Page 50 of Marrying Off My Husband

Well, the joke was on Spencer Whitaker because I was staying up all night if I had to.

After a few more minutes, my crossed arms slipped down to my hips, and my toes started to tap against the tile floor of the foyer.

Finally, his engine roared up the driveway. His key slid into the lock and the door popped open.

His eyes went wide, and he froze mid-step as he stared at me. “Louise.”

“Yes,” I said, my voice sharp, “Louise. Your loving wife.”

“You don’t seem so loving at the moment,” he answered with a wrinkled nose as he slipped through the door and closed it behind him.

“Hmm, I can’t imagine why that would be.”

“I’m guessing because I gave you the slip earlier when you were spying on my date.”

I offered him a fleeting smile. “You really are a genius, aren’t you, Spence?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes avoiding mine.

“What happened on your date?”

“Stuff,” he said with a shrug.

I clicked my tongue, arching an eyebrow. “What stuff? Are things moving along?”

He screwed up his face. “I don’t know what that means.”

With a sigh, I grabbed his hand and led him into the living room. “Sit,” I ordered, poking a finger at the couch. “Now, what happened? Tell me everything.”

“Louise, I can’t. I…I’m tired, and I just want to go to bed.” He shot me a pleading glance, but something else danced in his eyes, too, some unreadable emotion.

My shoulders slumped, and I perched on the cushion next to him. “Spencer, at least give me the highlights.”

He let his head fall back against the cushion behind him. “We went to the beach and had the picnic we talked about. And then we spotted you, and that made it incredibly awkward.”

I waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Oh, phooey, that’s not true. What did you do after you left?”

“We…talked.”

I stared at him, my eyes wide and my jaw hanging open. “Where? Standing on the street?”

“We went to the arcade.”

My heart seized at the words. I needed Eve to fall in love with Spencer, and an arcade trip hadn’t been part of the overall romantic theme I’d had in mind for the evening. “You took her where?”

“The arcade,” he said with a shrug, his features shifting a little from uncertain to slight smile. “It was really fun.”

“Oh, I’ll bet it was. Did you show off all your gaming skills while she stood next to you? Or did she sit in the corner until you were ready to leave?”

His features pinched, hurt rising into his eyes. “No. We…played games together. We had fun.”

My eyebrows knitted. “You played games together?”

“Yeah. I let her pick. She kicked my butt at the racing game. That was…a little mortifying, but then we played Dance Dance Revolution.” The excitement in his voice was an obvious change to his behavior when he’d just walked into the house.

I wondered if Eve had the same feelings or if she’d tolerated the change of scenery with a hidden disappointment. “Did Eve say anything about it?”

“I think she enjoyed it. The way she revved her engine before we raced…well, I thought she was having fun. We even played Street Fighter together.” Spencer’s features twisted as he said the last words.

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