Page 54 of An Engagement Pact

We cross the street and go into the coffee shop, where we’re greeted by several people sitting at a large table. Paige with Chase standing behind her. Joey and Carlton. Julianna and Rafe. And a very pretty blond woman I’ve never met before.

Dan pulls out a chair for me and then heads to the counter to order my green tea and whatever he’s planning to drink. Chase goes over to take his order while the others welcome me warmly.

I’m answering their questions about my day when Dan comes over and wordlessly hands me his phone. Something is tense and bristly in him.

I read the text on his screen. From Carla.

Hey handsome, meeting Vicky today made me giggle. She’s very cute and besotted.

I stiffen in response. “You’re going to have to be direct.”

He nods, his jaw clenched. He’s clearly not happy about the text Carla sent him, and I can’t help but be gratified that his response feels defensive and protective. On my behalf. He taps out a reply and then hands the phone back to me before he sends it.

I’m in love with my wife, and I prefer to keep work relationships professional. Please don’t send these kinds of texts to me again.

I nod and hand the phone back. “That sounds good.”

He hits Send and returns to the counter to wait for our drinks.

I turn back to the table to see a number of curious eyes. “He’s having trouble with a coworker,” I explain. “She keeps trying to start something up, and she doesn’t seem to care that he’s married.”

There’s some interested and sympathetic conversation. Then Carlton, who is evidently a good guy but clearly not an expert in social niceties, mutters wryly, “She’s not too smart, is she? Should’ve tried to shoot her shot when he was actively looking.”

Confused by the comment, I ask, “What do you mean?”

Carlton appears confused by my confusion. “Just that her timing is off. She should have made her move when he was asking everyone and their sister to marry him a while back. He probably would have taken her up on it.”

Something heavy drops onto my heart. It slams down like a sledgehammer. “What?”

“Before. When he was looking all over for a wife and asking everyone. Joey and Paige and—”

He stops abruptly because of what looks like a little kick Joey gives him under the table. Carlton appears more confused than ever and also rather offended. “What? Everyone knows, don’t they? Was it supposed to be a secret?”

Everyone didn’t know.

Ididn’t know.

In fact, he lied to me about it, confirming that I was the first person he asked to marry him. Made it seem like he picked me out special. And if he didn’t directly lie, he purposefully gave me a false impression.

But from the concerned and uncomfortable expressions on the faces of the others at the table, it’s clear that all of them knew what I didn’t.

Dan evidently spent a significant amount of time—months at least—asking every woman he knows to marry him. Including at least two of the women sitting around the table right now.

And it was only at the very end of his list of possibilities that he asked me.

I naturally knew he wasn’t really into me when he asked me to go through with our fake engagement and marriage, but I thought he asked me particularly. I thought he picked me out.

I thought hechoseme.

Me.

I didn’t know he ran through the alphabet and eventually landed on my name, lucking out by finding someone as desperate as me.

I’m so upset and humiliated that I can’t speak. Can barely breathe. My throat has completely closed up. My cheeks are burning, and I’m trapped by the onrush of painful emotions.

Dan comes back to the table just then, placing my green tea in front of me and then taking the empty seat on my left. He drapes a casual arm on the back of my chair and frowns around the table. “What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

“No,” I manage to say. “Nothing’s wrong. What are the rest of you up to today?”

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