I shrugged. “Sure, whatever.” I knew she had great taste and I had deep pockets so it seemed like a winning combination for a home reno.
“But I insist on paying for all that—”
“Like hell you will!” Was she insane? “This is my house, I’ll pay for any improvements we make.”
“Oh, of course it is!” She blushed. “And needless to say, we’ll get a pre-nup before we tie the knot. I don’t want anything from this marriage when it ends. It’ll be in name only, that goes without saying.”
In name only? Not if I had my way.
ChapterTwo
Gia
I couldn’t believe Joel was so accommodating. A girl couldn’t ask for a better friend, but I hadn’t told him the worst part yet. Once I did I might get a big… hell no!
“We’d have to get married before my meeting with the networks, and have some nice pics to share on social media. Again, a branding thing.” I rushed on. “I’ve been working with a branding consultant the last few months and she said I needed to start posting more personal pics, you know, with my man, dog—”
“You don’t have a dog,” he said, looking amused as he bit into another sweet, ripe berry.
I was temporarily distracted by his full lips. Ugh, he had an amazing mouth. And I had no doubt he’d be an incredible kisser. Not that I had any intention of going there. If we crossed that line, I’d get way too comfortable in his paradise and never want to leave. That would destroy our friendship and I wasn’t willing to risk that for anything.
“Um, I was thinking about that. Every farm should have a dog, don’t you think? Your family always had one, so did mine.”
“Yeah, but a puppy is a lot of work.” He refilled my half-empty juice glass. “And it sounds like we’re already going to have our hands full with the reno, a small wedding, your filming schedule and the rest of your business demands. I don’t want you to wear yourself out, G.”
He hadn’t even mentioned the fact that he also had a business to run and a full life, but that was so typical of Joel, always putting me first. “We could see about an older rescue dog, one that’s already well-trained. You know how hard it is for older dogs to get adopted and we both love dogs.” I was probably over-selling but a dog had always been part of my dream and I’d heard Joel mention getting a dog more than once.
He shrugged. “Okay, that seems like the easiest place to start. If you can hang out while I grab a quick shower, we can go to the shelter now.”
I gaped at him. “But you haven’t even heard the rest of my pitch, and you already want to adopt a dog with me? That’s a big step. Besides, what happens after we split? Will we share custody?” He laughed, but I was dead serious. I didn’t know if I could give my heart to a dog only to leave him behind.
“We can, if you want to. I’ll have him during the week and you can take him on weekends and holidays.”
“Or her.”
“Excuse me?”
“You assume it will be a male dog, but maybe we’ll fall in love with a female.” I wagged my finger at him. “Lord knows the females have a way of drawing you in.”
“Only certain females,” he said, curling his hand around mine before brushing his lips over my knuckles.
I knew he was just teasing, but tell that to the chill bumps breaking out all over my body.
“Besides, we don’t really have time to waste, do we?” He leaned back in the old oak chair that had been a fixture in his family’s kitchen for as long as I could remember. “We should probably apply for the marriage license Monday. And you keep telling me how popular farm or barn weddings are, so we could have it here. Shouldn’t take too long to throw it together if we already have the venue, right?”
I tapped his cheek with my open palm. “Ah, my naïve friend. You really are clueless about all the work that goes into planning a wedding, aren’t you?”
“Enlighten me, oh wise one.”
I began ticking off the items on my fingers. “Flowers, music, dresses, suits, someone to officiate, wedding party, cake, invitations, caterer, rings, photographer, videographer—”
“For a tiny backyard wedding?” He rolled his eyes. “That sounds like overkill, don’t you think?”
“Hon.” I closed my hand over his. “You don’t get it. This is wedding season! This would be a huge opportunity for me to attract more followers, brides to be, if I started posting all the details to my social media accounts.”
He got up to re-fill his coffee after asking me if I wanted another. “Hey, you can do whatever you want. Makes no difference to me.”
I had never met a man as agreeable as Joel. If I didn’t know him so well, I would have assumed there was a catch, but this man didn’t play games. He had strong opinions and wasn’t afraid to voice them, but refused to waste time and energy on the petty things. He claimed life was too short to sweat the small stuff. I often wished I could take a page from his book. I sweated buckets over every little insignificant detail, obsessed with everything going according to plan.
