Page 31 of Just (Fake) Married
It would have been touching if it hadn’t been so insulting.
“What about Seattle?” I reminded him. “We can’t make this marriage look real if you don’t live here.”
“I’m on a…sabbatical,” he said.
“Since when?” Carter and I asked him at the same time.
“Since I said so,” Ethan said. Then he had the audacity to curl his hand around my upper arm and move me toward the study door. “Can we talk someplace else?”
“I am not a suitcase,” I hissed, and jerked my arm free. “You don’t need to drag me anywhere.”
“Fine,” he said with a tight smile. “Will you accompany me to the other room to talk? Just the two of us, for a moment?” Ethan looked over my shoulder. “Are there any bullshit rules about us having a conversation before we agree to this?”
“No,” Mr. Prescott said.
“Harmony? Please?”
“You don’t have to go with him, Harmony,” Bliss told me. “I’ll tackle him first.”
“It’s okay. Ethan doesn’t scare me.”
“If one of us should be scared, it’s me,” Ethan pointed out.
“That’s right,” I said, and followed him out of the room.
SEVEN
HARMONY
We steppedinto the gigantic living room with the big fireplace and the deep, wide couches.
It seemed like the McGraws put a premium on sitting down.
I took my time looking around. There were a lot of dead animals on the walls and it felt like they were watching me. Judging me. On the shelf over the fire, there were a ton of family photos. My eye found Ethan’s picture immediately and I picked it off the mantle.
“That won’t fit in your bag,” he said, and I ignored him.
“You look miserable,” I said, holding up the picture.
Ethan and his brothers and father were decked out in camo and holding rifles. In front of them was a bobcat and a twelve-point stag.
An ode to toxic masculinity.
Except for Ethan, who was not smiling and was not carrying a gun.
“I was,” he said, and grabbed the picture and put it back on the mantle. “We agree this can’t fall to Carter,” he began.
“Which is why I said we had to call Seth.”
“Harmony-”
“Anyone but you.” I snapped.
“Why not me?” he asked. “This is all fake anyway. We pretend to be happy for a couple of months, we have the big festival, get the blue ribbon back, and then it all ends. Why does it matter which brother it is?”
“I don’t want to marry you because you are an asshole,” I said. “You’ve always been an asshole. Especially to me.”
“Oh, and you’ve been nothing but sweet and gracious to me, Pantry Puncher.”
