Page 14 of Curious
After explaining to Noah what I’m doing—and waiting while Noah processes his shock—I get half the day off with support staff covering the front desk. He lets Alden take time off, too, and we head out the door to my car.
“But what’s going to happen after he gets his ankle taken care of?” Alden asks while we drive to some nearby boutique he’s been to before. “You’re just going to be friends?”
“To tell you the truth, we’re barely friends right now. I guess, yeah, we’ll take care of the legal stuff and then go back to being acquaintances.” I shrug. “It’ll be okay.”
“If you say so,” Alden says. “I worry about you, you know? You go around helping everyone else. But do you ever take care of you? This is a big thing to do for someone else.”
“I’m doing this for me, too. I get a place to stay until I get back on my feet, without feeling like I’m taking advantage. Besides, he helped me and got hurt in the process, so I feel like it will erase a debt to him. I like doing nice things for people, anyway.”
“And that makes you feel good?”
I nod.
“Okay, then. I understand that.” He smiles.
This is why I like Alden. He doesn’t try to push me into some preconceived mold of who he thinks I should be. He lets me be who I am.
I have butterflies in my stomach, I can’t lie. Because even if it’s a marriage of convenience. Even if Cam is straight. Even if I don’t really know him.
I’mgetting married.
And that’s a big deal. I know it’s a big deal. I keep trying to minimize it inside my head, but I shouldn’t.
Part of me wonders if I should tell my parents. Probably not. My mom doesn’t really have time for me, and I don’t know what my dad is up to.
Thinking about my parents is never a good idea. It reminds me that I was a burden to them. And from there it’s only a short step to thinking I don’t want to be a burden to my new husband.
Alden sees my crestfallen look. “For someone who’s getting married, you’re pretty subdued.”
“I’m happy,” I insist. “I guess I just wish it were for real. But it’s never going to be. I should be grateful for what I’ve been given. And I’m really happy to be able to help Camden out. He helped me out.”
“He seems like a super nice guy,” Alden says. “I agree. You could do much worse.”
I snort. “Like his brother?” Charlie has the rep of being kind of a jerk, but there’s a mushiness inside him.
“Hey. Charlie is Danny’s best friend!”
“True. But he’s an acquired taste.”
Cam, though. Cam seems like he’s something else entirely.
Somethingstraightelse, I remind myself. Not that I’m repeating any damned patterns here. Patterns I thought I was breaking with Evan.
How wrong I was.
Alden and I find street parking not far from the clothing store. He stops short as we walk from my car and pulls out his phone, taking a picture of the concrete.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“This is where Danny and I had our first kiss. It was my first kissever.”
“Aww,” I say. It’s impossible not to be happy for Alden and Danny. They’re an adorable couple. At the same time, I’m jealous—not about Alden having his first kiss here, but because he has a real boyfriend to share memories with. I always wanted that—to havethingstogether, experiences that we developed as a couple over time. Little jokes and places we went together.
I’m not going to get that in this marriage. I’ll be lucky if I get a hug sometimes.
The boutique ends up having reasonable prices, and I quickly find a blue suit that will work, with a light blue and pink floral print shirt and a pastel tie. I love it. I feel sharp in it.
And darn it, even if we’re only getting married so Cam can get his ankle fixed, I want to look and feel good. I leave the store wearing my new suit and head to the clerk’s office.
