Page 26 of From Best Friend to Bride
To me, if you two have your way.
“Oh, I think he learnt his lesson with Charlotte when she sowed all that discord between them. Like Deli says, they’re only friends. Fred would never marry a woman who couldn’t accept their friendship.”
He almost did, though, Granny.
Nana sighed, resting her hand on her powdered cheek. “I just can’t imagine why she won’t tell us anything about her boyfriend. Is it him? Is it us? The more I think about it, there must be something wrong with him.”
Oh, bloody hell.
“I’m coming to a similar conclusion. He’s wrapped in secrecy, she’s reluctant to introduce him—why, she’s even unwilling to allow Fred to approve of him.”
He doesn’t exist, that’s what’s wrong.
“Oh,” Nana said, laying it on thick. “I really would feel so much better if Fred approved of him.”
I’m going to explode.
“There, there, dearie,” Granny said, reaching over and patting her hand. “I’m with you. I’d feel so much better knowing our Fred approved of our Deli’s boyfriend.”
“Of course Fred approves!”
They both stopped and stared at me.
Was that… me?
Shit.
That was me.
I said that.
Why the bloody fucking shitting hell had I done that?
Why didn’t someone just hand me a spade? I was already digging a hole for myself—I might as well make it my flipping grave at this point.
“Deli…” Nana said gently. “I thought you just said you wouldn’t be going to Fred for approval of your boyfriend.”
Granny tilted her head to the side, a playful glint in her eye. “You said you wouldn’t even introduce him, sweetie.”
Goddamn it.
There was only one way out of this.
She’d won.
Considering she’d told me to thinkveryhard about marrying Fred and changing our friendship beyond our control, she’d done a stellar fucking job of coercing me into opening my big, fat mouth without thinking.
I swallowed.Hard. Maybe I was trying to swallow my tongue so I could no longer talk and say stupid things.
Alas, I wasn’t sure it was physiologically possible.
Shame.
I took a deep breath and huffed it back out. “I can’t introduce him to himself, can I? And of course he’s going to bloody approve. Have you met his ego? The man thinks he’s the hottest thing next to the equator. He’s stupidly fond of himself.”
Nana froze, gripping Granny’s hand. “Delilah Elizabeth Peters. Are you telling me that you’re dating Frederick? The Earl of Coventry? Our Fred? Ginger-haired, freckle-faced, your best friend, Fred?”
Sadly, yes. Yes, I was.
