In the mirror, I looked over myself and approved. My sense of style didn’t always measure up to the rest of the worlds’ ideals, but tonight I’d look good by anyone’s standards. Luke wouldn’t be able to deny that I was killing this dress. I didn’t care all that much what he thought, but after last night with Gerard and his fiancé, I could admit that the ego boost wouldn’t hurt.
I only had half an hour to get there, so I grabbed my purse and started toward my bedroom door. Doubling back, I grabbed the fortune from my cookie the night before. I read the words once more and sighed before putting it inside my wallet. As crazy as it sounds, this small, seemingly inconsequential piece of paper was the only reason I didn’t shut Luke down immediately when he approached me.
Truthfully? It all came down to the possibility of those words carrying some semblance of truth.
*****
Smoothing my hair up into my bun, I stood at the restaurants’ entrance. Scanning the room, I searched for the now familiar face of the ruggedly handsome guy with dark hair who’d brought an unexpected element of surprise to my evening less than 24-hours ago. I locked my sights on him and walked toward the table where he and his brother sat chatting, laughing casually at something just before they noticed me. I approached and took a breath.
They both stared wide-eyed, but it was Matt—the one with all the hair—who spoke first. “You certainly clean up well.”
I frowned at the backhanded compliment, even though I didn’t think he meant to offend me.
Luke stood. “Forgive him. He doesn’t get out much.” He actually stopped dead in his tracks as he came to pull out my chair. “You um… you do look beautiful, though.”
I smiled. “Thank you. You look nice, too.” And he did—black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, gray slacks with fresh creases, and a nice wristwatch. And let’s not mention the fact that he smelled like a million bucks.
Matt stood abruptly. “Well, that’s my cue. I won’t be too far.” He smiled and then went to a table on the other side of the restaurant where he’d film us from afar.
Luke smiled nervously and held up a tiny mic. “This one’s yours. It’s Matt’s way of letting us be alone without really being alone.”
I smiled back and leaned in to let him attach the equipment to the top of my dress. His hands trembled a little when his skin came in contact with mine by accident.
“That okay?”
I nodded and made sure it was secure. “It’s fine.”
After that, we were plunged into awkward silence. To distract myself, I looked down at the menu in my hands. “You ever eat here?” I asked.
Luke shook his head. “No, my older brother, Nick, talks about it all the time, though.”
“Oh, ok. Hopefully, he’s got good taste.”
And there was that silence again.
“Sooo… do you work?” Luke asked.
I cleared my throat. “I do; from home, but the better question would’ve been do I get paid.”
He laughed, lightening the mood just a little.
“When I got laid-off back in January, I decided to pursue my dream of starting my own line of handbags and jewelry. It started as a hobby, but now it’s pretty much my lifeline.”
Luke nodded, but didn’t comment.
“What about you? You gainfully employed?”
“You could call it that. I’m in marketing,” he replied
“I see. Sounds fun.”
He shrugged. “Eh, not really.”
I laughed a bit. “I was being nice, but I’m not in a position to knock anybody’s hustle.”
We exchanged a smile. When his eyes lingered on me longer than I was comfortable with, I looked away.
“Okay, so let’s talk about the big, neon-pink elephant in the room,” I said coyly. “It’s not like we can ignore it, so we may as well just get this out the way. What is this all about for you?” I glanced at Luke’s brother across the room. “Is it really about the money? ‘Cause you know us getting paid beyond this twenty thousand is farfetched, right? I mean… if that’s what this is, you may as well bail now.” It dawned on me that I’d basically just admitted that money wasn’t exclusively my motivation either.
He cleared his throat and reached to adjust a phantom necktie that he seemed to forget wasn’t there. His hand grabbed at the collar of his shirt awkwardly instead and then fell to the table. “I’ve… got my reasons,” was all he said.
I smiled again and he returned the gesture. Something about him intrigued me. “So that’s it? You sell your soul for a few grand? Please tell me you’re deeper than that.”
