Page 29 of Last Minute Fiancé

“This whole thing’s ridiculous, you know,” she said softly.

“I know. But don’t worry. We can do this.”

“You really got this at a consignment shop?” she asked softly, and then I realized what she was asking. Why I might have that on hand.

I cursed as we made our way into the lodge, but I drove slowly so the valet wouldn’t get to us right away.

“It’s not… It’s not hers.” Hers as in Ashleigh’s. Because we hadn’t gotten that far. “It’s also not a family heirloom.”

Addison snorted. “I wonder how many wedding rings your mom has?”

“I don’t ask those kinds of things,” I said with a wince. “But don’t worry, it’s a real ring. For my real friend in this fake relationship. I wonder how many bingo slots we get for that.”

“I don’t even want to think about what the free space would be.”

I laughed as we finally pulled into the valet.

Because this was it. The start of everything, and maybe the start of nothing.

I couldn’t screw this up.

Because college tuition and daycare and car seats and diapers were on the way.

My breakfast that I had downed far too quickly earlier threatened to make an appearance.

I really didn’t want this true reality.

Not yet. So I would lean into the dream and the acting. I had to.

By the time we were at the cocktail party that night, it felt as if I were doing a thousand things at once and yet running in place, much like the Scooby-Doo gang. Honestly I would much rather be hunting old creepy men in sheets pretending to be ghosts than dealing with this. Of course, I had plenty of the old creepy men at this event.

“Lily, come over here. Introduce us to your man.”

I raised a brow at Addison because I had never once heard her called by her last name.

She smiled brightly and moved forward.

“Mr. Wells, this is Luca Cassidy.”

Harrington-Wells III looked down pointedly at the ring on her finger and winked at me.

“Good job on the ring. I was a little worried that she was hiding you from us for so long for a reason. You’re a vet?”

“Veterinarian,” I said as I shook the man’s strong hand.

“Ah, large animal or small?”

“Small animal, although I do have some experience with large animals because I did some work out in Portland on farms. But small animal here.”

“Good to know. Had a cousin of the wife’s that was a large animal vet. At least back in the day. Now he owns some property and uses it for dude ranching or something.” The old man just rolled his eyes. “Not quite sure, but it works for him. So, Lily, when’s the wedding?”

“Oh. Well.”

I cleared my throat, wondering who this Addison was beside me, because this was not the woman that I knew.

“We’re still waiting to plan, allowing for a bit longer of an engagement. You know, enjoying ourselves.”

I put my arm around her and squeezed her hip. She looked up at me, and I tried to force her to understand that everything would be okay.

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