Chapter 45
BODIE
“So where are we going?” Lacey asked as she pulled her legs into the cab of the truck.
“What are you in the mood for?” I leaned in the open door of the truck, getting my fill of just looking at her. Busting my dad and my grandfather had dragged me down. Seeing Lacey brightened my mood like I’d just gotten my own personal shot of concentrated sunshine.
She shrugged. “I’m easy. Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” Then her cheeks pinked. “By easy I mean I’m flexible.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen how flexible you can be.” I chuckled as she flushed a shade closer to red.
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah, I know.” I pushed the door closed behind her then walked around to the driver’s side. I’d miss the adorable way she looked when she thought she’d embarrassed herself. For a moment I didn’t want to spend the evening with Lacey. It would be one more night of showing me what I’d never have.
But then she leaned across the front seat and pushed open my door. “So you coming or are you going to stand there all night?”
I shook off my hesitation. One more night with Lacey was one more night with Lacey. I’d be a damn fool to pass that up. “You want to go into Swynton for dinner? I hear they’ve got a new place on the other side of town.”
“No. Let’s just go to the Burger Bonanza. There are a few things I want to show you on the way.”
“You’re the boss, Mayor Cherish.” I fired up the truck and headed toward downtown.
“Did you see we planted some flowers around the square?” Lacey asked.
I shook my head. I’d been so busy trying to chase down the dog-fighting ring and worrying about how to handle my family that I hadn’t paid much attention to what had been going on around town. “Sorry, I haven’t noticed.”
She nodded. “Lots of folks are pretty excited about putting Ido on the map. Helmut even ordered a new sign for the Burger Bonanza.”
“Really?” I glanced over at her.
“That’s right. He said if we were going to get an influx of visitors he wanted to have something that would light up at night.”
“Well, it’s about time he upgraded his sign, whether this stunt works or not.”
Her fingers wrapped around my arm. “It’s going to work. We’re going to have so much business people will wonder why we didn’t do this years ago.”
“I hope you’re right.” I looked out the window and caught a glimpse of the sign outside Ortega’s. “‘Congratulations Bodie and Lacey’?”
She bounced on the seat next to me. “Isn’t that sweet? I told you everyone’s excited.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. Like someone had put it in a vise and was slowly tightening the jaws.
“Look. Suzy put up a sign, too.” She pointed to the taxidermy shop. There in the window someone had written PROUD VENDOR OF THE PHILLIPS WEDDING in neon marker.
“Do you think this is getting a little out of control?” I took a hand from the wheel and reached for hers.
“Of course not. I think we finally found a way to bring everyone together. After the warehouse closed most folks around here thought they’d have to move if they wanted to find another job. But now we’re poised to bring a whole bunch of business to town.”
Guilt pressed down on me. “If I’d have known things were that bad with my dad and—”
“Stop.” Lacey squeezed my hand. “What’s done is done. Now it’s up to us to move forward.”
Moving forward. Is that what we were doing?
I didn’t feel like I was moving at all, not forward, backward, or even sideways.
If anything, I felt stuck. Like I’d been caught up in a web of some sort and had no idea how to cut myself loose.
I pulled into an empty spot at the Burger Bonanza.
Lacey let me open her door and even tucked her hand into the crook of my arm as we made our way inside.
Jojo met us at the hostess stand. “Ah, it’s the lovebirds. How many more days until the wedding?”
“Next Saturday,” Lacey said. “You’d better have it on the calendar. You’re doing the cake.”
Jojo grabbed two menus. “Don’t worry about that. I already started on it. I’m thinking about opening up a little business of my own and doing cakes on the side. I figure someone’s going to need to help all those brides we’ll be bringing in.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” Lacey shot me an I-told-you-so grin as she slid into the corner booth.
I took a seat on the vinyl bench and waited for Jojo to drop the menus and move away. “People are opening up businesses? This better work.”
“Stop worrying. Now that we’ve secured the article in the Texas Times there’s nothing standing in our way.” She sidled up next to me. “Why don’t you put your arm around me? Callan Hiller’s keeping an eye on us and I want to give him a good show.”
I obliged, snugging my arm around Lacey’s shoulders and pulling her tight against me.
She smelled like summer and sun and something citrusy.
It was enough to tighten that vise to the point where it felt like my heart was going to be crushed.
I wanted to tell her how I felt, to lay it all out there and see how she’d respond.
Before I could say a word, a clinking noise came from the table behind us. Several other diners lifted their flatware and began to tap their utensils against their water glasses. A chorus of clinks surrounded us.
Lacey turned to face me, her mouth a mere inch or so from mine. “I’ve only ever seen this done at wedding receptions, but I think they want us to kiss.”
I glanced around the cozy interior of the restaurant. Callan stood. “Kiss, kiss, kiss,” he chanted.
I didn’t need further encouragement. I cradled her head in my hands and lowered my mouth to hers. As our lips touched, the vise loosened.
