by A. J. Wynter
Well, part one is almost done, he thought to himself grimly. He folded the paper back up and placed it back in his pocket. He didn't feel nervous, the whole thing just felt like a chore.
He paid the very expensive bill and as the two of them were leaving the restaurant, the horse-drawn carriage pulled up in front, perfectly on time. Serena pulled out her phone and recorded the arrival of their ride.
“Milady,” Freddie smiled for the video and crooked his arm for Serena. She smiled and accepted, but when the camera turned off, she let go and her face fell flat and emotionless. She was going through the motions too.
As the horses clip-clopped through the city streets, Freddy glanced at Serena. Her hair was blowing in the wind, and he knew that she looked beautiful, but in the way that catalog models look beautiful. Pretty to look at, fun to imagine, but in reality, flat – creatures who should stay where they look best - on paper.
He felt her shiver and he took off his suit jacket to wrap around her shoulders. She turned to him and smiled. “Thank you, Fred.”
It was a mystery to Freddie why women liked horses and carriages so much. The ride was slow, boring, and a little bit stinky. Serena was back on her phone again, so Freddie stared up at the night sky and searched for the stars that weren’t there. The light pollution from the city made sure of that. Why does anyone live here? He wondered for the millionth time that day.
Serena seemed lost in thought, her gaze trained on the rear end of the horse. The contract read that the proposal needed to happen in a public place that was highly populated. When he really proposed, to his real fiancée, it would be intimate and private, not a public spectacle.
Their carriage driver pulled up in front of the Limton building, the tallest in the city. Freddie sighed, hopped out, and reached for Serena’s hand. The two of them strode past the lineup for the observation deck, the tourists gaped at the glamorous couple as they bypassed the line and were escorted directly into the elevator.
As the elevator doors closed, Freddie and Serena mutually let their hands fall apart. Freddie watched the numbers as they climbed to the top of the building. Serena’s gaze was focused on the seam between the two doors.
“Is everything okay?” Freddie asked.
Serena blinked her eyes and snapped her gaze to him, “Yes, why?”
“You seem distracted.”
“Oh, it’s just, there’s a lot of stuff going on right now.”
Serena’s voice was soft and even.
“You mean more than being on time for your scheduled engagement?”
He caught the slight upturn of Serena’s lips as she hid her smile. “Thank you for doing this.”
“It’s helping me too,” Freddie said. “So, thank you.”
The elevator dinged as they reached the penthouse level. Freddie took Serena’s hand in his, and for the first time her cold fish hand squeezed back, and this time it was a little bit warmer.
The stagnant smoggy air had sunk to street level, and when they stepped outside, they were met with a crisp evening breeze. Freddie could’ve sworn he smelled the apple blossoms all the way from the valley. The moon had climbed high into the sky, and was one day away from being full, the jagged peaks of the mountains glowed in its light.
“Look at the mountains,” she gasped.
“You’ve never been up here?” Freddie asked. The Limton building observation deck was on all the tourist brochures as a must-do sight-seeing event, and tonight the deck was at its capacity as tourists milled around checking out the moon.
“No, I haven’t,” she replied. She stepped to the edge of the deck and bent to peer through the big metal binoculars. “Where is Chance Rapids?” she asked.
Freddie leaned over Serena and adjusted the binoculars to face north. “Do you see that jagged peak – the tall one that looks like a cookie that’s someone taken a bite out of?”
“I do,” she giggled. “It totally looks like bite marks in a cookie,”
“That’s Sugar Peak, the tallest in the mountain range. Chance Rapids is at the base.”
“It must be beautiful there.”
Freddie could feel Serena’s back expanding and contracting as she inhaled and exhaled, taking in the view. He’d grown up in Chance Rapids and had never looked at the town from an outsider’s perspective. “You know what? It is beautiful. It’s not without its faults though.”
Serena stood up and Freddie’s arm slipped from the binoculars to her shoulder. She turned to face him, “Things aren’t always as pretty and shiny as they seem, are they?”