I watched as he gave my words some thought. “I won’t lie, the cash is a factor. Matty’s got a lot of potential, so it’s not really as farfetched as you may think,” was the answer he gave; however, I wasn’t buying it.
I cocked my head to the side and stared at him questioningly. “You wanna know what I think? Maybe that’s just your cover. I mean, yeah, I’m sure you’ve got things you could pay off or things you wanna buy just like anyone else would, but maybe you’re not as skeptical as you come across. Maybe neither of us is.”
“Skeptical?”
“About love; about this whole idea,” I replied flatly.
Silence again.
The waiter came and took our order before Luke spoke. “So, what made you do it? Last I checked, you signed your name in blood just like I did. Before we even discussed compensation, might I add.”
So he did notice that.
I smiled and answered his question with the cold, hard truth. He watched as I reached down into my purse and into my wallet to retrieve the fortune. When I passed it across the table, he chuckled.
“This?”
I nodded casually and sipped my water before replying, “This.”
“It’s as good a reason as any… I guess.” His sentence trailed off, revealing that he clearly didn’t believe his own words, but maybe he didn’t want to offend me.
“I was at dinner with my sister last night when I got it. I’d just pulled it out my purse right before you showed up.” I shrugged. “I’m superstitious to a fault, but don’t get me wrong; I’m not a fool. This stuff can be tricky. For all I know, the fortune wasn’t about you per se—could’ve been somewhat abstract. Like maybe all it meant was that I’ll meet the man of my dreams through you.”
He smiled at my harsh rationalization, not knowing that I’d just pulled that entire spiel out my butt, the part about meeting the man of my dreams through him. I had to. Couldn’t have him thinking I was gonna fall at his feet just because of what this fortune said.
Luke passed the slip of paper back just as he received a text. He shook his head and smiled.
“It’s Matt. He wants me to tell you that he wants a shot of the fortune at some point.”
I nodded slowly and looked at Matt filming us. “So, how’s all this supposed to go? Like, what’s supposed to happen next?”
Luke raised an eyebrow at me. "You really didn’t pay much attention to what you signed yesterday, did you?”
I shook my head casually and sipped my water.
Luke looked down at the table and laughed to himself before responding, “We have to make it official in no more than two weeks.”
He covered his mouth and laughed harder when I spit my water back into the glass. “What?”
“And seeing as how my brother Nick is jumping the broom that Saturday, the Friday before is our deadline.”
I fanned myself with the menu. Aura was right; these two were both psychos. And apparently so was I. “Twelve days?”
“Actually… um… eleven. Friday’s Nick’s bachelor party, now that I think about it, so we’re stuck with Thursday.”
I put my hand over my mouth when acid from my stomach reached the back of my throat.
Luke started to speak again, but I shook my head and shut my eyes. If he shortened my time as a single woman any more than he already had, I’d toss my cookies right there at the
table.
“Yeah,” he said as we shared a similar look of disbelief, but then a smile touched his lips. “My sentiments exactly.”
*****
Our dinner ended and I lay in bed thinking over the details of the contract I’d signed so cavalierly. Luke and I honestly didn’t talk much more after he gave me the timeframe. I’d lost my appetite and my ability to speak pretty much at that point. Before we parted ways, Matt suggested that we discuss a plan to tell our families what we were doing, although we weren’t allowed to speak of the documentary. I’d already told Aura, but that was before I’d been made aware of the rules.
Luke was supposed to be calling at around eleven. In the meantime, Aura had been texting me like crazy. Before she’d accept that it was really me replying to her messages she made me prove my identity by recapping my “cereal killer” logic again. She had more questions than I wanted to answer. Actually, most of them I couldn’t answer because I’d shut down so early into the dinner. I didn’t know anything about this man’s family, his age, what he drives, if he drives, who or what is in his past.
Nothing.
