Chapter 10 #3
“ Really?! ” Her hand shot out and gripped his forearm of its own accord. He didn’t shake her off, so she left it there.
A grin spread his lips. “Desperation is a new look on you, Jameson. I kind of like it.”
She rolled her eyes and dropped her hand, afraid she’d misjudged the whole situation and he’d been playing her from the start.
Gabe looked amused. “Sorry, old habits die hard. I’m just messing with you. Yes, I will come with you to your sister’s wedding
in Cancún.”
Emmy’s heart lifted, but she eyed him with great caution. “Not messing with me now?”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Not messing with you, promise. But can I be there by Friday? You’re right this is short
notice, and I have some things to take care of before leaving.”
“Yes!” Emmy almost jumped on him again. “Yes, that’s perfect. The rehearsal dinner is at five. Any time before that is fine.
And we have the hotel until Monday, so you can stay as long as works for you.”
“Cool,” he said with a nod. “Can you text me all the information?”
And just like that, he invited the awkward elephant right back to the party. Because Emmy Jameson did not have Gabe Olson’s
phone number. But Bird Girl had Axe Murderer’s.
Emmy pursed her lips. Nerves coursed through her body like an army of ants. “Yes, but about that. I think it would be best
if you come to the wedding as you, not... the other guy. We don’t have to tell anyone who you really are. There will be
fewer questions that way.” She bit her lip and awkwardly looked away.
She felt his eyes studying her. The nervous ants started dancing in a conga line. Then he nodded in understanding. “Oh, right.
Because you told your sister and your best friend about me. Well, the other me.”
“Right.”
She silently thanked him for not mentioning what her sister had said about Emmy hating him the night of her bachelorette party.
He stroked his jaw again like he might have been remembering it. “Yeah, sure. I can do that.”
“Thank you—and. Shit,” she mumbled, suddenly drowning in embarrassment again. She set her coffee down so she didn’t spill
it in her fluster. “I was going to tell you this anyway—well, the other you—but that was before we realized... And now—”
Her words were messy and jumbled, and she wanted to melt through the floor, but Gabe was looking at her with sincere interest.
“Tell me what?”
Emmy took a breath, knowing she needed to be honest with him because this tidbit would be an unfair bomb to drop on him three
thousand miles away from home. “The reason I’m so desperate to have a date to this wedding is because my ex is going to be
there.”
The interest on Gabe’s face bent into a frown while one brow flicked up. He almost looked protective, and it made Emmy tingle.
“The one who told you to choose between him and your career?”
It took her a moment to remember that when she’d told Axe Murderer that information in confidence, she’d been talking to Gabe.
God , he knew so much about her. She felt like she had secrets popping out of her like confetti. She fought to maintain her composure
and not dissolve into a puddle of shame. But he wasn’t looking at her with any judgment, but rather, concern.
“Yes, that ex is going to be there,” Emmy confirmed.
“Why?” He asked a very legitimate question.
“Because he’s my brother-in-law’s cousin’s plus one.
My sister can’t uninvite them; it’s a whole thing.
” She was mumbling again, rushing out words in a flood of embarrassment.
She threw her hands over her face. “It’s just.
.. I can’t have him show up and see me there alone and think he won.
” She listened to the sound of her breath bounce off her palms, her nervous pulse racing, until she felt his hands circle her wrists.
He gently pulled her arms down so he could see her face.
“Hey. I promise you he lost, Emmy.”
They stared at each other for a heart-thudding moment that made Emmy forget to breathe. It sounded like something Axe Murderer
would say in text, and there was Gabe saying it to her face.
They’re the same person. She heard Beth’s words again.
She didn’t have time to fuse the two men she knew into one being before Silas appeared at the kitchen doorway.
“What’s going on in here?” he asked when he came to an abrupt stop at the sight of them.
Both Emmy and Gabe startled and looked up to see him approaching. Emmy flushed at the suspicious look on his face, feeling
like they’d been caught and had We’ve been having a secret texting affair written across both their foreheads. Not to mention, Gabe was still holding her wrists.
He quickly let go.
Silas blinked a few times and then grinned. “You guys are supposed to hate each other. Why are you in here looking all chummy?”
They obviously could not answer him honestly.
Relief flooded through Emmy when Gabe reached out to slap him on the back. “Jameson was just showing me the wonders of oat
milk. That’s all. Turns out, you all are onto something.” He left the kitchen casually sipping his coffee.
Silas looked at Emmy with an arched brow.
She simply shrugged, thankful Gabe had come to her rescue in multiple senses: for covering about their conversation and for
agreeing to be her wedding date.
Now all she had to do was figure out how she was going to handle being in Mexico all weekend with her archnemesis turned anonymous
pen pal who made her heart flutter. No big deal.