Gal had sat up through this, and when Katie was done, she snapped, “He’s not shy, and he’s not into me. He just runs behind a lot when the tours are on.”
FYI: Dave, who for certain was into Gal, was semi new to town. He owned a small house and a large stable on the outskirts of Prescott Valley. During the summer, with tourists, or city-dwellers looking for something to do outside the Phoenix or Tucson heat, he did hiking and horse riding tours. Part-time in the summer, and full-time in the winter, he also drove a delivery van for UPS.
Oh, and he was totally a hottie.
I didn’t know why Gal wasn’t going there. But I was not someone who pushed. Gal was a big girl, and I figured she had her reasons.
Treat others as you want to be treated, and all that.
Katie, however…
“You’re the ballsiest chick I know,” Katie stated, “and you don’t have the guts to ask a hot guy out.”
Oh boy.
That was gauntlet thrown.
This statement was perhaps true, but still.
That glove was resting between them.
And Gal never ignored the glove.
Now was no different.
She plopped both Birkenstocked feet down on either side of the dog run and opened her mouth.
“Rix is coming with me, and he’s going to pretend to be my fiancé for Blake’s wedding.”
Obviously, that was me.
Both of them looked at me.
No, both of them gawked at me.
Even cool-customer Gal.
These were my closest friends, as in, the two people I loved the fiercest in the whole world.
Perhaps the only people in my life that I’d loved fiercely.
So they knew of my crush on Rix. They knew I worked with him. They knew Rix had flirted with me, then left me hanging. They knew we’d had words, patched it up and had been on a work trip together.
They did not know about the upcoming ruse.
I launched into the update.
“It’s a long story that involves me lying to Blake to say I had a boyfriend, and that boyfriend was Rix. Elsa Cohen, that gossip person on YouTube. Blake knowing Judge’s sister, who knows Rix, and calling her to catch me out on a lie. And Chloe thinking Rix is the guy he actually is, and he’d said yes to doing this already. But when Chloe spilled the beans, he said yes to doing it. We’re officially getting to know each other so we can pretend to be in love and looking forward to a long and happy future together. He came over on Sunday. We made my cheeseburger eggrolls and ended up outside on my deck, drinking beer and getting into a heated debate about which Star Wars movie was the best. He’s an Episode Four guy and refused to be swayed, no matter how solid my case was for The Empire Strikes Back.”
Neither of them said anything.
“Though,” I muttered, “when our discussion veered off to who was more badass, Tango or Cash, we both agreed Cash. Then we watched The Bastards of Baseball, which is really good. Sweet and inspiring, but also sad.”
Both of them remained silent.
“The wedding festivities include a formal cocktail party, a brunch, a semi-formal rehearsal dinner, and the big day, where I’ll be in four-inch heels for hours. Rix has committed to all of it, though I’m not sure he understands I’ll start bitching about my shoes at the one-hour mark, and he’s all in to sell it. As such, we have a binge weekend planned to watch The Queen’s Gambit, his house Friday, my house Saturday, finale at his house on Sunday. Things such as this will continue for the next month plus so we can get to know each other and successfully pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.” I drew in breath. “Oh…and he says we’re going to have to get used to touching and kissing each other, therefore we’ll be making out a lot.”
Now Katie had her mouth hanging open, and Gal’s eyebrows were to her hairline.
Gal recovered first.
“Wait, you crushed on him for years, when he discovered you were alive, he led you on and then blew you off at a bar, and now you’re fake getting married?”
I nodded my head.
“How hot was the desert at Hale Wheeler’s camp for wayward kids?” she inquired.
“We were in an air-conditioned, five-star resort when Rix decided we were going to pretend to be looking forward to a joyous future together,” I told her.
“And he’s saying you’re going to have to make out…a lot?” Katie asked.
This was the part I wanted to talk about.
Though there was a part of that, a part that made it important that was never going to be theirs to know.
The Peri part.
“He’s right,” I told them. “You know Blake’s going to look for any chink in my armor, Dad’s going to be uber competitive, which means he’s going to look for any chink in Rix’s armor, and Mum’s going to be judgy. We’re going to have to be seamless and flawless, and I can’t be freezing up every time he touches me at the same time telling everyone how thrilled I am I found my perfect man.”
“This is…” Katie didn’t finish.
So I did it for her. “Terrifying?”
“Really cool,” Gal drawled.
Katie’s head swung her way, and they exchanged a look that included Katie bugging her eyes at Gal.
This wasn’t that she didn’t think it was cool. Katie was all about adventure. She was an everyday-is-a-new-day type of girl. Leap now, look later.
This was because Gal was not that at all.
Gal turned back to me. “Obviously, your future husband will have the stamp of approval from your two best friends. Therefore, we’ll need to meet with this paragon who swept you off your feet.”
Okay…
This had suddenly taken an unexpected turn.
Katie’s head now swung to me, and she breathed, “Ohmigod, yes. You can’t really know a woman unless you know her friends.”
“Totally,” Gal declared.
I stared at them.
And then I told them something they had to know.
“You realize this whole deal is flipping me out.”
“I’m flipped out too,” Gal replied. “I mean, one second, this guy is blowing you off, the next he’s volunteering to enter the lion’s den with you.”
“No, Gal,” Katie stated urgently, reading Gal, probably correctly. “When we meet him, you can’t be all”—she puffed out her chest—“you must traverse the Girl Friend Ritual of Fire to go forth with my bestie. You’ll scare him off.”
“If I’m going to scare him off, think of the mincemeat Helena is going to make of him when she gets him between her jaws,” Gal retorted.
Oh, and as my two closest girls, they knew all about my family.
And straight up, what Gal said was the gods’ honest truth.
Though, I suspected not only would Rix be able to charm Gal, if he couldn’t, it wouldn’t faze him. He didn’t strike me as a guy who had to have everyone like him. I also suspected he’d find Mum curious in the way you observe a black widow spider from the opposite side of the glass.
“Can we get back to the whole we-have-to-make-out-a-lot thing?” I requested. “Which, I failed to tell you, he told me it was mine to start when I was ready and stop if it was getting too much. Which is cool of him, but it’s mine to start.”
A look came over Gal’s face that I couldn’t quite read, except I knew, for me, it was frightening.