Freddie didn’t know what she meant. Was she referring to herself? Man, women are confusing, he thought. It seemed like a trap. “Um. Right,” he said. He drew her away from the edge and escorted her around the corner of the building. Red velvet ropes surrounded a single table draped in a red checkered tablecloth, a silver candelabra with seven candles burning brightly in the center. As they approached, a violinist stepped out of the shadows and started to play. Freddie could feel all the eyes on the observation tower turn to stare at them, all of a sudden, the couple was a lot more interesting than the city skyline.
Freddie pulled out a chair for Serena and as he took his seat opposite her, a tuxedo-clad waiter arrived with two slices of cheesecake, a bottle of champagne, and some chocolate covered strawberries.
The waiter popped the cork and filled their glasses. The light from the candles danced in Serena’s eyes and she smiled widely at Freddie as they clinked their glasses together. In his peripheral vision, Freddie could see the eerie blue glow produced by cell phones as the crowd recorded their moment.
“Do you feel like you’re on stage?” he whispered through his forced smile.
“Just go with it,” she whisper-smiled back.
Freddie picked up a strawberry and fed it to Serena, the berries were in season and the sweet juice ran down his thick fingers as she took a bite. She picked up a strawberry and proceeded to feed it to Freddie.
Anywhere else, with anyone else, this would’ve been a huge turn on, but now he empathized with the monkeys at the zoo.
He cleared his throat and stood up. He walked to the far side of Serena so that his voice would carry loud enough for the crowd to hear what he was about to say.
Serena looked up at Freddie, her eyes wide with expectation, and his heart started to hammer against his ribcage. Real or not, asking someone to marry you wasn’t as easy as Freddie had thought it would be. Murmurs from the crowd grew louder and as Freddie knelt on one knee, he heard its collective gasp.
“Serena, from the moment I met you, I knew that you were the one. No one has ever made me feel the way you do.”
That part was true. She frustrated the hell out of him. He pulled the royal blue box out of his jacket pocket, his hands shaking as he creaked the box open, presenting Serena with the huge ring. “Serena Cruise. Will you marry me?”
Serena brought her hands to her mouth, and with great exaggeration, she nodded her head yes. Then she said it out loud, “Yes.”
Freddie pulled the ring out and slid it on her finger. Sidney’s knew her ring size, so it fit perfectly.
The crowd went wild, screaming and hooting as Serena stood up.
Freddie pulled her in tightly to him and he squeezed his eyes shut to protect them from the camera flashes as they kissed. When he opened his eyes, he saw tears were streaming down Serena’s face.
He whispered in her ear, “You should win an Oscar.”
“It was perfect,” she whispered back.
They turned to the crowd and waved. Their waiter had passed out sparklers and the night was aglow as they made their exit.
Freddie had done it. He was fake engaged to Serena Cruise.
Chapter 11
SERENA ROLLED OUT OF bed and padded into her bathroom. She splashed some cold water on her face and the unfamiliar sparkle of the diamond ring on her left hand caught her eye. She held out her hand. It definitely wasn’t a ring she would’ve picked for herself; it was
huge and sparkly – hard to miss.
The evening had gone perfectly. Serena hoped that when she got engaged for real, her fiancé would whisk her off her feet and they would spend the night in a sweaty entanglement of sheets and orgasms.
That’s not what happened – last night her fake fiancé ran for the hills the first chance he got.
As she toweled off her hair, she scrolled through her photos from the evening. It couldn’t have looked more perfect. She had thousands of notifications and messages from well-wishers. More than she could ever hope to respond to.
But with thousands of messages in her inbox, Serena had never felt more alone. She didn’t have any close friends. Sure she had many acquaintances but she didn’t have that person. The one that you call when you have news so exciting, you could burst. The person who would answer your call at four a.m.
