn’t know what they were now. Friends? Lovers? Two people who were getting married for purposes other than love, but still had sex?
She could use a good talk it out session with her best friend right now. Too bad her best friend was the very last person she could talk to about this.
“Holy shit!” Charlie exclaimed, thumbing through one of the magazines. “This place claims to be an affordable venue, but their lowest quoted price is over ten thousand dollars. And that’s just for the rental fee.”
Yikes! “Um, we were kind of thinking of something a bit more intimate. Smaller. Just a few of our closest friends and family.”
“That’s the way I’d go, too. Who needs a big, wild party that’s gonna put you in debt? I mean, shouldn’t it be the marriage that’s important and not how fancy the party is?”
“Totally agree.” Plus, this wasn’t her real marriage. They had to make it look real, but when she walked down that aisle she wouldn’t be saying ‘I do’ to her soulmate or anything.
Something uncomfortable lodged itself in her chest. As a young girl, she’d always fantasized about her own marriage and family. She’d thought when she finally found her true love they’d settle down, raise a family, and live happily ever after. Once she’d grown up, she realized that people rarely got fairytale endings in this world, but in the very deepest part of her heart, she still believed in them.
“Small venue. Got it,” Charlie said, bringing Cassie out of her deep thoughts. “Close friends and family only. Does that mean your cousin Mandy is coming?” She paused, looking up from the magazine with a look of horror on her face. “She’s not a bridesmaid, is she?”
The very thought made laughter spill from Cassie’s lips. “Oh, God, no. I mean, yes, I’ll probably have to invite her, and hopefully she won’t come, but no way in hell would I trust her to stand with me on my big day. She’d probably scream ‘I object’ at the top of her lungs.”
Her friend snorted. “Oh man, how pissed is she at you right now? Like on a scale of one to ten?”
“Well, she’s called me about a dozen times in the past week. I have over twenty angry texts and ten very colorful emails calling me various names, a few that I’m sure she invented, so I’d say an eleven.”
Mandy never did things in half measures.
“No offense, but your cousin is a selfish bitch. I can’t stand that woman.”
Most people couldn’t, but blood was blood, and Cassie had never been able to shut her cousin out of her life completely.
“Fingers crossed she doesn’t come.” Charlie held up her intertwined appendages.
They sat on Cassie’s couch, thumbing through the mountain of magazines. She had to admit, it was kind of fun planning a wedding, even if it wasn’t entirely real. Most little girls spent hours imagining their future nuptials, and she’d been no different. True, she hadn’t thought about marriage in years; she’d been too busy with her jewelry business and the various charities she helped. But sitting here with her best friend looking at colors, flower arrangements, and dresses felt kind of nice. An indulgence she rarely afforded herself.
“Ooooh, how about this?” Charlie pointed to a picture of a bride and groom sitting in a horse-drawn carriage. “Looks pretty romantic.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Del would go for that. Horses give him the willies.” Something she knew because they’d watched some old western the other night in bed, and he’d shuddered at the horse-riding scenes, remarking on the stupidity of riding an animal that could trample you to death.
Blue eyes, the very same color as Del’s widened as they stared at her.
“What?” Cassie asked. Charlie was looking at her like she had two heads.
“I know that. I’m just surprised you know that.” Charlie shook her head. “My brother never shares his phobia of horses with anyone. He thinks it makes him look like a tourist.”
“Not everyone in Colorado is a cowboy.”
“Yeah, but…it’s just still a little weird, ya know. You and my baby brother.”
“He’s hardly a baby.” Annoyance stiffened her spine, mostly because she did feel a little embarrassed marrying a man two years her junior.
“I know that, but he’s so unlike the men you usually date.”
She raised a brow. “Meaning?”
Charlie held up her hands in defense. “Look, I love my little brother, but he can be a bit immature about things. I suppose it’s just the curse of being the baby of the family, but Delta has always had it easier than the rest of us, and he’s taken advantage of that fact.”
A few weeks ago, she would have agreed, but after spending time with Del, getting to know him, who he really was, she had a different opinion of how his family treated him. Ire rose within her, and she found her cheeks heating with temper.
“You know, I don’t think you or the twins give Del enough credit. You all treat him like a child, but do you even realize he’s a grown man? Has there ever been an issue with him managing Jack’s? No. He’s a very hard worker. He’s not the slacker you all seem to think he is.”
Charlie stared at her with wide eyes. “Wow.”
“What?”
“You really do love Delta. Don’t you?”
Did she? No. The rapid tempo of her pulse was just due to nerves, fear of his sister discovering their ruse. She didn’t love Del… No. Impossible. Sure, the man was kind, caring, sweet, and sexy. Dynamite in the sack too, but that did not add up to love. She just hated seeing his family disregard him the way her own had. He was a kindred soul. That’s all it was, not love.
Too bad she couldn’t tell Charlie that.
“We are getting married.” A non-answer, but one she hoped her friend would accept as agreement.
“I know, but I kind of suspected it was just because of this will stuff. But now,” her head tilted. “I can see it goes deeper than that.”
Sickness rose within her, guilt clogging her throat because her friend was wrong. It didn’t go deeper. Their marriage had everything to do with the will and nothing to do with love or feelings. The confession sat there on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it back. She couldn’t reveal the truth. She and Del were in this thing too deep now.
“I’m happy for you, Cassie. And I’m happy for my brother. He’s getting the best woman in the world as his wife.” Charlie’s eyes widened, her hands covering her mouth as she gasped. “Oh my God, I just realized, we’re going to be sisters!”
She squealed—a very rare occurrence for Charlie—and threw her arms around Cassie’s neck, hugging her tight. Cassie returned the embrace, feeling like week-old garbage. She was lying to her best friend. What would Charlie do when she found out the truth? Nothing, because they could never reveal the truth.
But one thing still worried her, a thought that chilled her blood. They might not ever reveal their ruse, but they’d have to separate at some point. She held no illusion that Del would want to stay fake married to her forever. What would happen when they divorced? Would Charlie still be her friend? Not likely. Who stayed friends with their ex-sister-in-law? Blood canceled out friendship every time.
Once she and Del dissolved their union, she would lose her best friend, too. She’d have to distance herself from the entire Jackson family.
Utter fear choked her at the thought of losing all the people she’d come to consider family over the years. The odd thing was, her heart didn’t break over the thought of losing Charlie. It bled and clenched, to be sure, but it didn’t crack.
While the thought of losing her best friend gutted her, the realization of losing Del hurt even worse. The thought of never seeing Del again, never joking with him, sparring with his clever wit, touching his hard, warm skin. Because who hung around their ex after a divorce?
What the hell did that mean?