by Piper Rayne
Why am I even considering this? I owe him nothing. And maybe that would be enough if I hadn’t met his mom. She’s caring and sweet and you see the love she has for Maddie and Vanessa and the fact that they’ve chosen her sons. How proud she is of her boys.
I do think Luca is wrong. She knows one day he’ll grow out of this phase of his life, but I can’t pretend that I haven’t heard her lecture him about the consequences of his actions and how his good looks won’t always stay intact. She wants all three of her sons to live a life with a wife and kids.
I think of my boss Peter and the fact that I told him I was seeing someone. How me arriving at the Christmas party as a singleton will tell him I purposely deceived him. But I could totally claim sickness the day of the party. Then again, he’d continue to hit on me and things would become even more uncomfortable at work. I’d have to leave all my clients. Poor Briana having to work with some therapist who doesn’t talk to her during her exercises to distract her from the pain. Someone she wouldn’t make bracelets for or be excited to see. My fingers twist around the thread around my wrist. I must be delusional to even be considering this, but the truth is it will solve one of my own problems.
Steeling myself with a deep breath, I say, “You come as my boyfriend to my Christmas party and I want the Hawks tickets.”
“Don’t want to go stag?” He raises a brow.
“No, I have a boss who won’t take no for an answer. He wants to date me and isn’t put off by my refusal.”
Luca’s face morphs into an indignant scowl. “What the fuck? He can’t do that.”
“It’s not against policy so technically he can. Look, I just want him to think I’m happy with someone else so things won’t be weird at work, okay?”
“Still, that’s bullshit.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever. It’s that and the tickets for three games. Take it or leave it.”
He inches closer, the ring resting in his hand. “Seriously? I only get every fourth game. I share them with—”
“That’s fine. But I want my ass in the seat every fourth game for the next three.”
He smiles and nods. “Done.”
“Really?”
“Did you think tickets would deter me away?”
“I’m still not sure about this, Luca, but I’ll do it.”
He smiles, the circular white band with a beautiful round diamond ready to slide onto my finger. “Then…Lauren Hunt, will you do me a favor and agree to be my fake fiancée?”
“Jeez Bianco, just the proposal every girl dreams of.”
He slides the ring onto my finger, sealing our agreement of deceit.
“If this turns my finger green or if it’s cubic zirconia, I will call you out on your shit.” I point a finger at him.
“It’s real. Just call my credit card company.”
He falls back to his ankles on the floor and his fingers weave through his hair. “Thanks, Lauren. I really appreciate this.”
There he goes showing that vulnerable side again. Why does it affect me so much?
“I want the Hawks tickets in my hands tomorrow when you pick me up for Sunday dinner. And this is only in front of your family and at the Christmas party.”
He stands up, grabbing my hand and pulling me up. So much for never touching him.
“And you know you can’t tell Maddie and Vanessa.” He cringes.
My stomach sinks. Shit, I hadn’t thought about that.
He must see something in my face. “They’ll tell Mauro and Cristian and this has to be completely one hundred percent believable.”
I nod, hating that I’ll be lying to my friends. “Okay, but you do understand that they’ll all eventually know the truth, right?”
“It won’t be hard pressed for them to think that I rushed you into it and we’re just not meant to be together. I mean we argue more than married people.”
I nod. He has a point and I’m surprised at how much thought he’s put into this. Not one part has been overlooked. Besides, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. I’m sure it won’t be a big deal after the fact if my friends know what was up, as long as his mom never finds out.
“Fine.” I walk to the door, unlock it, and open it up. “See you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be here at four, future Mrs. Luca Bianco.”
“That would be the never Mrs. Lauren Hunt-Bianco.” I shut the door to the laughter pouring out of him.
As I hear his engine roar to life outside, my back falls to the wall and I slide down, staring down at the engagement ring on my finger. I’m really not this hard up, am I?
Chapter Six
Luca
“Married?” Ma asks, her cold hands covering mine.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
Does it hurt a little that I’m lying? I’m not heartless but seeing the twinkle in Ma’s eye and her smile starting to form steels my resolve. The smile is small right now, only the creases of her lips move upward. She’s cautious to not get her hopes up.
My dad springs up from his chair, his eyes slicing through me, telling me now isn’t the time for a prank. I shake my head and he dissects the scene in front of him.
My mom’s hands shift to Lauren, looking at the ring on her left hand. Her eyes move from the ring to Lauren, who’s been a ball of nervous energy since I picked her up. She almost flew out the car door on Irving Park Road, but I was able to convince her this is for the best. I can put up a hell of an argument when I need to.
“It’s beautiful,” my mom says. “You’re engaged?” she asks Lauren straight up and I should’ve expected this.
I had figured it all out. The ring is real because my mom would know otherwise. The fact we’re doing it right before her surgery. The reason we walked in together, hand in hand. But I never thought my mom would point blank ask Lauren if it’s true.
All eyes in the room shift to Lauren. Is she really going to do this for me? She either runs or stays and I hold my breath waiting for her to answer.
“Lauren?” Maddie steps away from Mauro, her unasked question clear to everyone in the room.
