by London Casey
“Lucy, stop,” I said.
“What the hell did I just do that for?” Liam asked.
“The guy wants to buy the building and sleep with Emily,” Lucy said.
“Really?” Liam asked.
I jumped forward and grabbed his right hand and pulled him toward a table to get him away from Lucy.
“Liam…”
“Is that true? About the building? And that he…”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s a long story. He works with Dan, my brother-in-law. My sister is forever thinking I need to do the whole marriage and have a baby thing. They think Jeff is the guy for me. I don’t. And he’s a pain in the ass about it. I shouldn’t have bothered you…”
“I’m glad you did,” Liam said. “You don’t need that around here.”
“I know. And Miranda…” I shook my head.
“What?” Liam asked.
“Nothing. It’s going to sound bad.”
“Em, it’s just you and me talking,” he said. “You look flustered. You look ready to cry.”
I swallowed hard. “This place isn’t as successful as it looks, okay? It’s a pain to keep going.”
“What does that have to do with Miranda?” Liam asked.
“She suggested I… sleep with Jeff?”
“What?” Liam growled. “Why?”
“She had a passing thought to get him to buy the building,” I said. “Then I could get out of my lease with her without hurting myself, her or our friendship and all that…”
“Wait a second,” Liam said. “She said that?”
“I shouldn’t have repeated it,” I said. I rubbed my forehead. “Can we go back to last night?”
Liam showed me his left wrist. “This still hurts.”
I smiled. “I bet.”
“Em, I’m sorry about everything here,” he said. “I had no idea. Is there anything else going on?”
“It’s not your burden, Liam. I’m sorry for bringing it up. This is supposed to be a happy time. I’m supposed to be helping you with… you know…”
Your wedding.
I couldn’t say the words.
“Well, since you brought it up,” Liam said. “And since I came to defend your honor. I think you owe me one.”
“Ut-oh.”
“No, it’s not bad,” Liam said. “We just have to go try some food.”
“When?”
“Whenever you close this place up,” he said. “I have two tickets to visit the restaurant. They do the catering. So we get to sit there and eat like crazy and pick out what we like and don’t like.”
“So I get to act like a food snob?”
“I hope so,” Liam said.
“Can we keep things tame today?” I asked. “No busted pipes, smoke alarms going off, or trips to the hospital?”
Liam thought about it for a few seconds. “I don’t know, Em, that’s a long list of do nots. I’ll try my best.”
“That’s all I could ever ask for.”
I stood up and Liam’s eyes followed me.
He smiled.
I smiled back.
See… this was what it was supposed to be… just friends laughing, talking, and having a good time.
Chapter Nineteen
Liam
“Is this kind of wrong?” Emily asked as the car turned down what looked like a long and haunted kind of road.
There were some kind of fruit trees lined up on each side of the road. Old, hand painted wooden signs declared peaches, plums, apples, and pears were all ahead.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I took my eyes off the signs and back on Emily.
We sat in the backseat of the car, lots of space between us, and we had been just mindlessly chatting about anything and everything.
“This,” she said. “I’m, what, pretending to be your fiancée?”
“No,” I said. “We’re just sampling food.”
“For free.”
“Yes.”
“Under the idea that I’m your fiancée,” she said.
“Do you want me to pay for the tickets?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that,” she said. “It’s just…”
“If you want to leave, we can,” I said.
Just as I said that, the trees ended and the land opened up to a view that made Emily gasp.
That gasp was why I picked this place myself.
It was called Paragen’s. A little bit of a hidden gem because the owner - Glen - started out with a catering business that exploded. But this…
“This is unbelievable, Liam,” Emily said. “Has Miranda seen this yet?”
“Nope,” I said. “Just me. I met with Glen. He owns everything up here. He has these weekly massive dinners. You sit outside and eat all you want and watch the sun set. I think he does it because his band plays too. He’s had a wild life.”
“I’d love to hear all about it.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Of course. Why?”
I smiled. “No reason.”
I hated to think what I thought right then, but truthfully I couldn’t remember the last time I was able to geek out a little about something that caught my attention that didn’t involve money, legal stuff, or anything important.
“Well, okay,” I said. “Glen started a band and they couldn’t make it. So he started working for this catering company. The guy that owned it sold the business and then it all shut down. Glen lost his job and showed up right here…” I pointed. “That main house was the house the guy owned. Glen confronted the guy about not selling the catering business to him. So the guy lent Glen the money to start his own catering business. That’s where Paragen’s started.”
“Wait,” Emily said. “This is Paragen’s?”
“Yeah,” I said with a laugh.
The car came to a stop.
I leaned forward and told the driver to hang around or be back in a few hours.
