“Oh, wow,”she moaned over the creamy sweetness of the frosting paired with the intense lemon of the cake inside.“Incredible.”
“Don’t think you can sit there stuffing your mouth with cake and not answer the question I asked you a minute ago,” Charlotte scolded.
“I didn’t hear a question,” Allie said, taking a glass of pink lemonade and sipping the sugary concoction.
“Fine,” Charlotte said. “If this is all fake, thenwhydo you look at each other like that?”
“You really think there’s something in the way he looks at me?” Allie heard herself ask softly as she put her glass back on the tray.
“Yes,” Charlotte said simply.
Allie nodded, thinking for a moment.
“He told me on our first fake date that he’d gone into all of this because he wanted to get to know me better,” she said at last.
Charlotte kept her mouth shut, but she was smiling, and her eyes were sparkling as she nodded.
“But I’m not sure I believe him,” Allie said, hating to disappoint her friend who was so clearly enjoying the romantic fantasy Allie was spinning.
“Why not?” Charlotte asked.
“Okay, this is embarrassing,” Allie said. “But I was sort of hoping he’d fall for me in real life.”
“That’s not embarrassing,” Charlotte said. “You’d be a great couple, and it’s clear how you and Maya feel about each other.”
“Yeah,” Allie said, wanting to cry at the idea of not seeing as much of Maya as she’d been getting used to. “Anyway, sometimes when he would look at me, it felt like… well, like my heart was fluttering, and like my cheeks were going to burn off my face.”
“I’m familiar with that feeling,” Charlotte said, winking.
“Ugh,”Allie groaned. “Don’t remind me you’re in love with my brother. Gross.”
Charlotte cackled and Allie had to laugh too. It felt good to laugh with her best friend, even if everything else in her life was up in the air.
“Anyway,” Allie went on. “When he told me he wanted us to see each other for real, he looked me right in the eye, and I didn’t getany flutters.”
“Hm,” Charlotte said.
“I think,” Allie began, not sure she wanted to say the words out loud. “I think maybe he likes me because I’m convenient and I’m good for Maya. But… maybe he doesn’t like me for me.”
“What?”Charlotte demanded.
“I mean think about it,” Allie said. “His first wife was practically a supermodel. And what do we even have in common?”
“People say opposites attract,” Charlotte said. “And I hate to point it out, but youdohave Maya in common, and if Tag is any indication, then she’sthemost important part of his life.”
“I know,” Allie said, feeling terrible. “And I really do care about him, and Maya too, of course. I just, I don’t know. I always thought I’d fall for a man who was madly in love with me. This feels more like a business transaction. Am I asking too much?”
Charlotte frowned and looked down at the glass in her hand for a moment.
“No,” she finally said softly. “No, you’re not asking for too much at all.”
Allie nodded, her eyes stinging with unshed tears.
“But do me a favor,” Charlotte said, looking back at her. “Give him a chance. Maybe he was nervous, or you were. Maybe that’s why you didn’t feel those flutters. This whole thing you’ve got going on is pretty out of the ordinary, so you can’t expect everything to feel like it might under more… normal circumstances.”
“Okay,” Allie agreed.
But she just couldn’t picture Ash Tailor beingnervous. The man owned a big business that he was negotiating to take national. He’d uprooted his whole life to bring his daughter to a place where he thought she might be happier.