Realizing that I couldn’t tell her what she wanted to know, Aura stopped messaging me. At 11:03, my phone rang with a random number that had to be Luke’s. Reluctantly, I answered.
“Yeah?”
“Hey. Busy?”
I lay there in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, feeling a strange mix of anxiety, excitement, optimism, and fear. “Nope, not busy.”
He paused. “So, yeah, um… I think we’re supposed to be discussing how we’re gonna drop the bomb on our families.”
All business, this one was.
“Is this how it’s gonna be? All of our conversations will be orchestrated by your brother? Because, not gonna lie, that could get awkward.”
Luke laughed, which eased my nerves a little.
“I don’t think so. Probably for now, but not always. He just wants to make sure we cover our bases. And let’s be honest, our families won’t understand what we’re doing.” He laughed. “We don’t even understand what we’re doing.”
A smile crossed my face. “Oh, gosh. My mother’s gonna love this.”
“You two close?” he asked.
“Uh… a little too close. Our last conversation was about the benefits of waxing ‘down there’ versus shaving.”
“Wow. That’s more than I needed to know about your mom.” It sounded like he was trying not to laugh as hard as he really wanted to.
“You and me both,” I assured him. “But she was a great mother when I was a kid, and now that I’m grown, she’s been a great friend.” Friend or not, she’d still freak out when I told her what my intentions were with Luke.
“Are you an only child?” He asked.
“Nope. One of six,” I replied.
“Jeez! And I thought I had it bad; second youngest of four.”
“I know about the two brothers. Is the other sibling a sister?” I inquired.
“Yeah. The older brother that I mentioned tonight at dinner is a twin. ” he replied. “Nicolai and Noemi; the only girl.”
“Nicolai and Noemi,” I repeated to myself.
Luke chuckled on the other end of the phone. “I come from a big, proud, Italian family—there was no getting around the names.”
“Lucas and Matthew aren’t Italian, though.”
“Nope, but Lucca and Matteo sure the hell are,” he answered.
I smiled to myself. Lucca… I liked that.
“How old are you?” I blurted. He had a youthful look, but pulled off that dressy-casual thing at dinner like a pro, so I honestly wasn’t sure. His low-trimmed beard threw me off, too. It could’ve gone either way, older or younger than whatever guess I might make.
“Twenty-six. You?” He asked without hesitation.
“Twenty-four. Libra.”
He laughed. “Just had to throw your sign out there, didn’t you. I think I pegged you right. You’ve got a little bit of flower-child in you somewhere. Between the fortunes and the astrology, you’re one tarot card away from being Miss Cleo. I bet you have a dream-catcher hanging somewhere in your room.”
I smiled and stared at the one over my bed. “Whatever. You don’t know me.”
He chuckled and then sighed. “No, but apparently there’ll be plenty of time for that.”
I didn’t say anything as I analyzed his statement.
“Now back to how we’re gonna break the news. Any suggestions?” he asked.
“Well, I’ve already told my sister Aura. She thinks I’m mental, but she didn’t flip out as bad as she could’ve. I’ll call my mom and my other sisters tomorrow. Mom can break the news to Dad.” I didn’t imagine that part going very well.
“You only mentioned your sisters. No brothers?”
“Yeah, one, but we’re not all that close. He’s my father’s child from his first marriage. We only see each other once a year at Christmas.”
“Your dad?”
I laughed. “No, the half-brother.”
“Oh, okay,” Luke replied. “What about grandparents?”
“My Grandma passed six years ago. And my grandfather’s on Hugh Hefner status. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s on a boat somewhere with a girl about my age, maybe younger. Never met my dad’s parents; they died when he was a kid. You?”
“My father’s parents live in Florida, but my mom’s father lives in a retirement home over on Adams. I see him pretty regularly, though. He’s really active for his age. Drives himself around and everything.”
Luke seemed normal enough so far.
“So, who’re you gonna tell first?” I asked.
He sighed while thinking. “Probably my sister. She’s usually the most forgiving. Or maybe I’ll tell them all together.”
