Page 82 of The One I Love
“Aw, Wes, they thought of us.”
“Of course we did. But when we did, we also realized that there might be a potential for freakouts and overreactions.”
“A.K.A. Oliver.”
“Yes. And our mothers,” I say to Wes. “We just wanted some time to ourselves. To not rock the boat for a bit.”
“And so we didn’t have to hear shit from Simon.”
Simon nods. “You guys are smart. I would’ve been relentless. I’m still going to be, Mary. That’s your name now.”
“Exactly. So we snuck around.”
“Wait!” Wes yells. “The night at The Joint when we met Izzy. And Emily was trying to flirt with him, and you guys came over like a gang.”
“Oh yeah,” I say with a chuckle. “Betsy and Izzy knew. They figured us out that night. That was a coordinated attack.”
“Betsy knew and didn’t tell me? I texted her an hour ago with the news and she played dumb. Oh, I’m going to get her…”
“Yes. But don’t be mad at her. She was just doing what I asked.”
“Fine,” he groans. “So now who knows?”
“You two. Porter. Betsy, Whitley, Izzy and my friend Kendra. Oh, and the kids.”
“Excuse me!” Simon shouts. “You told me I’d be the first to know!”
“I’m sorry!” Shane says. “In my defense, she was the one who made me promise to keep the secret and then told people.”
I look over to Simon with puppy dog eyes. “Forgive me?”
He narrows his eyes at me in a way that I know he’s pretending to be mad. "Fine. Earlier I was joking. Now I’m serious. I’m going to get ordained and willofficiate.”
“Deal,” I say. I see Shane shoot a look at me. “What? It’s either that or he’s your best man.”
“True,” he says. He looks hard at Simon. “Just don’t pull any bullshit.”
Simon shakes his head. “I promise nothing.”
“Speaking of weddings,” Wes says. “While I’m happy for you two and am going to be anxiously awaiting the rest of the story of how you two got together under our noses, that doesn’t change the fact that your ex-husband thinks you’re engaged.”
“And because we are stubborn as hell, we’re not about to admit to him we made this shit up. So, when’s the wedding? I’ll go online right now and fill out the form.”
Simon’s right. We are stubborn as hell. And I’d rather have Edward Scissorhands give me my yearly exam than admit to my ex-husband that Shane and the rest of them lied about the engagement.
“Who else was at the bar that would know this?”
“No one,” Shane says. “Just the three of us and Porter.”
“Good,” I say. “That means no one will actually go up to Paul and talk about the wedding.”
“True. But could he blab?” Wes asks.
I shake my head. “No. He knows everyone in town picked me in the divorce. Especially after his dad closed the car dealership. It’s why he rarely comes back. People don’t kiss his ass like they used to.”
“So what’s the plan?” Shane asks.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to see him soon, because I’m required by law to grant him two weeks of summer visitation. So it looks like the kids are going on vacation,” I say. “All we have to do is pretend to be engaged when we drop the kids off and pick them up. Obviously, we’ll fill them in. I’ll go get a cheap ring, and we’ll play the part. As long as no one else finds out, we can just let thisfade away.”
