Page 81 of Friend Zone to End Zone

Arianna rounded the corner of the hall right then, but just before she came in the room, Mrs. Lake stepped closer, set a hand on my arm, and whispered, “Between you and me, I think she’s only ever needed to believe that the right guy would fight for her when she needed him to.” She squeezed my arm. “I’m rooting for you, Cole.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Arianna gave her mom and me a suspicious look when she entered a second later.

Mrs. Lake turned around to face Arianna with a smile on her face. “I was just telling Cole how handsome he looks tonight and that I hope he’s successful with his plans for the evening.”

Arianna narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “What plans for tonight?”

I cleared my throat. “Our plans to make Chad insanely jealous, of course.” Then holding up the garment bag, I said, “And this will hopefully help us in accomplishing that.”

“What’s in the bag?” Arianna’s eyes lit up. “You didn’t spend thousands of dollars on me again, did you?”

“Not quite.” I chuckled. “But I think you’re going to like it.”

At least I hoped she would. I’d caught her eyeing the dress several times yesterday evening as we’d shopped, anyway.

As if that was Mrs. Lake’s cue to leave, she said, “You two have fun. I’m actually meeting a friend for dinner, so I’ll see you two later.”

“Have fun, Mom.” Arianna tore her gaze away from the bag for a second. And then once her mom was out the door, she asked, “Can I open it?”

“Of course.”

She took the bag from my hands and lay it on the loveseat behind us.

“Promise me you didn’t spend thousands of dollars on another dress.” She looked over her shoulder at me, but I could see the excitement in her eyes at the prospect of what could be in the bag.

I pushed my hands into the pockets of my suit pants. “Not thousands.” Then nodding toward the bag, I said, “Go ahead. Unzip it.”

And with a wide smile on her lips, she unzipped the black vinyl bag.

My heart raced a little as I waited for her reaction. When she let out a loud gasp, followed by a high-pitched squeal, I couldn’t keep a grin from my lips.

“It’s beautiful, Cole.” She covered her mouth with one hand while the other reached forward to feel the chiffon fabric of the light pink two-piece dress with a beaded halter-style top and flowing chiffon skirt. She smoothed the thin fabric through her fingers and looked back at me. “It’s gorgeous.”

I stepped forward, close enough that my chest was to her back, and said, “I saw you go back to it several times last night and I had to get it for you.”

She looked over her shoulder at me and met my gaze with her beautiful brown eyes. “You really didn’t need to do this.” She turned around to face me then stood on her toes and hugged me. “Thank you. I love it.”

I hugged her back. “I’m glad you like it,” I said. “Though I have to admit, I was kind of worried you might give me another scolding for spending more money on you again.”

She pulled away from the hug and smiled. “I thought about it. But since I really want this dress I’m giving you a pass this time.”

“Good.” I chuckled. “But I will say I was fully prepared to argue the fact that if we were going to make it believable that I’m your boyfriend, it would only make sense that I’d shower the woman I loved with all sorts of gifts.”

“Oh yeah?” Her eyes lit up even brighter than they’d been a moment before, and I wondered if I’d said something without realizing it. She said, “So we’re going to convince Chad that you love me?”

Had I said love?

Well…I hadn’t exactly planned to say that much.

But since it was already out, I shrugged and said, “Yeah. I think that’s what we’re going for. Don’t you think?”

She pressed her lips together, like she was fighting a huge grin. “I think that sounds like the perfect plan.” She pulled the dress out of the bag. “I’ll just put this on and then we can go.”

36

Arianna

“So what’s the plan exactly?”Cole asked as we walked up the sidewalk toward my friends Zara and William’s new home. They lived in a quiet cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Denver in a beautiful gray and white craftsman-style house that they’d built.

---