Page 118 of Some Like It Hot

I don’t know if I like that answer. I do have feelings for him. I want his grandmother to believe that. But I don’t know if I want to be broadcasting it to the entire world. I don’t even know if I want Blake to know that. That will make things a lot more complicated when it comes time to end this. I don’t want it to be awkward when he says "Hey, thanks for the help. Really excited for the cabin. You were a real trooper.”

“For what it’s worth,” Luna says, moving behind me to refill the coffee cup for the woman at the counter. “He clearly has feelings for you, too. It will be a very easy sell to his grandmother.”

I don’t know if that helps. It’s not like it matters. I do think that Blake likes me. I think we went from casual flirtation to much more pretty easily. But I’m not a part of his long-term plan. He wants to live in Minnesota. I am a Chicago girl. My business is just taking off here. I am not the outdoorsy, live–in–a–cabin type of girl. At. All.

I just give Luna a smile, at a loss for words. Then I head for the table. I set the desserts down and hand Blake the plates. He chooses one of each of the desserts, setting them on one of the plates and handing it to his grandmother. Then he does the same for me as I take the seat next to him, the diamond ring heavy on my finger.

“You’re a model. And you design your own dresses,” Heidi says. “Tell me all about that. That’s amazing.”

I relax slightly and give Blake a smile. He told his grandmother about my business and that makes this first topic of conversation easy. There doesn’t need to be any lies here.

“This has been absolutely lovely,” Heidi says.

We have been chatting and eating for forty-five minutes. She loves the desserts, loves the cappuccino, and seemingly loves me.

We’ve answered every question, we haven’t stumbled over a single thing, and Blake has visibly relaxed. He’s leaning back in the tiny chair, and has his arm draped over the back of my chair.

“What have you discussed with your parents as far as the wedding?” Heidi asks me.

I carefully swallow the sip of coffee without choking and set my cup down.

“Um…we haven’t discussed details at all yet.”

Heidi frowns and I feel a trickle of trepidation. Dammit. It’s been going so well.

“Oh. I was hoping for some news on a wedding date.”

Blake shifts on his chair, but I don’t risk looking at him for fear of giving away the what the hell going through my mind.

“We haven’t set a date yet,” he says.

“Really?” Heidi leans in.

“Yes, really,” Blake says. “Why do you look confused?”

“Because that’s confusing. Elise is wonderful. You’re obviously completely enamored. There’s a huge ring on her finger. Your retirement is coming up. Seems that you would want to get married before making a big move to Minnesota, especially because Elise will be needing to move her business and figure out how to continue with her modeling.” She looks at me. “Or are you going to quit? I mean you’re just getting started. You seem so excited about it. But that will be difficult from Minnesota. Or maybe not. Everyone is on social media these days.”

I swallow. “Well, I…”

“Obviously we’ll be traveling back-and-forth from Minnesota to Chicago whenever Elise needs to,” Blake says easily.

“I see,” Heidi says. "That will make fittings with your clients much more difficult. Of course, you can gain clients in Minnesota. Still, living way out there in the woods is going to make it hard for people to come to you. Are you able to travel and do fittings with clients hours away?”

Shit, shit, shit. I shouldn’t have given her so many details about my business. I just get carried away when I’m talking about it.

I nod. “Of course. I’ll become a traveling show.” I smile. “I’ll be in Chicago once a month. People will come to their fittings when I’m in town. And I’ll do adjustments then. And I would love to expand to a Minnesota clientele. I can easily go to them.” I have no idea if that’s true, but it sounds good. “A lot of my customers are strictly online anyway.” It doesn’t matter. All of this is fake. Don’t panic.

Heidi shakes her head. “Well, not easily. We are pretty off the grid up there.” She turns her attention to Blake. “Have you not told her? You really should take her to the cabin so she knows what she’s getting into.”

“Of course I’m going to take her to the cabin,” Blake says. “But we’re going to work all of this out. Being together is the most important thing.”

Heidi focuses on me. “Elise doesn’t seem like the type of woman to give up her career. Especially when you’re retiring. You should just stay in Chicago.”

I look at Blake. He’s gritting his teeth. I smile at his grandmother. “We’ll work it out. I love my job. But I also love your grandson.”

Saying the words that I love Blake out loud, in front of him, to his grandmother, feels a little too real to me. I feel a shiver of awareness trip down my spine and realize Blake is staring at me.

His grandmother is watching us closely, so I give her a big smile.

---