I was reminded of Drew slapping his platinum credit card on the counter just a few minutes prior. I had my end of the bargain to uphold and more money headed my way.
“Fine. Take me to dinner… sweetheart.”
His handsome face broke into a grin that almost made me believe that I had the power to make the grumpiest man in America happy.
I mean, dimples don’t lie, right?
10
DREW
Settling in for a meal at Dieci was always a good idea. I’d tipped the maître d’ to seat us at a table that was impossible to ignore given the location and strategic lighting, but was far enough away from the other diners that we could map out our battle strategy together without worrying about being overheard. It was the perfect spot to check off two items on our list: being seen in public together and figuring out the parameters of our fake engagement.
But figuring things out had to wait, because Emilia’s phone started beeping pretty much as soon as we sat down—another Bridezilla having a meltdown, apparently. She grimaced. “Sorry, do you mind if I…?” She held up the phone. I gestured for her to go ahead.
The next ten minutes were a display of the most coordination I’ve ever seen in my life, including performances of Cirque de Soleil. Sticking in an earpiece and keeping her voice at a low hush, she managed to calm down a bride who, it seemed, had just had a disastrous haircut, send a dozen text messages to coordinate an emergency appointment with a new stylist, complete with reference photos for the new style.
At the same time, she managed to squeeze in her meal order while giving the waiter a smile that had the boy blush fire-engine red. Everything was handled so smoothly that it was like watching a dance, right up until she put her phone away with a flourish and met my eyes for pretty much the first time since we’d sat down.
At that moment, I realized something startling. That show she’d just put on… wasn’t for me. She hadn’t been playing up a single thing because I was present as her audience. She’d mostly seemed to forget I was even there. It was an odd scenario for me, because it was rare that a date wasn’t doing backflips and other contortions to try to impress me.
She clearly couldn’t care less whether she impressed me or not. But shedidimpress me,all the same. Emilia being Emilia was impressive on its own, with no need to put on a show.
I leaned closer. “We should take this time to map out our backstory, because you know Dorian is going to push on this plot point.”
“You’re right. Let’s figure it out. I’d say we’ve been dating … um …”
She looked me up and down like she was seeing me for the first time.
“Six months,” Emilia said with conviction.
I frowned at her. “And we’re already engaged? That feels awfully fast for such a big decision.”
“Yeah but look at our models for this relationship. Kristen and Carter have been together for like, milliseconds! It’s taking longer to plan their wedding than their actual courtship,” she pointed out, which I had to admit was a fair point. “Plus, I like the idea of us getting swept off our feet by the passion. All we want is for the rest of our lives to begin rightnow.”
Her eyes went shiny as she said it, like a true romantic. Usually, I hadlittle patience for romantics… but I could admit, just to myself, that it was a good look for her.
“Well, okay then. You’ve convinced me, six months it is. And as for how we met, how about a meet-cute at the resort?”
We paused when the waiter came back with the bottle of wine I’d ordered. He poured, we kept quiet until he left us alone again.
“It makes sense since I’ve done quite a few weddings there. But where’s the cute in our meet? We can’t just say we thought the other person was totally bangable so here we are, boom, engaged.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Doyou think I’m totally bangable?”
She huffed at me. “Did I say that?”
Oh, she was adorable when she was fired up.
“You implied it, but whatever.” I winked at her and she rolled her eyes. “Moving on. So how did it happen?”
She stared into space with her eyes squinted for a few seconds. “The way we actually met sort of works. Tripping over dogs, switched phones … if we can pretend that it was actually silly and fun and not you freaking the fuck out about adorable puppies, then it works.”
“Hold up. That was a longstanding grudge that had next to nothing to do with the dogs themselves?—”
She put her hand up. “We’ve been through this already. Just keep it high level and we’ll be fine. Meet cute established, what’s next?”
Whatwasnext? I’d never been engaged, never even come close. I had no clue what it was supposed to look like. The only model I had was my brother, and that was no help. He had a one-in-a-million love with Gwen. I couldn’t imitate that since I had no expectation of ever finding something like that for myself.