Lauren blinks and I wrap my arm around her small waist pulling her closer to me.
She’s immune to my endorphins, but I pray something about my arm holding her will soak in, allowing her to speak the lie.
She nods and Ma’s entire face lights up. That’s when I know that doing this is what’s best for Ma in the long run.
Lauren is out of my hold and into Ma’s arms, my dad coming over, too, saying his own congratulations.
Maddie and Vanessa leave my brothers standing dormant in the dining room archway. Their eyes poised and ready to judge me—nothing new there. They’re just waiting to call bullshit on this whole thing. My mom is easy to convince, she wants me to settle down so bad, she doesn’t want to see this could be a lie. But my brothers, they know me the best out of anyone. Selling this to them will be nearly impossible, but I’ll go down fighting. It’s only a week after all.
Lauren’s eyes find mine over Ma’s shoulder since she’s hugging her again.
“Will you marry in the Catholic Church?” my dad asks.
Lauren’s eyes widen.
“Relax Dad. We’re not getting married tomorrow.”
Ma pulls her away, ignoring my comment. “Would you convert?” She smiles over to Maddie and Vanessa. She wasn’t even this excited with Mauro and Maddie and it confirms this is what she needed the night before her surgery. The hope that we need her to plan a wedding and see her grandkids. The hope that persuades her to fight to get healthy.
“I am Catholic,” Lauren whispers.
My mom could float up in the air she’s so damn happy. “You’re Catholic?” she asks, her small hands gripping Lauren’s upper arms.
Lauren nods.
“Oh!” my mom exclaims, hugging Lauren again and smiling so bright her eyes are sparkling over Lauren’s shoulder.
She’s so happy even a pin to a balloon wouldn’t burst her elation.
&
nbsp; “Congratulations, I guess?” Mauro’s big hand appears in front of me first.
“Thanks.” I ignore his question at the end.
“Never saw this coming.” Cristian too holds out his hand to me.
I shake it. “The heart wants what the heart wants.” I think I heard that in a song somewhere.
They both nod, stuffing their hands in their pockets and rocking back on their heels.
It’ll probably take me as long as our short engagement will last to convince them.
“Congrats, Luca!” Maddie hugs me to her body. “I’m shocked and feel like I somehow missed this between the two of you. I’m a horrible friend.”
“Nah, don’t sweat it. We were hiding it.”
The last thing I want is people to feel bad.
“Well, now we could do a double wedding!” She smiles now that’s she let me go.
“Yeah, how about we start planning?” Mauro wraps his arm around his real finance’s shoulders. “How about a Christmas wedding?”
“The four of you could go down to the courthouse tomorrow.” Cristian chimes in to test me further.
“I think Ma wants to plan a traditional Catholic wedding,” I say.
My eyes land on Ma guiding Lauren to the couch, pulling a photo album out in front of them.
Is that their wedding album?
“Yeah let them have their day, Mad. We’ll go to Italy for ours. Marry at the same church my parents did,” Mauro says.
She looks up at him like he really is her hero.
Lauren glances over her shoulder at me with fear rimming her eyes. Not exactly the same look. For the first time, I’d prefer the former over the latter.
“Let’s go downstairs. I have this sudden urge to show you how perfect we are for each other.” Mauro doesn’t wait for Maddie to answer, walking backward to the stairs in the back of the house.
“I’m starved,” my dad says, taking the foil from the trays of food. “Maria, come eat.”
Ma waves him off. “You boys start.”
Cristian and my dad get the serving spoons and forks into the food that Maddie and Mauro brought. There’s only one person who has yet to congratulate me and she’s approaching me right now.
“You sly dog. I knew you had feelings for her, but engaged? I thought you two would just sleep with each other and get it out of your systems. How did you ever convince her to marry you?” Vanessa asks, punching me in the shoulder. She’s been hanging out with my brother too much.
“We just understand each other.”
Is it odd that I think Vanessa might be even more intuitive than Cristian when it comes to people? She has this way of looking at me that makes me feel exposed. Like all my thoughts in my head are being transmitted to her in shorthand.
“So all those rides home and checking up on her, you two were really doing the nasty?” She knocks her elbow to me, her eyes trained on Cristian.
They’re not engaged yet, but I wonder how long Cris will wait before asking her.
“I’m pleading the fifth.” I laugh, stepping toward my mom and Lauren.
Vanessa laughs. “I’ll bother Lauren for all the gritty details on how this came to be.” She smiles and I honestly can’t tell if she believes us or not. I didn’t even think about the questions Lauren will have to answer from her friends. How hard it will be for her. Should we have gotten down our stories of how we fell in love?
“Ma?” I ask, sitting next to Lauren and extending my arm behind her back.
“I was just showing Lauren the pictures of when your dad and I got married. I’ve been going through all my old pictures the last few days.”
The stack of photo albums that my mom keeps hidden away sits in front of us on the coffee table. She doesn’t need to keep them out because every surface of the walls in my parents’ house is adorned with pictures of our family. Photos of my brothers and I in our diapers up to high school graduation line the hallway to the bedrooms. Each of our pictures when we were sworn in sit in a row on top of a piano that I never learned to play, much to Ma’s disappointment when I chose the guitar.
