Page 25 of Insta-Hubby
Mr. Harmon shakes his head, but keeps smiling.
“For a girl like this, I think you’d want to eschew all those other girls,” he says.
“You know what dad, you might just be right. Maybe. A little. But I’m not gonna get off the internet. Doesn’t mean I can’t give my heart to just one girl, though.”
“How did you two meet, anyway?” Mr. Harmon asks, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“I work for a media group myself,” I say, “I’m the...one of the financial analysts for a small startup based out of San Diego. That’s why I haven’t been around very much. But I’ve been begging Liam to let me meet you.”
“Analyst? With a background in business and finance, you could probably work for a bigger company, Anna,” his dad says.
“Oh,” I say, “I know, but I like being more involved from the ground up. I actually was able to work on the valuation of one of the bigger Silicon Valley tech firms. We were able to flip it and we made quite a chunk of money doing it.”
“That’s my girl,” Liam’s dad says, winking at me.
“I should have introduced you two sooner,” Liam says, “I didn’t know you guys would be thick as thieves so fast.”
“You know me,” I say, smiling up at him, my heart feeling full and warm, “I’m good at this.”
My comment is so vague, so non-committal, and I don’t know if he understands what I’m trying to say.
I’m good at playing a part. I’m good at getting along with anyone.
I’m good at being what people want me to be. What peopleneedme to be.
“You keep this one around,” Mr. Harmon says to his son. “I haven’t seen you with a genuine smile on your face in the longest time. Any girl that makes you smile like that...you must have something real here.”
He shakes his son’s hand again and goes off, back into the crowd of wedding guests, and shakes hands with a few older men like himself in impeccable suits and perfectly-shined shoes.
Liam wraps me up in his arms, pulling me close to him.
“Sweetheart, how the hell did you do that? He freakinglovedyou.”
“I was actually a finance major in college,” I say. A waiter with a tray of mini grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches with the crusts cut off walks past us, and I take a couple of them for Liam and me.
“Why are you working at the dress shop, then?” he asks, taking one of the grilled cheese. “I mean, it’s a cool job, but it’s not exactly what you went to school for.”
“I don’t know,” I sigh, “I actually had an internship at a finance firm downtown when I first graduated. I didn’t like the long hours, though. I didn’t like getting out of work at nine at night and having no energy to do anything but go home and microwave a burrito. Plus, I’m a natural extrovert. I like being around people. I don’t like being glued to a computer screen all day.”
“Well, whatever you do, you’re the best at it, I’ll tell that that much.”
“Like I’m the best fake girlfriend you ever could have asked for?”
“Something like that.”
He takes my drink and puts it down on a nearby table along with his, and taking my face in his hands, he slowly traces his thumb along my jawline, against my ear, and down to my chin.
“Anna,” he growls, “I know I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it until I am blue in the face. You are beautiful. You are incredible. I...I really fucking like you.”
He leans down and takes my lips with his, captures them with his, and pulls me oh-so-close to him, wrapping his arms around me deeply.
I really fucking like him too.
And I’m good at being anything people need me to be.
Liam
“Just waituntil you see this view,” I say, taking her by the hand as we arrive on the top floor of the hotel connected to the wedding venue. “The last time I stayed here I was by myself. It is going to be so much better this time, now that you’re here.”