Her family had been those people. Sitting on the edge of her bed wrapped in her towel, she thought about how she would do anything to get her sister and mom back. It only made sense that she would get married to a man she barely knew to get her dad back.
FREDDIE HEARD A SHARP rap on the door. His ladder was obstructing the front door where he saw Charlotte and Logan waiting. He shoved the screwdriver into his toolbelt and clambered down and moved the ladder out of the way.
“Good morning,” Charlotte said.
“Morning,” Freddie replied. The ladder clattered as he dragged it back into place so he could finish installing the ceiling fan.
“Morning, Sunshine,” Logan said. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” Freddie muttered.
“Big party last night?”
Freddie shot a glance at Charlotte. She pursed her lips at him, kissed Logan on the cheek, and patted his ass before and heading into her office.
“Something like that,” Freddie replied. “I got in late.”
He had dropped Serena off and driven straight back to Chance Rapids. He hated driving the mountain pass at night this time of year because of the wildlife. More than one of his friends had hit a deer, but his real fear was the moose. With their reflection-less eyes, hitting one of them didn’t go well for anyone involved and the last thing he needed was to have to repair his truck. Again.
“You want to come to Josh and Megan’s for dinner tonight?” Logan asked, his gaze trained on his girlfriend’s pencil-skirted behind as she walked away. “Megan is making burgers.”
Freddie’s mouth started watering. Megan Johnson’s dinner parties had become so legendary, she could give Martha Stewart a run for her money.
“I wish. I have to go back to the city.” Freddie sighed and clambered down the ladder. “Say hi to Megan and Josh for me, and sneak some of the burgers into your pocket for me.”
Charlotte returned to the front of the office; her neck craned to look up at the ceiling fan. “It looks great. Thanks, Fred.”
“Freddie can’t make it tonight,” Logan said to Charlotte.
“It’s okay,” Freddie yelled, his voice echoing through the big building. “Logan’s going to stick some burgers in your handbag. Bring your biggest one.”
“There’s no way I’m sticking Megan’s butter filled burgers in any bag of mine. Babe, we might have to move the dinner party to our place on Friday. I just booked an appointment for tonight.”
Works for me. I’ve gotta go, Char.” Logan kissed Charlotte on the cheek. “I’ve got an early practice on Friday, so if that works for Meg, that works for me.”
“I’ll call her and see,” Charlotte replied.
Logan pulled Charlotte in tightly and nuzzled into her neck. She giggled.
“Ugh. Get a room you two,” Freddie groaned.
Logan stepped awkwardly around the ladder and squished his massive body through the doorway. Freddie turned to see Charlotte watching him with an amused look on her face. “He’s superstitious, like all hockey players. There’s no way he’d walk under this ladder.”
Charlotte smiled, “I didn’t know that about him.” She sat down on one of the construction sawhorses. “I see it went well.”
Freddie sat down beside her and took a sip of coffee from his thermos. “What?”
“The proposal, you idiot.”
“Right. That.” He sipped again.
“She posted a million photos and videos.” Charlotte held up her phone and shook it. “The photographer that was planted got some great footage.”
“Let me see it,” Freddie said.
“You mean that you don’t follow your own fiancée on social media?”
“I’m not on social media. Waste of time.” Freddie felt like he was watching someone else get down on one knee in high definition. He clicked off the video. “That’s enough,” he said and handed Charlotte her phone. He unbuckled his tool belt and closed up his toolbox.
“Done for the day?” she asked.
“I wish. I’m heading to Windswan, and then I have that cake tasting thing.”
“Back in the city?” Charlotte asked.
“Yep,” Freddie sighed. “I’m going to be doing a lot of driving back and forth for the next little while.”
“Wait one minute,” Charlotte said. “You two are splitting the money fifty-fifty, right?”
“Yep. A hundred grand each.”
Charlotte leaned over, her elbows on her knees, “Why are you the one doing all the work then?”
Freddie paused. He hadn’t really thought about it, but Charlotte was right. “I guess that’s where all the wedding crap is.”
