Page 9 of False Confidence

“You dodged a bullet.”

“Yep. What do you want your wedding to look like if you get married?” he asked, and Jazz gave him an exaggerated frown.

“What do you mean if? I’m forcing you to marry me so I can be a Michaelson, remember?” They’d joked about it, drunk, at Maggie and Cal’s wedding, and Liam’s eyes lit up as she reminded him, as if she was actually managing to distract him from the fact his ex-best friend was about to marry the woman he, himself, had been planning to propose to.

“Alright, well, what will our wedding look like then?”

Jazz took a deep breath, humming as she stared around the venue. There had to be hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of white roses covering the room, but all they did was make the place feel cluttered. The aisle was white marble with gold veining, not unlike a serving board she’d picked up a couple of years ago on clearance from T.J. Maxx. It looked expensive, sure, but that didn’t mean it looked good.

“Not like this, that’s for sure. Let’s see… Halloween,” she said, finally, and Liam quirked an amused brow.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, we’d make it seem like it was just a Halloween party and everyone would show up in their best costumes, and we would throw everything into chaos by announcing we were getting married. I would wear?—”

“It’s bad luck for the groom to know what the bride is wearing,” Liam interrupted and Jazz gasped, holding a hand to her chest in mock outrage.

“You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ll guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

“That sounds like a perfect wedding to me. Think of the Halloween cocktail menu op?—”

“Liam?”

The light instantly drained from Liam’s face, the end of his sentence catching in his throat. He swallowed it down and Jazz didn’t think twice before grabbing his hand and pulling it to her lap, squeezing.

She looked up at the couple hovering beside Liam.

“Hey,” Liam said, a forced smile on his face that soured her stomach. “Um, Jazz, this is Thomas and Veronica. We went to school together. Guys, this is Jazz. My partner.”

He didn’t hesitate before calling her his partner, but his voice softened, his lips lifting in a hint of a smile. If the job with Maggie didn’t work out, he should give acting a shot.

She’d never been called a partner before. Girlfriend, yes, but more often than not, she was just a friend.

“This is my friend Jazz, everyone.” The guy she’d been dating for five months who had asked her to be exclusive—but only her. He continued to see other people.

“Everyone, meet Jazz. She’s a friend from work.” The woman who’d told her she loved her every morning and night, a few days after they’d discussed moving in together.

It stung, sure, but it was what it was and Jazz never let it bother her. She didn’t need a label to be happy. Nor was she particularly interested in being in any kind of relationship. She just wanted to have fun. But partner… fake or not, it felt nice to be spoken about like she mattered.

Which was stupid. Of course she mattered. It was just a word, and Jazz didn’t care about it one bit.

Thomas and Veronica took the two seats on Liam’s other side and leaned in closer.

“How have you been? It’s been a while since we last spoke,” Veronica said, and Jazz wanted to wipe her look of faux-sympathy from her face. If they hadn’t spoken in a while, they’d clearly taken Liam’s ex’s side and, by default, Jazz hated them.

She felt rather than saw Liam stiffen, and ran her thumb across the back of his hand, reminding him she was there. His body relaxed into hers a little.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. I’ve been good, thanks. How have you been?”

“All good here,” Thomas answered with a dismissive wave of his hand. “We were sorry to hear you’re not at the museum anymore. I know that was your dream job.”

Jesus, had these people never heard of not the time or place?

Liam’s jaw ticked, but he was putting on a perfect show of being fine. Jazz was sure neither Thomas nor Veronica could see anything wrong with him.

“Oh, it’s fine. I was ready for a new challenge anyway, and my new job is perfect.”

The couple raised their brows. “We hadn’t heard that you had a new job. What are you doing now?”

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