Page 91 of Faking I Do
Me: Wishing you nothing but the best.
Adeline might have had the tastiest cake, the most beautiful flowers, the biggest ring, the most people at her reception, but she’d never have what I had—an entire town supporting my dreams.
Bodie came out of the bedroom, his muscular thighs encased in a pair of clean jeans and a concert T shirt snug around his shoulders. I grinned. I had one more thing that Adeline never would—one hell of a hot fiancé. Even if I wouldn’t be able to keep him, he was mine for the next week and I planned to enjoy him, even if what we had wasn’t real.
CHAPTER 45
BODIE
“So where are we going?”Lacey asked as she pulled her legs into the cab of the truck.
“What are you in the mood for?” I leaned in the open door of the truck, getting my fill of just looking at her. Busting my dad and my grandfather had dragged me down. Seeing Lacey brightened my mood like I’d just gotten my own personal shot of concentrated sunshine.
She shrugged. “I’m easy. Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” Then her cheeks pinked. “By easy I mean I’m flexible.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen how flexible you can be.” I chuckled as she flushed a shade closer to red.
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah, I know.” I pushed the door closed behind her then walked around to the driver’s side. I’d miss the adorable way she looked when she thought she’d embarrassed herself. For a moment I didn’t want to spend the evening with Lacey. It would be one more night of showing me what I’d never have.
But then she leaned across the front seat and pushed open my door. “So you coming or are you going to stand there all night?”
I shook off my hesitation. One more night with Lacey was one more night with Lacey. I’d be a damn fool to pass that up. “You want to go into Swynton for dinner? I hear they’ve got a new place on the other side of town.”
“No. Let’s just go to the Burger Bonanza. There are a few things I want to show you on the way.”
“You’re the boss, Mayor Cherish.” I fired up the truck and headed toward downtown.
“Did you see we planted some flowers around the square?” Lacey asked.
I shook my head. I’d been so busy trying to chase down the dog-fighting ring and worrying about how to handle my family that I hadn’t paid much attention to what had been going on around town. “Sorry, I haven’t noticed.”
She nodded. “Lots of folks are pretty excited about putting Ido on the map. Helmut even ordered a new sign for the Burger Bonanza.”
“Really?” I glanced over at her.
“That’s right. He said if we were going to get an influx of visitors he wanted to have something that would light up at night.”
“Well, it’s about time he upgraded his sign, whether this stunt works or not.”
Her fingers wrapped around my arm. “It’s going to work. We’re going to have so much business people will wonder why we didn’t do this years ago.”
“I hope you’re right.” I looked out the window and caught a glimpse of the sign outside Ortega’s. “‘Congratulations Bodie and Lacey’?”
She bounced on the seat next to me. “Isn’t that sweet? I told you everyone’s excited.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. Like someone had put it in a vise and was slowly tightening the jaws.
“Look. Suzy put up a sign, too.” She pointed to the taxidermy shop. There in the window someone had written PROUD VENDOR OF THE PHILLIPS WEDDING in neon marker.
“Do you think this is getting a little out of control?” I took a hand from the wheel and reached for hers.
“Of course not. I think we finally found a way to bring everyone together. After the warehouse closed most folks around here thought they’d have to move if they wanted to find another job. But now we’re poised to bring a whole bunch of business to town.”
Guilt pressed down on me. “If I’d have known things were that bad with my dad and?—”
“Stop.” Lacey squeezed my hand. “What’s done is done. Now it’s up to us to move forward.”