“How much sleep did you get last night?” Charlotte asked.
“I don’t know, an hour, maybe. This helps.” Freddie held up his giant thermos of coffee.
“I have an idea.” Charlotte’s eyes flashed. “Why don’t you invite her up here for the weekend. Megan can bake some cakes for the tasting, you can visit the lodges and the resort, you know, scouting the location for your wedding. She’s got to be able to stretch out a weekend’s worth of photo opportunities over a couple of weeks. That will save you from having to drive back and forth.”
“And spend as much time with her,” Freddie grumbled.
“She’s that bad?” Charlotte asked.
“I mean, there’s just not much to her,” Freddie replied. “I like your plan, but there’s one big problem.”
“And what’s that.” Charlotte stood up and smoothed out her skirt.
“If she comes here, I’m going to have to actually tell people that I’m engaged.”
Charlotte snorted and held out her phone. “She’s got three million followers, I’m pretty sure that cat’s out of the bag.”
“Did you just snort?” Freddie asked. “And what’s the chance that anybody here in town follows her?”
Charlotte sighed, ignoring the snort comment. “Did you think that you were going to be able to keep this a secret?”
“That was the plan, I guess.”
“Oh, Freddie.”
“Don’t ‘oh Freddie’ me. I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay,” Charlotte rubbed Freddie’s shoulder. “It’s all going to work out, but the first thing you need to do is tell that brother of yours. If he finds out through the Chance Rapids rumor mill, there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Freddie knew that she was right. He was going to have to own this fake engagement, and the first thing he had to do was tell his brother. The second was to bring his fake fiancée to his hometown.
Chapter 12
SERENA HAD SPENT THE morning meeting with her dad’s specialist, Dr. Wiseman. They had a lengthy meeting about a new clinical trial, and while it was risky, Serena had decided that it had to be better than what they were doing now, which was waiting.
When she agreed to go to the mountains for the weekend, she hadn’t anticipated the number of clothes she would need. At first, she had resisted but realized that they could create a boatload of content over a weekend and probably not have to see each other again for another month or so. She carefully packed her giant suitcase
with her ‘picking out the cake outfit’ options, her ‘touring the wedding location’ outfits, and her yoga clothes for all of the great mountain shots she was going to take.
She navigated her Prius out of the city and punched in the address Freddie had given her. The sun was shining as she exited the main highway onto the Number nine which snaked into the mountains. She turned off the air conditioning, rolled down the windows, and let her hair whip in the hot breeze. She stopped at every scenic checkpoint to take photos, but none was as scenic as the view of Chance Rapids from the roadway above. The colorful houses looked like they came from another era or Iceland. The river that had gurgled along beside the highway fell off into a huge waterfall, pooling several hundred feet below before running smack dab through the center of the town. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her hair to protect it from the mist of the waterfall since she didn’t want to show up with frizzy hair. She hadn’t realized that it was going to be twenty degrees cooler in the mountains and shivered and wished that she had thrown her cute down puffy into her already bulging suitcase.
“Well, here goes,” she said to herself. She got back into the car and made her way down the steep incline into the town.
She checked the time. With all of her stops, the drive had taken double what she had planned. Her navigation system directed her down the main street of town. Quaint shops lined the street and flowers baskets adorned the iron lampposts that stood sentry along the street. When she got out of her car and stretched, her stomach let out a huge growl. She spotted a coffee shop across the street and made her way to the only traffic light so that she could cross. She was supposed to message Freddie when she got into town but wasn’t quite ready to jump into their weekend just yet.
Just ahead of her, a man with a cane and a fedora was making his way along the sidewalk very slowly. She was itching for the first opportunity to sneak around the old guy and felt like she was going to die from starvation inching along at his snail-like pace. The opportunity never presented itself. She joined him at the corner, and they waited for the light to change together. He turned to face her and smiled a denture filled grin, “Hello.”
