30. Emma
Chapter Thirty
EMMA
B ethany nudged her so hard, Emma nearly fell off the bucket.
“ Hey ,” she protested. But it was weak, her heart not in it.
“What’s eating you?” the other barista asked.
Emma pressed her lips together, wishing Kyle hadn’t traded with the other woman because of a last-minute dental appointment.
Damn, I’m going to regret this . “I’m having dinner with Garrett tonight.”
Bethany put her hands on her hips. “If you are about to complain about that hot piece of ass?—”
She held up a hand to forestall a diatribe. “It’s not that. We… got married.”
Bethany’s mouth dropped open. Nothing came out.
“I should write this down in my calendar.” Emma smiled despite herself. She took out her phone and pretended to make a note. “Bethany is speechless.”
“Holy shit!” the other woman burst out.
“Don’t get excited,” Emma warned. “It’s a platonic arrangement. I was going to lose my health insurance, remember? That’s how he fixed it. ”
“ By marrying you ?” Bethany screeched, the piercing sound scaring away a customer who’d just walked up to the window.
Emma rubbed her ear. “ Yes . But like I said, it’s strictly platonic. He made me sign a prenup and everything.”
“Oh.” Bethany’s excitement dimmed. “Well, you still get something. Free room and board at least. Have you fucked him yet?”
“No. And it’s not going to happen,” she added dejectedly.
“Huh.” Bethany turned to face her. “You almost sound sorry about that.”
“No… but I guess I sort of thought we were getting closer. Then he mentioned dinner and I almost asked him if it was a date.”
“Is it?”
She shook her head. “He was out in the hall with his friend and neighbor Rainer, talking about his wedding right after we spoke. They were discussing hiring strippers for the bachelor party. Garrett said something about making the call, so I guess he’s taking care of it personally.”
Emma doubted he had a specialty buyer for strippers. Unless his fancy concierge service found hot women for him.
“That doesn’t mean your dinner isn’t a date,” Bethany pointed out with surprising kindness.
Emma grunted. “I wouldn’t want to date someone who turned right around and made plans to hire a stripper. Besides, he’s probably taking someone else to the wedding.”
She lifted a shoulder, shaking off her unwarranted melancholia. “I have no cause for complaint. Married or not, Garrett is doing what he told Hector. I gave him a reason to study and get good grades back in high school and now he’s paying it forward.”
“Hmm.” Bethany smacked her lips. “That’s way more boring. Well, prenup or not, you’re still the luckiest bitch I know.”
Emma nodded because it was true.
She had been doing her damnedest before Garrett but trying to work part-time with her condition meant not having the time or energy for anything else. Certainly not college classes.
Emma was barely working at all now .
Hector hadn’t come right out and said he was cutting her hours, but she had been scheduled to work a mere two days this week. That was something that would have made her spiral and freak even with the free room and board. But now she was getting five thousand dollars a week she didn’t earn.
She wasn’t going to touch it, of course. But the money was sitting in her bank account right now. Emma had checked her balance on her phone before starting her shift. Even if she never spent it, she could do what Garrett suggested and invest it. Then she could spend the dividends it made guilt-free.
It didn’t matter how she got this chance . Emma owed it to her family to make the most of it.
As for Garrett, he may be her husband, but it was a marriage of convenience. A paper marriage. It meant nothing to him. His convo about strippers made that clear.
The thought of going to the wedding this weekend and watching him dance with his date made her stomach hurt. But she would do it with a smile, because after all he was doing for her, Garrett deserved to live his life however he wanted, with whomever he wanted.
Garrett examined the bow he’d just made in his tie and swore. He walked to the door of his bedroom and called out for Emma.
She emerged from her room in a new dress that skimmed her curves so perfectly he nearly swallowed his tongue.
Her dress was a deep emerald green made from some silky synthetic material that alternately gathered or flowed over all the right places. Her hair was loose, falling down her back in shiny waves. She was holding a brush in her hand.
“I don’t suppose you know how to tie a bow tie?” he asked when he recovered.
Panic flared in her eyes for a second before she laughed. “Not unless it’s a clip-on.”
Yeah, he was an idiot. Even pre-accident Emma wouldn’ t have had bow-tying experience. She didn’t have a dad or a granddad. And if he found out that one of her mom’s boyfriends had asked her to fix their tie, Garrett would go after them with a baseball bat.
