Page 84 of My Song for You
Like most girls, I had fantasized from time to time about how my future fiancé would propose to me. Some of the ideas, like asking me while we were in a hot-air balloon, were quickly discarded. I wasn’t a fan of heights, and clutching the edge of the basket and hurling didn’t make for a romantic picture. There were other, safer ideas too. Like the one where the girl finds the engagement ring on her dessert or in her wine glass. Okay, those might have been a little clichéd, but the main point was that nowhere in my fantasies had I envisioned being proposed to the way it actually went down.
Sure, at the end of the day it shouldn’t have mattered how the guy proposed. As long as he loved me, that was all I cared about.
The lounge Hailey had suggested we meet at was not far from where I lived. I hadn’t even known it existed until she mentioned it. I sank into the comfy brown leather armchair. Yep, I didn’t see myself moving anytime soon. Everything about the place made me think of chocolate. The light brown carpet with beige swirls. The deep brown walls. The cream lamp shades scattered throughout. And the small dark brown tables. Or maybe it was my broken heart that made me think of chocolate. What better way to deal with a broken heart than chocolate ice cream—or chocolate-flavored booze?
Soft jazz music played in the background. According to Hailey, each night featured a different genre. Fortunately, tonight wasn’t rock night. Knowing my luck, they would’ve featured Pushing Limits while we were here.
“You look like you could use a drink,” Hailey said.
“You got that right. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“How do you deal with being Nolan’s girlfriend? I mean, doesn’t it get hard with the groupies and with the constant media attention?”
She didn’t have a chance to answer before a waiter approached our table. He was hot. If you liked blonds. And if your heart wasn’t still pining over the dark-haired guy with brown eyes and heart-melting dimples. “What can I get you ladies to drink?”
“I’ll have a mango margarita. Thanks,” Hailey said.
“What do you have that’s chocolatey?” I asked him.
“The Milky Way martini comes highly recommended,” he replied, and I ordered it.
“I’ll admit it isn’t easy,” Hailey said, answering my previous question. “It was harder at first when the media figured out who Tyler Erickson was. Then they were a major pain. The fans are great. The younger girls are especially cute with the way they get excited over the guys. It’s the groupies who are hoping to score that are annoying. They don’t care if Nolan has a girlfriend. They just want to tell their friends and the entire world that they slept with him. And some are more than happy to share the details in all their erotic glory.” She scrunched her nose in a way that made me giggle.
“Do you ever worry about them?”
She shook her head. “I love Nolan and I trust him. Yes, it’s not easy, but if I can’t trust him, then none of what he and I have is worth it in the end. Do I trust the groupies? Hell no. But I have to trust that Nolan won’t do anything to hurt me…even if I’m not there to protect him.” She smirked. “So is this your way of telling me that you and Jared are finally an item?” She looked so excited about this possibility, I almost couldn’t tell her the truth.
“He proposed this afternoon.” You’d have thought I had announced I was going to buy a bag of stale potato chips from the lack of enthusiasm in my voice.
“And…you don’t want to marry him?”
I finished my drink and gestured to the waiter for a refill. If I could, I would’ve finished that drink first too. “If I ever marry, it will be because the man loves me as much as I love him. Jared only proposed because it’s easy.”
Hailey’s eyebrows jumped up. “Easy? Sorry, you’ve lost me.”
“Jared doesn’t love me. He realized things will be a lot easier for Logan when the band is touring if his son is staying with me.”
Her expression transformed into a confused frown. “He actually told you that?”
“Not in so many words. But what other reason is there for him to propose?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She gave me a pointed look that said it all and then some. “Because he loves you?”
“That’s just it. He doesn’t love me.”
The waiter placed my drink on the table. Hailey was still working on her first margarita.
“How can you say that?” she asked. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. He likes me as a friend, that’s all.” A friend he’d been having sex with.
“I think you’re wrong. But anyway, what did you tell him?”
“That I couldn’t because he wanted to marry me for the wrong reason.”
“What did he say?”
