Connie grabbed Sweeney’s hand. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask but, please, just give us this? We’ll wait for a bit after you both leave and announce the engagement is off.’
‘Yes.’ Ronnie nodded, slipping her hand into Fin’s. ‘Please don’t make us look like desperate idiots in front of the wholetown.’
And that was it—the clincher. Itwouldbe highly embarrassing for their mothers to have to admit they’d lied tonight. As Fin looked at Sweeney, he could see that she knew it too. Her annoyance had morphed into the same kind of cornered acceptance currently snaking its way through his insides.
‘God…’ Sweeney shook her head. ‘I can’t believe I’m even considering this.’
Fin nodded. ‘Same.’
Although he supposed if he was going to be fake engaged to anybody, Sweeney was the logical choice. They’d known each other forever, beenfriendsforever, which gave them a certain synergy that wouldn’t have been possible in another random pairing in this ridiculous scenario.
She shrugged. ‘You’re going to have to keep it up longer than me.’
Fin was really regretting the decision to stay for four weeks so he could be with his mum for his dad’s birthday—but, as exasperated as he was right now, he couldn’tnotstay, either.
He sighed. ‘Probably be easier to pull off with just one of us here anyway.’
‘True,’ she murmured.
‘So…’ Connie looked from one to the other. ‘Is that a yes?’
Fin cocked an eyebrow at Sweeney, who shut her eyes briefly then nodded. And that was all it took for their grinning mothers to sweep them into another group hug.
‘Thank you, thank you,’ Ronnie whispered. ‘And we’re really sorry, again, for putting you in this position.’
‘Yes,’ Connie agreed. ‘We’ll never askanythingof you again after this.’
‘Pinkie swear,’ Ronnie echoed.
Fin rolled his eyes. Right now, fake engaged to his oldest friend in the world, he would take that promise with a grain of salt.
‘Okay, okay,’ Sweeney said, pulling out of the group hug. ‘Let’s just get tonight over with, huh?’
‘Of course.’ Ronnie nodded, exceedingly amenable.
Fin, as eager to be done with this as Sweeney, straightened his spine. He glanced over his shoulder at the milling crowd chatting in their groups while pretending not to be remotely interested in the alcove reunion.
He held out his hand to Sweeney. ‘You ready?’
She looked at it blankly for a moment as though she wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to do with it. Considering she’d done the same to him earlier outside the pub, it shouldn’t have been a thing. It shouldn’t have felt… odd.
And yetnowit did.
He certainly didn’t blame her for her reluctance. She’d offered her hand without hesitancy outside the pub, to a friend of over thirty years. Now that they were thirty seconds into accepting this ludicrous fake engagement, it seemed rather more loaded.
But she took it, and then Connie and Ronnie were ushering them forward. Catherine moved out of the way so all four could stand under the beam, their mothers grinning like all their Christmases had come at once, Fin and Sweeney sandwiched between them.
‘We give you the happy couple,’ Ronnie announced.
Fin suppressed another eye roll at the unnecessary theatre, but the crowd lapped it up. They clapped and cheered, hollering congratulations, all clearly thrilled.
‘Crap,’ Fin muttered to Sweeney out of the side of his mouth, his smile fixed, his voice too low to be heard over the racket by anyone but her.
‘Uh huh,’ she murmured back, her smile also frozen in place.
Suddenly, what felt like a hundred phones were pointing at them, taking photos, some with flashes and some without, their mothers beaming, as though it was a royal balcony appearance. Then came the inevitable calls.
‘Give her a kiss, Fin.’