I laughed. “Does that mean you find yourself in a lot of trouble? You said that as if your family has to overlook your drama often.”
“No, not at all. I’m actually a pretty strait-laced guy.”
“Until now,” I interjected.
That caught him off guard, but he thought it was funny. “Right… until now.”
“Need some tips on what to say?” I asked.
“Eh… or you could just come with me. They have to meet you anyway. May as well be sooner rather than later.”
My eyes widened. “Are you crazy?”
“Apparently, I am. Maybe you’re forgetting how we met,” he replied, sounding amused.
I was quiet while I thought. The idea of meeting his entire family all at once when I barely knew him scared the crap out of me, but he was right. We’d already committed to this, which meant everyone else would just have to get on board.
I sighed. “When?”
“Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday? We don’t have a whole lot of time.”
He made a good point, but I still didn’t like it. With a sigh and the realization that it didn’t make sense to avoid the inevitable, I decided to step up. “How about this; you meet my family tomorrow and I’ll meet yours on Tuesday. Then, at the beginning of next week, the week of the wedding, we can make the big announcement. I think this first meeting should be casual, though. You agree?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Matt interjected, making his presence on the line known for the first time. Before this, I had no clue he was even listening in on me and Luke’s conversation.
“Dude, really?” I sighed.
Luke laughed under his breath.
“What?” Matt said, not understanding why I was annoyed. “This is a documentary. The root word being document. I have to–”
“I know, I know, but that doesn’t make it any less unnerving,” I pointed out.
“Anyway, I think you all’s plan is great. Get the introductions out of the way by Tuesday so you’ll have the rest of this week and next to plan the wedding,” Matt explained through what sounded like a grin.
My heart sank at the word “wedding”. How was it possible that I was single, and yet technically engaged, all
at the same time? What was I thinking?
“What’s the plan for that anyway? I mean, like, are we supposed to go to the Justice of the Peace or something?” I asked.
Matt cleared his throat. “Well, actually… I’ll be performing the ceremony myself. I got licensed online a few hours ago.”
I rolled my eyes super hard.
“What about a dress? And where are we gonna live? Can we still live separately? What about our finances?” Something else occurred to me, something I hadn’t even thought of before. “Is he adding me to his health insurance? ‘Cause I don’t have any and that could be kinda awesome. How long do you plan to film? Like… days? Weeks? Months?” I rambled.
Matt sighed heavily. “As far as the dress, just wear something nice that you already have. And to answer your other questions: that’s up to you; no; I have no say-so; probably; and as long as it takes.”
I didn’t say anything back.
“Now, where are we meeting tomorrow and what time?” Matt asked.
I’d forgotten that quickly that he’d be with us. “I can plan a dinner here tomorrow for my people at around seven,” I answered.
“And I’ll get our family together at Mom and Dad’s house Tuesday at seven, too,” Luke chimed in.
“Good,” Matt interjected. “That should cover it.”
I rolled my eyes again. “Well, goodnight to you both. See you guys tomorrow.”
“You, too. And I’ll call before I come over. You wanna text me your address now?” Luke asked.
I remembered what my sister said—the psycho thing—and decided that he didn’t need to know where I lived just yet. Still hadn’t ruled out the possibility of him being a murderer.
“Ummm… I’ll just text it to you when you’re on your way,” I concluded.
“Cool. See you then.”
“We’ll probably need to get there an hour early just to get set up if that’s cool,” Matt added.
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
I ended the call and tried to sleep. No dice. Come tomorrow, my entire family would probably start to suspect that I’d gone completely off the deep end. The idea of Luke and I being husband and wife in a matter of days blew my mind. I couldn’t imagine spending that much time with someone I barely even knew. I pictured him existing here in my space, invading my privacy, judging my life, and became extremely paranoid. Then I tried to think of me trying to fit in at his place and the same awkwardness accompanied both visions.
Again for the First Time Page 5