I slipped him some cash so if he left he could get a bite to eat before coming back.
Emily was already out of the car, leaving me annoyed that I didn’t get the chance to open the door for her.
“Liam, I don’t even care what the food tastes like,” Emily said. “This is… breathtaking.”
“Well, I’m just here for the food,” I said. “This isn’t exactly the kind of place Miranda wants to get married at.”
“Oh. Right. Of course.”
She shook her head for a second.
“So what do we do now?” Emily asked.
“We sit down and eat,” I said.
“And we’re supposed to be engaged?”
“I don’t think it really matters,” I said. “Nobody is going to be announcing it.”
“Okay. I was going to say, I don’t have a ring…”
I cleared my throat. “Well, now that you brought it up.”
“What?”
I reached into my pocket. I took out a small diamond ring and showed it to Emily. “It’s nothing fancy. But if you were thinking about it…”
Emily stuck her left hand out and smiled. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right.”
I slipped the diamond ring on Emily’s left ring finger…
The wine was the best wine I ever had.
And I wasn’t a wine drinker.
Of course Glen had a deal with a local vineyard.
Everything he did was local.
We were treated like a king and queen.
The tickets Glen gave me were signed by him, which meant the staff knew who we were. That we weren’t just there for a night out. There was a big invoice coming my way if I decided to go with Glen’s business. Which I knew I was going to choose no matter what.
“What are you thinking, Em?” I asked.
She put her right hand over her mouth as she chewed and swallowed a bite of mushroom risotto.
“This is the best food I’ve ever eaten,” she said. “I can’t stop eating, Liam. I feel like I’m going to pop.”
I laughed. “S
o it gets the thumbs up?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Do you know what you liked best?”
“Everything,” she said.
“We probably should narrow it down a little, right?”
“True,” she said. “Maybe I should take another walk around and try it all again.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I said.
“No, I can’t. I feel… bigger already…”
“Bigger?”
“Liam, I work at a bakery. It’s not the most perfect place to work and eat from, you know?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You know what I’m saying.”
“Just say it then, Em,” I said.
She leaned against the table. “I’m not as skinny as I used to be.”
“Oh, come on…”
“Don’t do that,” she said. “Look at you. You’re fit. You’re big and muscular. I hate that men get to do that. You get to have that sexy, skinny look when you’re a teenager. And then you get older and bigger, but it all becomes muscle. While women like me breathe in the smell of a cupcake and a stretch mark appears.”
I ground my teeth.
I wanted to explode.
I wanted to tell her she was perfect the way she was.
Was she curvier than when we were teenagers?
Of course she was.
She was a woman now.
She was meant to have the curves she has.
It was all meant to be…
“Em, I think you’re a little crazy,” I said.
“I’m calling myself fat and you’re calling me crazy?”
“I think I’m allowed to say that.”
“You’re lucky we’re not engaged for real. I’d throw this ring at you.”
She started to stand and I reached across the table and grabbed her hands. “Wait. I didn’t mean it like that. You’re not crazy… okay? Just… you thinking you don’t look good. That’s crazy to me. It… you… you know what? Fuck it. You look beautiful, Em. Okay? You look really beautiful. Any guy looking at you knows it too.”
Emily pulled her hands away and went for a walk.
She skipped the food and went to the edge of the seating area to look at the horizon.
Before I could gather up my thoughts - and feelings - a hand slapped my back.
I turned and saw Glen standing behind me.
I jumped up and shook his hand.
“Liam,” he said in his rough voice.
The guy looked like he belonged in the mafia. He had a big, kind smile but really dark and questionable eyes.
His grip was fierce on my hand and I gave it right back to him.
“How’s the food?” Glen asked.
“The best.”
“The wine?”
“The best.”
“The view?”
“The best.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Cut me a check and let’s call it a deal.”
I laughed. “Almost there, Glen.”
“Where’s your better half?” he asked.
“She went for a walk.”
I nodded.
Glen looked back. “That’s one hell of a woman there, Liam.”
“Yeah… she is.”
“Are you sticking around for a bit?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Good. We’re getting up on stage in a few.”
“Can’t wait to hear the band, Glen.”
“If you need anything, you go get my main guy, William. Okay?”
“He’s been great to us so far.”
“And think about getting married here. If you’re here after the show, I’ll give you a tour of a few of the rooms. You can’t beat it up here, Liam. And I’ll throw you a deal.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I said.
“Good man,” Glen said. “Good man.”
I casually strolled toward Emily.
I stepped up next to her and looked around.
“What a view,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“Ready to get out of here?”
I looked at her and she looked at me.
“You really want to go?”
“No,” I said. “But I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. And I’m sorry for what I said back there. It’s not my business or my place to tell a woman how she should feel about herself.”
