Page 7 of An Engagement Pact

Two

I’M IN SUCH AN EMOTIONALflurry that I tell Dan I can’t meet that evening but can get together sometime tomorrow instead.

It’s not that I have any plans for the night other than scrolling through my phone and maybe hunting for a show to watch. But I’m worried that I’m in such a tizzy I won’t be able to communicate clearly or rationally.

I never let anyone see me rattled or emotionally fraught. I’m certainly not going to change that for Dan.

So I spend the evening mentally sorting through the situation—what I want, what he’s offering, how I’m going to respond to the initial conversation, and how I’m going to deal with the next three months of my life. And the next morning I feel better. More myself.

I can tackle this marriage of convenience with the same matter-of-fact composure that I’ve faced everything else in my life.

As I go through my work for the day—beginning with Oscar’s walk and ending with feeding and changing the litter box for the six cats whose owner is out of town for the next three days—I keep reminding myself that this thing with Dan is another job.

Nothing more than a job.

It’s going to earn me a lot of money, so it will be well worth doing.

At seven thirty that evening, after finishing with the cats, I drive back downtown, luck out in finding a convenient street spot to park in, and then check my hair and the remains of my mascara in my visor mirror before getting out of the car.

I look fine. Smooth hair with just a few flyaways. No embarrassing flecks or smears and naturally pink cheeks. The same jeans and red top I’ve been wearing all day.

He’s not going to be blown away by me, but that doesn’t matter in the slightest.

This isn’t about attraction. It’s about practicalities.

When my heart does a weird little flutter on entering and immediately seeing Dan’s warm smile and broad shoulders, I remind myself of the reality yet again.

Dan isn’t one of Green Valley’s quintessential golden boys or the son of one of the wealthiest families like Carter Wilson or Savannah’s husband, Lance. Dan’s family isn’t central to the town’s social circle, and everyone who sees him doesn’t automatically know who he is.

But he’s undeniably handsome. Charming and outgoing. He’s clearly well-liked by everyone who knows him, and although he’s not wealthy enough not to work, he’s also not scrambling to get by like me and so many people I’ve known.

He’s privileged and attractive and the kind of guy who succeeds without trying too hard.

In other words, he’s as far out of my league as Lance or Carter would have been.

I might as well get a crush on a movie star as start thinking about Dan as more than a job.

He’s sitting at a table with three of his friends, but he sees me almost immediately and jumps up, smiling as he strides over.

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