“Beautiful. I hope one day I can go there.” Lauren’s fingers run along the pictures of the small Italian village my parents are from.
They wed and fled is what my Nonna used to say. The ink wasn’t dry on their marriage certificate before they were on a plane to America to start a new life—that didn’t include her, as she put it. Although they brought her here after they got settled, she resented them and blamed my mother for taking her boy away. The strife I witnessed between my Nonna and my Ma is probably the reason my mom is nothing but encouraging to the women in her son’s life.
Maddie and Vanessa have already found a place in her heart.
“Let’s eat,” I suggest, trying to close the album.
“Maybe Luca will take you for your honeymoon. My aunt is there as well as her side of the family.”
My mom allows me to leave the album on the coffee table and all three of us head toward the dining room table to eat. “Maybe.” Lauren raises her eyebrows at me over her shoulder.
I’m glad she’s not feeling too guilty and having a sense of humor about what we’re doing.
“Are you the only family who came over?” Lauren asks, pulling out a chair.
“No, I have a sister in New York…well, New Jersey. She has three sons and a daughter. Anthony’s family is here though. A brother and a sister, and two uncles.” My mom fixes her plate as she tells Lauren about how everyone who is normally here for our Sunday dinners is related. “You’ll probably see them tomorrow if you come to the hospital.”
My dad holds out a chair for my mom and places a water in front of her.
Lauren shoots me a worried look.
“Lauren has to work tomorrow, Ma…”
“I’ll come by after though. Maybe even during my lunch. I work in the rehab building,” Lauren says.
“You do?” I ask because that building faces the ER which means I’ve passed her work how many times on runs. “I mean…” Fuck even I can’t think of something to cover my tracks.
“You didn’t know where she works?” Cristian and his damn cop skills.
“It’s all been a whirlwind, half the time I’m spying him as his ambulance pulls up. He’s busy and I’m busy, so...” She puts a piece of chicken in her mouth like that’s the reason she can’t finish the end of the sentence.
“Lay off. Should I remind you, you didn’t know what Van—”
Cristian shoots me a warning glare and I’m not about to piss him off and give him ammunition to call me out, so I shut up.
“Where the hell are Maddie and Mauro?” I ask instead.
“They had to get something from downstairs.” Vanessa’s face says that what she really means is get their orgasms.
“You guys probably understand that though, right? Can’t keep your hands off each other?” Cris again.
Did I give him such a hard time about Vanessa?
Probably.
My hand slides under the table and I let it rest on the edge of the chair, knowing it will appear that I’m touching her thigh. “We’re just more discreet.”
Lauren gobbles down more chicken with a half-smile at Cristian that suggests he stop asking so many questions.
My dad holds up his glass of water because he’s sticking to my mom’s dietary restrictions. “To family.”
We each raise our glasses and clink them together, Lauren’s shaking slightly.
“To family,” we all say in unison.
That wasn’t too bad, easier than I thought it would be.
Mission accomplished—Ma believes Lauren and I are getting married.
Chapter Seven
Lauren
Luca’s car pulls away from the curb and my head falls into my hands.
“I don’t think I can do this. I mean your mom is so invested. How do you think we’re ever going to tell her that it’s a sham?”
Luca turns down the radio.
&nbs
p; Ironic that it was “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park playing. Probably the reason he doesn’t want me to hear.
“Look how happy my ma was.” He smiles over at me but when I don’t smile back his face drops. “I mean, I know it’s hard, but it’s short. Today was the hard day. With my mom’s surgery, our news will fall to the wayside. All we have to do is keep up appearances for a week or so until we know Ma’s surgery worked and we’re golden.”
“You’re more insane than I thought you were.” I shift to look out the window.
“I made the decision to do this and my reasons for doing so are justified.” His foot presses a little harder on the gas pedal.
“The smile on your mom’s face was pretty spectacular.” I sit up, inhale a deep breath and man up, or woman up. I’ve agreed to this and I can’t keep doing a ‘woe is me’ rendition.
“Nice Catholic touch.”
“I’m not laying on the charm. I am Catholic.”
“Really?” He stops at a light and stares over at me, looking much like his mother did when I told her.
“I’m not sure why you and your mom are so surprised. I mean I did attend St. George with you. That is a Catholic school.”
He presses the gas and we pass under a street light. It’s dark out already with winter fast approaching. “I know, but you know as well as I do that a quarter of St. George weren’t Catholic.”
I shrug because that is the truth.
The car stops again and it’s aggravating that we seem to be hitting every red light. “Should I give you my schedule? So you know when I’m available?” he asks.
I laugh.
He doesn’t.
“You’re serious? Luca this is fake, remember?”
“I know, but according to our friends, it’s real. If I’m off work and out at the club you should be with me.”
“I don’t go to clubs very often. I’ll go to a bar, but not a club.”
“You don’t dance? I pinned you as a girl who doesn’t leave the dance floor.”
Someone honks and Luca presses on the gas, but his tires spin on the patch of ice from the storm earlier today.