“Do you really think I’m beautiful?”
“I do, Em. Believe me, I do.”
We both fell silent.
I heard the echoing sound of Glen’s voice as he was at the microphone. Introducing himself, the band, and asking how the food was. The guy loved the attention, that was for sure.
The entire time he spoke, Emily and I stared at each other.
I began to think about the last time I heard from Miranda. The quick texts that meant nothing. She was forever busy in Boston. I was actually feeling calm and collected with Emily.
It was all twisted up, and it was just beginning.
My only choice was to stop it.
I could throw together some wedding ideas and wait for Miranda to get back and talk to her. There was no need for Emily to be involved.
Damn me for going along with it.
Because now she was with me, in a romantic setting, and I was starting to think-
“We have two special people here tonight!” Glen’s voice boomed. “Liam! Where are you? Show off your beautiful fiancée!”
“Oh, shit,” I whispered.
“I take it that’s my cue?” Emily asked.
She turned and walked back toward the table, waving at Glen.
Glen pointed at her and waved back.
Emily then looked back at me and smiled.
This was really happening.
We were about to put our own show on tonight.
Chapter Twenty
Emily
The announcement of Liam and I there together brought on a round of applause I wasn’t expecting. I waited for Liam to catch up to me, my face feeling flush.
Every single person there looked at me.
Looked at Liam.
When Liam ended up next to me again, he gave a quick wave and then grabbed my chair so I would sit down.
My first reaction was shoot…
“What if there’s someone you know here?” I asked him.
He looked around. “I don’t know, Em. I didn’t really think this out. It kind of wasn’t my idea.”
“It wasn’t mine either,” I said.
My level of being annoyed moved up and down like an old wooden rollercoaster.
I appreciated what Liam had been trying to say to me earlier. It gave me butterflies when he said I was beautiful. But the truth was, he was too many years too late to make that kind of comment to me.
Then I went and made it worse by asking if he really meant it.
It wasn’t his job to tell me I was beautiful. And it wasn’t my job to accept his compliments and base my life on them.
William came to the rescue with a bottle of wine.
“Another bottle for the couple,” Glen yelled into the microphone. “Cheers to the happy couple!”
Everyone clapped and cheered for Liam and I.
I stared at him, my face redder than a red pepper.
Slowly, he started to smile.
“What’s so funny here?” I asked.
“This is fucking crazy, Em,” he said. “Do you want to leave?”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
“If someone sees you and knows you…”
“Who cares, right? It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. You were asked to come here. To be a stand-in.”
“A stand-in,” I said. “Ouch.”
“Fuck. Em. I suck at words tonight.”
I could tell Liam was basically chewing on his tongue. Hiding his words. Trying to mask them.
Was this entire thing a basket of emotions I wanted nothing to do with?
Yup.
But I was there for Liam. And Miranda.
I grabbed my wine glass and drank like it was water.
I drank it so fast that William came back to refill me right away.
“Getting drunk tonight?” Liam asked me.
“Why not? I don’t know how this works sober.”
Liam lifted his wineglass. “Cheers to my fiancée then.”
“Right back at you, Liam,” I said.
We clanked glasses together.
I drank more wine.
The lines of reality and whatever this was with Liam started to feel blurry.
I didn’t ask for this… right?
Glen’s band took a break just after the sun set.
There were giant poles in the ground with strands of globe-like white lights that were bright enough to light up the tables and the food.
“This never ends, does it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Liam said. “I’ve never been here before.”
“Maybe this should be our spot,” I teased. “Since it seems like nobody does know you.”
“Perfect,” he said. “When I need to escape the city and life, I’ll shoot you a text and we meet up here. Deal?”
I laughed. “Yeah. Sure. Deal.”
“Hey, I was thinking for a second,” Liam said. “Since Glen only works with local businesses, you should talk to him about your bakery.”
“For what?”
“Supply him with some food.”
“If the place survives another month,” I blurted out.
The wine was so damn good that my lips were loose.
I pursed my lips together and shook my head.
“Let’s forget I said that,” I said.
“Em, is it really that bad?” Liam asked.
“It’s tough.”
“What makes it tough? It seems like you have a hell of a customer base.”
I looked at my wineglass. I laughed. I drank more wine.
Fuck it, Liam. You want it all… fuck it…
“It was a family disaster,” I said. “My grandmother ran the place. Remember?”
“I remember,” Liam said.
“She died. And the family started to fall apart. Nobody wanted the place. It had a lot of debt attached to it. As things crumbled away, I stupidly jumped into the bakery and said I’d take it over. Right around that time, Miranda came up with the idea to buy the building. She kind of stole my thunder. But she always does that. She takes everything I want…”