“There is a clip-on option,” he confessed, “but I wasn’t quite prepared to admit defeat just yet.”
Her brow puckered adorably. “I thought you went to black tie events all the time.”
“I do, but I make it a point not to wear a bow tie. I think they’re outdated as hell. But it’s different for a wedding. I don’t want to ruin Georgia’s pictures.”
He began to back away. “No worries, I’ll wear the clip-on.”
“Thank God.” Emma wiped her brow in faux relief. “But since you’re here, I wanted to ask if it’s okay if Kyle rides with us?”
He paused in the doorway. “Kyle?”
“Yeah.” Emma ran her palms down her skirt. “Georgia said I could have a plus-one because I wouldn’t know anyone at the wedding besides you.”
Her voice grew hesitant when he didn’t speak. “Is that okay?”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah.”
It made perfect sense. Garrett was in the wedding party and would no doubt be occupied for a big chunk of the festivities, posing for pictures and giving the toast.
“Good, good.” Emma swung her brush around, accidentally smacking it into the doorframe of her room. “But if you need to leave early because you’re in the wedding party, don’t worry about it. You and your date can take the car.”
His what? Had she said date ? No. He must have misheard.
Emma misinterpreted his confusion because she held up her phone. “ Don’t worry. We won’t take the bus. I signed up for that luxury Uber like you asked.”
He nodded absently, wondering if he should ask her to repeat herself.
“Is everything all right?” she asked when he stayed quiet too long.
“Yeah. Don’t worry about the car service. I do have to be at the church early, but the car can come back for you and Kyle with plenty of time.”
“Okay,” she said and hesitated, waving her phone. “We can still get a ride after if you and your date want to go out afterward.”
Christ . She had said date.
Garrett needed to nip this in the bud. “No need. I don’t have a date.”
“Shit,” Emma muttered under her breath, her cheeks turning rosy. “Were we supposed to go together?”
“No,” he lied. “I figured we’d carpool but given my best man duties, it makes more sense to have you hang back with Kyle. I don’t think George is going to require that many photos, but she hired some big-name photographer so never say never.”
Emma put her phone away, her relief obvious. “Okay, great. We’ll have your car come back for us if it’s not too much trouble.”
He pasted a smile on his face. “No trouble at all. And it’s a good idea to take another friend along since I’ll be busy. I should have thought of it myself.”
At least she had invited Kyle. He’d rather pluck out several nose hairs than willingly spend time with Bethany. And God forbid Emma try and bring a real date.
Wait, why hadn’t she asked Pedro?
“Are you upset—” He trailed off, deciding it wasn’t in his best interests to point out the rift he’d caused.
“Upset about what?” Emma asked in a lower voice.
He thought quickly. “That Georgia didn’t ask you to be a bridesmaid.”
Her features relaxed, making him wonder what she thought he was going to say.
“Oh, no. I completely understand. She’d already chosen her bridal party before we met. And Judy has been doing an awesome job as maid of honor. I’m just happy to be invited.”
“Yeah, Judy is great.”
And now that Georgia’s top salesperson and business partner was dating someone, she’d finally stopped hitting on him. Which was utterly fantastic as far as he was concerned.
Not that there was anything wrong with Judy. But staring at Emma in that dress now, he realized why he’d never responded to the petite Filipina’s flirtation.
Garrett had a type. It had been stamped into his psyche during his most formative years.
Through some quirk of fate, the woman who’d inspired it was standing in front of him now. Wearing a dress he wanted to rip off her with his teeth.
Swallowing heavily, he made a production of checking his watch. “I guess I should get going. I’ll see you at the end of the ceremony. You and Kyle can ride with me to the reception.”
“Sounds good.” Emma beamed at him. “I’m so excited! This is going to be so much fun.”
Garrett forced a smile that quickly became genuine at her enthusiasm. They had only been married for a few weeks.
“It’s early days yet,” he said aloud. “There’s plenty of time.”
She looked confused for a second. “Days? More like a couple of hours. And that becomes less true every minute. Now scoot. You can’t keep George waiting.”
She waved the brush in the direction of the door. Saluting, he went down to meet the car.