Page 61 of Just (Fake) Married
“Don’t swear at Bruce. It upsets her,” I said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, and Bruce honked her war honk.
“Okay, okay, sorry…ah…Bruce,” Carter said.
Bruce was usually very good at accepting apologies, but the tight quarters and unfamiliar people had her on edge. I called her off. The boys and I switched places and I was at the door, Jenny and Bruce waddling out to the porch and the sunlight. Giving themselves a good shake in the cold morning air. I lookedat the McGraw brothers, and they looked at me, and I didn’t know how to be both enemies with them, and somehow, family.
“This is fun,” Mac said, with a grin on his heartbreaker face.
“Ethan around?” Carter asked.
There was a blank pause before I realized he was talking to me.
“I…ah…I…” The image of Ethan looming over me on the couch last night while between my legs immediately came to mind.
“You okay there, Harmony?” Mac asked me. “You’re blushing so hard you could start a brush fire.” Mac smacked Carter in the chest. “I’m gonna go see what smells so good.”
Mac took off and left me with Carter.
“Seriously? Everything okay?” he asked.
“Sure. Great. Fine,” I nodded, hoping I wasn’t blushing. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Hey.” Carter touched my arm, and I blinked wide eyes at him. Suddenly, I was being manhandled a lot by the McGraws, and it was knocking me off balance. I looked down at his hand around my bicep and he backed off. “Sorry,” he said, lifting his hands. “But, I just wanted to give you a little advice. About Ethan.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” I asked, digging my car keys out of my purse like I had a million better things to do, when in fact, I was on the edge of my seat wondering what kind of insight Carter might give me about my fake husband.
“You know how surgeons have a God complex?” he said. “Or, that’s the myth about them, anyway. They can do no wrong? That kind of thing?” I nodded. “Well, Ethan has a savior complex and he thinks he can save everyone. And it doesn’t matter how he feels or what he wants, all of that is nothing compared to saving as many people as he can.”
“What are you suggesting?” I put my hand on the straps of my bag and his eyes went right to the ring on my finger.
“He gave you our mother’s ring,” he said, and I curled my hand around it, like it was something I needed to hide.
“Is that all right?”
“It should be worn,” he said. “It’s a pretty piece. Just be careful you don’t mistake his wanting to save the family and this ranch for something it isn’t. I don’t want to see you hurt when he eventually goes back to Seattle.”
Thank you, Carter, for that smack back to real life.
It was perfect, actually. Just what I needed to help me define what had happened last night.
It was sex. Not even sex, just a little foreplay. I totally had control over that.
“Thanks for the warning,” I said, and got my entourage into my truck and drove away from the Swinging D like a bat out of hell.
I openedthe shop and got the animals settled with some kibble before starting a fire in the stove. Usually my mornings were quiet, but today, as soon as I flipped the sign, the door burst open, letting in my two sisters. Amity had her hair in a French braid and she wore a dark green sweater and a pair of leggings. Bliss wore a UW Athletics t-shirt that was a size too small.
Here we go…
“J’accuse!” Amity shouted at me, which in turn made Jenny bark and Bruce honk.
“Will you give the French a rest?” Bliss told Amity. “You had one semester of it in college. It’s…oh my God!” Bliss cried. “Is that what I think it is?” She grabbed my hand and pulled the ringup to her face, her eyes wide. “Holy shit. That’s a real emerald, isn’t it?”
“It was his mother’s,” I said, still touched by the ring. How thoughtful it seemed. How earnest he’d been sliding it on my finger. In a whole situation full of lies, the ring somehow felt honest.
Bliss let go of my hand and I cupped it with my other hand over my stomach, like it was a secret I wanted to keep. “Well,” Bliss said. “That will give the town something to talk about.”
“There’s a new wanted poster on the community board,” Amity said. She shoved her phone in my face with a picture of the wanted poster with both Ethan and my high school yearbook photos (so bad!) This time the caption read:
