Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
ROSE
I go in for a hug, but somehow, we end up mouth to mouth, convincing the entire restaurant that I want to marry this man. I’m not sure whether I initiated this lip lock or if he did. His kiss is gentle and tender until I graze my fingers along his jaw. Then it changes. His fingers thread into my hair, and he pulls me closer.
Long before I’m ready for this to end, he breaks the kiss and whispers, “Pretty sure your entire family will know you’re engaged before we finish with dessert.”
Cheers erupt in the room. None louder than from the table full of his friends.
I grip his hand, hoping that will help me stop shaking. “You’re probably right, and when they do call, it would be good if I knew your name.” Leave it to me to get fake engaged before I even know the man’s name.
“You can call me Dallas.”
“Okay. But just so that I know, am I calling you that because it’s your name or because you’ve opted to have a pretend name for our pretend engagement, and you don’t want me to know your real identity?”
“My name is Dallas Busch. I’m thirty-six years old, and I work as a ranch hand on Stargazer Springs Ranch.” He tips his head toward the table beside us. “Those are my friends. I won’t be offended if you go ask them about me to get confirmation.”
As tempting as it is to ask them, I stay in my seat. “How do I know y’all don’t have a preplanned script for when you pick up women?”
He squeezes my hand, then clasps my other one. “You don’t. So you’ll have to trust me.”
“True. And I don’t think thirty-six is too old.” I lean back as Tanya brings our food to the table, playing his name in my head. When I introduce him, I can’t hesitate, or people will know something is sketchy.
Tanya sets the plates down. “That was just the sweetest. I came over here to see if y’all needed refills, and I was just stunned. Rose, why didn’t you tell me you were dating this guy? Come on. Introduce me.”
Dallas tightens his grip on my hand, which I appreciate. I thought this whole pretend thing would be easy, but it’s far from it.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind romance, and we haven’t really announced anything. But this is Dallas Busch.”
Tanya slaps a hand over her heart. “Rose Potts, that is absolutely perfect. And adorable. You’ll be Rose Busch.” She slides her phone out of her apron. “Lean together and I’ll snap a picture for you to send to your parents. They are going to be so excited.”
I nod, not agreeing but choosing not to say that out loud. And if I’d caught the name thing, I would’ve simply introduced him as Dallas. It is cute though.
After snapping the picture and airdropping it to me, Tanya hurries away with a wave.
“Potts, huh?” Dallas glances down at our clasped hands. “Am I okay to let go? Think you can stop shaking long enough to eat?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I really didn’t expect to react like this. It’s all just so…” I shrug. “I don’t know what it is.”
“Crazy, wild, impulsive, insane. Those words kind of describe this well, I think.”
I pick up my fork, then set it down again. “It’s okay if you want to change your mind. I mean, I’ll just tell people we broke up. If she hadn’t walked up at that moment?—”
“I said I’d do it. I’m not changing my mind now.”
“Thank you, Dallas. I will forever be in your debt. And I’ll try to make this as easy on you as possible. I promise.”
“You won’t owe me. While we eat is a good time to iron out the details. What should I expect from the next six months and what are the ground rules?”
“I guess it’s a little late for a no-kissing rule.”
He blinks, and worry washes over his striking features. “I didn’t mean… It just happened, and I thought…I’m so sor?—”
I pat his leg under the table. “I’m joking. That was a great kiss. Like Princess Bride good.”
His confused look makes it clear that he’s not acquainted with the five purest kisses and the one to beat them all. Sometime during the next six months, I’ll have him watch that movie with me.
“I liked the kiss. Don’t apologize. But as far as rules, I think it would be better if we kept the fake part a secret. Do you think your friends heard what we were talking about? Duh, it probably doesn’t matter. They’ll never believe that you walked in here single, met me, then left engaged.”
He surveys the table, then kisses my cheek before saying. “They don’t have to know it’s fake. I’ll make them believe it. But I do want to tell my aunt. She can keep a secret. She’s my only family, and romance is kind of her thing, so I don’t want her getting her hopes up, you know?”
“You can tell her. And I need to tell my best friend for the same reason. She’ll probably figure it out since I mentioned my brilliant idea to her before I started going on dates. But the fewer people who know, the less chance of my family finding out this isn’t real.”
“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” He picks up his fork and starts eating.
Then I do the same. Once I have some food in me, I’ll text my family chat with my good news.
Later, he pushes his empty plate toward the center of the table, and I give up picking at my food. “So what happens next?” I’m still in shock this silly plan worked, and now I don’t know how to move forward.
“We order dessert.” He picks up the little menu that Tanya left earlier.
“I mean with us. Do we try to spend time together so that we get to know each other better? Or do you just want to know what days we have wedding events? I’m sure we can make it work either way.”
“Whatever you want.”
This is going to be a long six months if he’s going to leave all the decisions to me. Except he hasn’t. He decided that we’d order dessert, and I’m happy about that. I’ll take my dinner home as leftovers and fill up on sweets.
He leans closer so that I can see the offerings. “What looks good to you?”
“The pecan pie looks good. Oh, but they have crème br?lée. It’s so hard to choose.”
Tanya grins as she walks up to the table. “I see y’all are looking at desserts. Have you decided?”
Dallas nods. “Two crème br?lées and a slice of pecan pie. And a coffee for me.” He glances at me, eyebrows raised, silently asking if the order is correct and complete.
“No coffee for me. If I have it this late, I won’t sleep a wink.”
“The desserts will be out in a jiff. And you need to post about your engagement. I keep checking. Do you know how hard it is not to tell our whole family? I’m trying to let you break the news, Rose, but I’m getting impatient.”
“I’ll post soon.” I hate feeling pressured. But in my family, that’s an everyday occurrence. Everyone likes to tell me what to do.
She points at me, then heads toward the kitchen.
Dallas chuckles. “You going to delay longer because she told you to post?”
“Was I that obvious?”
“Note to self. Do not tell Rose what to do.” He drapes an arm across the back of my chair. “If you wanted, you could snap a selfie and show off the ring.”
“Good idea. Do you like the ring? I shopped for days trying to find the perfect one. The diamond is lab-grown, so it didn’t cost me a kidney, but it’s pretty don’t you think?” I hold up the rose-shaped ring, waiting for him to comment.
“It’s beautiful, and it suits you.”
I tilt my head toward his, and in the cliché pose with my hand held up, I snap a selfie of the two of us. Then Dallas kisses my cheek, and I take another photo.
“You choose one and post it, then I’ll share it out. Which reminds me… we should follow each other on social media platforms. I feel like that’s kind of expected if we’re engaged.”
“You’re right.” I swipe between the photos, trying to decide which I like best.
We spend the next couple of minutes friending and following each other. Then I post the announcement photo, the one with Dallas kissing my cheek.
Then he posts the same image with the caption of “She said yes!”
It likely isn’t a coincidence that all his friends look at their phones at the same time. I hope I haven’t put him in a bad spot.
I set my phone down as Tanya approaches with our desserts, and while we indulge in the sweets, my phone buzzes repeatedly.
I’ll deal with the fallout of my decision after I’ve said goodbye to Dallas, and I’m really hoping that goodbye includes another kiss. I’m still confused about how the rose moved from the suit guy who wasn’t my type to this cowboy who so very much is my type. But I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. However, I will absolutely kiss him on the mouth every chance I get.