Page 66 of Margo and the Faux Good Luck Beau
She starts to refute the comment.
“Receive the compliment. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”
She blushes, and I can tell by the light in her eyes that my words hit a good spot inside, the one I’ve been trying to fill up with love, appreciation, and kindness.
“I can only speak from my experience, but the push to give me whatever I wanted was strong. A couple of the other guys in the group got into drugs and alcohol pretty hard. The third guy’s vice was women and he now has seventeen kids with twelve different mothers.”
Margo gasps.
“I wish I was making this up. I’m all for a big family, but ... then the other one was into gambling. They covered the bases of vices.”
“Then there’s you.”
“Hockey addict. But it took its toll on me in invisible ways with obsessions and superstitions.”
“I think the best thing I did to fight through my low motivation mode was to get help and keep going.”
“Love helps too. The Lord as well.”
Margo nods and watches the video one more time.
“Thankfully, Concordia is a relatively low-profile country, which means this isn’t widely known. In my contract, there’s a privacy piece. Like a non-disclosure so it doesn’t come up. Iwanted to sever my connection with that life. Not because I was embarrassed, though I’m not proud of it, but because it wasn’t me. Sukie made me into her ‘Little Money Making Star.’”
“There’s nothing little about you, Beau. But you were a handsome teenager. Sixteen-year-old me would’ve had your poster on my bedroom wall and kissed it every night before dreaming about someday marrying you. I’d have doodledMrs. Hammerin my diary.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Is this why you’re not on social media?”
“One reason among many. I like this better. Unfiltered. No screen. Nothing dividing us. Distracting us. You and me.”
“But you knew the name of my business and blocked my sister’s low-blow shot at the wedding brunch when she tried to expose our lie.”
“I saw your website open in the search engine when I called the locksmith. Your face is on the top of Margo A Go-Go dot com.”
“It pays to be observant, to listen.”
I grin. “Exactly.”
She wraps her arms around me. “You can sing for me, you know. I promise I won’t pay you. I won’t even toss a coin into your upside-down hat like a street performer.”
This has me in stitches. When I finally catch my breath, maybe I’ll want to sing again ... someday soon.
Once more, thanks to my long arms, I reach for the engagement ring on the table behind the couch.
Positioning myself so we’re facing each other, I open the box.
Margo’s eyes widen.
“Honey Butter, will you please marry me for real?”
She squeals. “Yes, yes, I will.”
I finally slide the ring on her finger and we kiss again.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I wasafraid Beau and I weren’t actually going to go through with getting married. What started as a fake fiancé fake out, almost turned into a marriage of convenience, but is now a wedding for real.
