Page 27 of Pretend Girlfriend

I made a face at his back as he walked away. That wasn’t the first time he’d made inappropriate sex jokes around me. I really needed to get a new job.

Ugh. I have to go to the rehearsal dinner, don’t I?

10

Joanna

I had cooled off by the time work ended. My office was only a mile from the rehearsal dinner restaurant, but the junior partner reminded me of the stain on my skirt as I walked out the door (“I’m going to start calling you Monica! Get it? Like the Clinton intern?”) I rushed home, changed into a different pencil skirt, and then hopped on the Metra line back to the city.

I was half an hour late when I walked into Maple & Ash. I had never been there before, but it was nice. The ceilings were twenty feet high, with enormous chandeliers that were shaped like dangling pearl necklaces. The hostess led me to a large private room in the back, closed off from the rest of the restaurant.

Everyone was standing around mingling in groups while soft music played. I breathed a sigh of relief. Showing up while everyone was already seated would have drawn the wrong kind of attention.

A waitress walked by, and I leaned out in front of her. “Are you taking orders? I’ll have a double shot of tequila, with ice.”

A firm hand squeezed my arm. “My girlfriend is joking. She’ll have a glass of the house chardonnay.”

I whirled around. Landon was wearing grey slacks and a black button-down, with a silvery-grey tie. His lips were curled into a frown.

The same lips that kissed me last week…

I shook off the memory and glared defiantly at my fake-boyfriend. “I want something stronger.”

“You should have taken care of that before coming.” Landon glanced at his watch. “You’re late. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come to your senses.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? You don’t have to be so patronizing about it.”

Landon gritted his teeth and started to say something before being interrupted.

“There she is!” Danicka exclaimed, hurrying over to me with a glass of wine held high. After hugging me, she said, “Landon told us you were stuck at work.”

“I was able to get away. You know I wouldn’t miss the rehearsal dinner!”

The waitress returned with my wine. Then Danicka took me by the arm and led me toward another group of people. “Come. I simply must introduce you to the rest of the family.”

For the next twenty minutes, Danicka showed me off to everyone else at the rehearsal dinner. First I met Carol, Marisa’s older sister who was recently divorced. After that came the bridesmaids: Chloe, Wanda, and Liz the Maid of Honor. Then I met Landon’s uncle, Robert, who winced as I shook his hand and said, “That’s going to leave a mark!”

“He uses that phrase literally all the time,” Landon whispered to me. “Even when it doesn’t fit. I don’t think he knows what it means.”

After that I met Marisa’s best friend Austin, who had a smooth Texas drawl and an easy half-smile. He was playing the guitar during the ceremony tomorrow. “He might be the most handsome man I’ve ever met,” I whispered to Marisa when he was gone. “He’s your best friend? Is he gay?”

Marisa giggled. “We dated in high school, but only for a month. That was a decade ago. He’s like a brother to me!”

I nodded along, but the way Austin looked at Marisa told me that he didn’t feel the same way she did.

There was a parade of cousins, grandparents, and nephews to meet. I was grateful that I would never see them again after the wedding, because I was struggling to remember their names.

“Landon is such a sweet boy,” one of the grandmothers said to me. I’d heard similar sentiments from pretty much everyone I’d met so far.

“Yeah, he’s just super,” I replied. “We’re really happy together.”

After the grandmother was gone, Landon gently took hold of my arm. “You’re not very convincing tonight,” he breathed into my ear.

“It’s harder to pretend to like you on account of the blackmail,” I whispered back.

“You blackmailed me first.”

“Only because you don’t know how to keep your word!”

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