Page 86 of Faking I Do
“Thanks.” Lacey’s voice wavered, laced with emotion.
“Mind if we poke around the other rooms real quick before we head back downstairs?” Samantha moved down the hallway.
“Go ahead. I’m going to make sure the florist is set up.” Lacey made her way to the steps where I waited.
Her mother’s dress? She hadn’t told me she was going to wear her mother’s wedding dress. Why the hell would she go and do a thing like that? The gravity of what we were doing pressed down on me. We might joke and smile and pretend that it was going to be a piece of cake—raspberries or not—to fake–tie the knot. But I had to come clean with her. Tell her that real feelings were getting involved.
“Bodie?” Lacey met me on the landing. “What’s going on?”
I reached for her hand. “You’re wearing your mother’s dress?”
“Yeah.” She looked away, not willing or not able to meet my gaze. “It was free, and?—”
“You don’t have to do this.” I put a finger under her chin, tipping her head up, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes glistened, shining with the threat of tears. “Oh hell, Sweets. We can stop. Just say the word and we’ll figure out another way.”
She wiped under her eyes, brushing off my concerns. “I have to see this through.”
“It’s not worth it.” I rubbed my palm over her arm. “Your mom’s dress? You need to save that for your real wedding. Don’t waste it on me.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” Her jaw set. “Wasting things on you?”
“No, I just mean?—”
“I know what you mean. But I’ve got to finish what I started. Everyone’s depending on me. They need me to do this. My dad, the town.”
“What about you? What do you need?” I hadn’t planned on having this conversation. Not now, maybe not ever. Especiallywith a reporter and photographer roaming the floor above and a twisted kind of florist on the floor below.
“It doesn’t matter what I need.” Her eyes sparked. “Now, will you get downstairs and play the part of my loving fiancé so we can get this sham over with?” She brushed past me, heading toward the first floor.
I funneled my hands through my hair, wondering how I’d let it get to this. Why hadn’t I refused to go along with this crazy idea when she first brought it up?
Because I’d do anything she asked me. The realization coursed through me like a truth I’d always known and hadn’t been able to admit yet. With Lacey, I was all in. Always had been. I had to help her see this through. After the wedding, once things settled down, maybe then I could broach the topic of exploring the feelings I’d been having. I almost laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the situation. Once I’d fake-married the woman I loved, maybe I could ask her out on a date.
“Bodie.” Lacey’s voice came from the lower level.
Suzy. Dammit. I hadn’t warned her about Suzy. Scrambling down the stairs, I steeled myself for her reaction. She stood facing the display Suzy had so carefully put together.
Hands on her hips, the toe of her sandal tapping on the refinished floorboards, Lacey turned to face me. “What are we going to do about this?”
I joined her, wrapping an arm around her waist to prevent her from launching herself at the colorful floral display.
“I wanted to incorporate everything we all love about Idont.” Suzy glanced over at us, a shy smile on her face. “I mean, Ido.”
“You’ve certainly done that.” Lacey’s voice came out an octave higher than usual. She moved into the room, fingering the petals on a cross-shaped standing display. “Is that a chipmunk?”
I glanced to the piece Lacey stared at. Some sort of furry creature tucked into the center of a heart-shaped wreath.
“Flying squirrel.” Suzy put her hands on her hips, beaming with pride. “Worked on that one myself.”
“We talked about tulips, Suzy.” Lacey rounded, her cheeks stained pink. “It’s a wedding.”
“A Texas-style wedding.” Suzy leaned over to grab a bouquet of flowers from the table. “Here’s your bridal bouquet.”
Lacey didn’t reach for it. As I waited to see what she would do next, I ran my gaze over the bright bouquet of flowers. Tulips of every color made up the large bouquet. Burlap and jute wrapped around the stems. That didn’t look so bad. Flowers were flowers, as far as I was concerned.
“Is that a spider in my flowers?” Lacey lowered her voice to a whisper. A pissed-off whisper.
“It’s just a tarantula. I put a scorpion over here. Wanted to reflect the area, you know.” Suzy offered the bouquet.