Lacey
I gasped as Bodie deepened the kiss. I felt myself falling, head over heels, my heart so full it nearly burst out of my chest. A round of enthusiastic applause pulled me back to my senses. I broke the kiss, my lungs burning for air.
Bodie opened his eyes and focused on mine. “That ought to keep them satisfied for a while.”
“Mmm-hmm.” I didn’t want to waste any breath on making words. As I gathered my scattered bearings about me, I reminded myself it was just a show. Even though my pulse rocketed, my cheeks tingled, and my toes curled so tight I felt a foot cramp coming on, it was all pretend.
Bodie cleared his throat. “You want a burger basket or should we go all out and get a dinner platter?”
“Oh, I’m not very hungry. I think I’ll just get a salad tonight.”
His brow furrowed. “You sure?”
“Yeah.” My stomach was so tied in knots I couldn’t imagine forcing food into it.
Dinner passed without any other strange requests. Bodie downed his entire burger platter and still managed to finish off my salad. Jojo came by to check on us one more time.
As she approached the table, she pulled her phone out of her apron. “Y’all don’t mind if I snap a picture real quick, do you? Helmut wants me to put it up on our social media. He thinks people will want to eat at the same place BoLa had their last date night before the big day.”
“BoLa?” Bodie asked.
“It’s a mash-up of your names. Bodie plus Lacey equals BoLa, get it? All the celeb couples do it.”
“But we’re not famous,” I protested.
“After that article comes out you will be.” Jojo snapped a few photos. “Thanks. And Helmut says dinner’s on him.”
“You sure about that?” I asked. “I’ve worked here off and on for years and I’ve never heard of him comping someone a meal.”
Jojo shrugged. “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
Bodie slid a ten under his plate for a tip. “Ready to get going?”
“I sure am.” Maybe Bodie was right. Things might be getting a little out of control.
But with the wedding only a week away, our time in the spotlight was almost up.
Which reminded me, we still had one big detail to work out.
As we neared his truck, I pulled on his hand.
“You know, we still haven’t figured out how we’re going to break up. ”
“We haven’t even gotten married yet and you already want to leave me?” he joked.
“I’m serious. The wedding won’t be real but people will think it is. We’ll need a good reason to separate after. Something believable.”
“Irreconcilable differences?” he suggested.
I shook my head. “That sounds complicated. Maybe you could cheat on me.”
“No.” Bodie stopped in his tracks, letting my hand drop.
I’d continued moving forward, so I turned to face him. “Why not? It’s just pretend.”
“I’m not going to be the cheater. If you want out, you cheat on me.” His jaw set, a hint of anger or hurt flickered in his eyes.
“I can’t cheat on you. I’m the mayor.” What kind of mayor would I be if I cheated on my brand-new husband?
“Well, I’m a deputy sheriff. Cheating’s off the table. Pick something else.”
“Fine. Um, how about we just say that we moved too fast? That we need a little space to catch our breath? Everyone will be so busy keeping up with all the new business in town they won’t even think about us.”
“Fine. We’ll say we moved too fast.”
“That it was a rash decision to get married.” I nodded. “If I come up with something better between now and then I’ll let you know. Does that sound okay?”
“Whatever you think.”
I cast a nervous glance his way. I’d been concerned only about getting the media coverage, hadn’t really thought about what might come next. We rode back to his apartment in silence, the only sound coming from the stereo speakers playing the local country station.
He pulled into the spot next to my truck and cut the engine. “You want to come in?”
Oh, I wanted to come in, all right. I wanted to come in and stay a good long while.
All of this pretending had made me realize just how empty my shell of a life had become.
On the outside it seemed like I had it all together: the adoring fiancé, the high-profile job, the big plans to save my hometown.
But I’d been empty on the inside for a long time.
Until my forced time with Bodie had lit me up like the fireworks finale on the Fourth of July.
My fake engagement had been the best thing to happen to me since .
. . I tried but I couldn’t think of anything better.
As much as I wanted to continue the facade, to keep up pretending that Bodie and I were going to tie the knot for real, time was running out and I needed to untangle my heart from his before I was too far gone.
“I’d better not. I still have so much to do.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”
I took my time getting out of his truck and switching over to mine, all the while what-ifs and why-nots swirled around in my head, almost making me see stars.
Better to leave things like this. If I went in, there was a good chance I’d give in to the feelings all of this pretending with Bodie had stirred up inside.
That would only make things harder in the long run.
“So I’ll see you on Saturday?” I asked.
“I’ll be the one in the penguin suit.” He smiled, the kind of smile that made me want to throw my arms around his neck and kiss that smirk right off his lips.
Instead, I responded with a grin of my own. Then I threw the truck in gear and gunned it out of the parking lot before I did something I’d regret. Like fall a little more in love with the man of my dreams. The man I’d convinced to pose as my fake fiancé.