“I knew it!”
Natalie jerked awake, her head spinning left and right as her blurry vision cleared and she wiped the bit of drool hastily from her mouth. “What? What happened?” She was on the couch in the living room with imprints of a laptop on her legs. Her head shot to the right to see her sister holding it, scrolling through the messages. “Shit! Give that back!”
Lana chortled as she held it out of reach. “My, my, looks like you two got along famously.”
“Through an internet chat box,” Natalie pointed out, still trying to make a grab for the laptop without breaking it. “Come on, Lana.”
“Not until you say it.”
“Say what?”
“That I was right and you are dying for some interaction of the male persuasion.” Lana slid the laptop across the counter. “No one stays up until four in the morning unless they really like the person they’re talking to.”
Natalie thought of arguing, but it was pointless. Talking with Vincent last night had opened a part of herself she’d locked away since the accident and the fallout from it. What was even more astounding, she remembered every single piece of that conversation in vivid detail. None of it was fuzzy or a blur. She could even recall exactly what Vincent’s face looked like without having to think too hard.
“Fine, you were right,” she admitted, and Lana shrieked in delight. “But that doesn’t mean he’s going to want me as his wife.”
The laptop dinged as a new e-mail popped up and Lana opened it. “Are you sure about that?”
Natalie leaned down to read the message: Congratulations. You have been selected by Vincent Cunningham to be his wife, nuptials to take place this coming Saturday, May 12th. Do you accept this offer? Signed contract and other important documents to follow.
“Holy shit,” she whispered and sank onto one of the barstools. “Holy shit, Lana.”
“What? This is a good thing, right?”
Her mouth fell open but only strangled sounds escaped. He liked her enough to ask her to be his wife. No dating needed, not actually meeting and seeing if they liked each other, nothing. “I think I’m going to hyperventilate.”
Lana rubbed her back and rolled her eyes. “Stop being so overdramatic. This is a good thing.”
“Until he finds out the truth, remember?” she shot back hotly. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“Yes, you can, because I’m not letting you sink into that deep, dark hole of depression and cease being my fiery ass sister,” Lana snapped. Natalie stared at her in wide-eyed amazement. Lana was the calm one—eccentric and bouncy yes, but she rarely lost her temper. Her nostrils flared and she planted her hands on her hips. “You are going to do this because it’s the only way you’re going to remember what it’s like to be out there instead of tucked away in your little bubble.”
Natalie’s hand slid across the counter to the cursor pad on the laptop. Not giving herself another second to think, she hit accept. “If this goes badly, you and your lawyer friends better get me out of it.”
Lana grinned and hugged her so hard Natalie couldn’t breathe. “Enough with the negativity. Let’s find you a wedding dress!”
“Oh, goodie,” Natalie groaned. Married. She would be married in a week. “Uh…hey, sis? Can we not tell Mom and Dad about this? At least not until we see what happens?”
“Deal. You always used to tell Mom you’d rather elope, anyway.”
“Yes. Yes, I did. Isn’t that what’s happening this weekend? It’s not going to be some huge production, is it?” she asked, panicking.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you send a message to your future husband and ask? I’ll get my purse—and please throw on something besides a ratty sweatshirt and holey denim shorts.”
Natalie mocked her sister as she walked away then frowned. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at the office right now? Dealing with your big kid job?” She had to finish grading her students’ final before she was officially free for the summer. She couldn’t imagine her sister would suddenly take off the whole summer, too.
“You told Vincent you, meaning me, were on sabbatical, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, my wedding is this fall and you know how much my bosses love me,” she said, poking her head out of her bedroom door and batting her eyelashes.
“You actually are taking the summer off? How the hell are you going to keep your job?”
“Like I said, they love me. I started there when I was twenty, remember?”
Natalie grumbled as she typed the message about her fears of a big wedding to Vincent and hit send. “Cars. Shit, Lana! What about cars?’
“You’ll have to get over it, sunshine!”
“Get over it, right. Thanks for the advice that every single psychologist in the city gave me!” she hollered through the apartment before turning and walking into her bedroom. She tore through her closet, imagining her first time in a car with Vincent, watching him freak out as she screamed like a madwoman. Get ahold of yourself! You’re not that bad, she scolded as she pulled out a pair of jeans and a knit shirt. You just get extremely pale and shake uncontrollably, and sometimes you vomit. “Ugh, this is going to be terrible.”
“You ready yet?”
“Just give me one damn minute,” she yelled to Lana as she shoved her legs into her jeans. “Well, you’ve survived one wreck in your life. Why not go for a second?” Dressed and her hair pulled back in a messy bun, she found her purse and met Lana at the door. “Let’s do this, I guess.”
Lana bounced up and down like a kid instead of a twenty-six-year-old woman. “Good, because we’re shopping for my dress today too!”
“Of course we are.” Natalie followed her sister out and locked the door behind her.
* * *
Vincent lookedup from his computer when Billy strolled in, grinning brightly as he clapped his hands. “Bravo. Look at you, big man.”
“Can you close the door if you’re going to act like an idiot?”
“Don’t tell me I embarrass you.”
“You’ve always embarrassed me,” Vincent murmured. “I’m merely too nice to tell you that.”
Billy closed the door and leaned against it. “I’m going to stand here waiting patiently until I hear those three little words. Words that I have never heard come from the mouth of Vincent Cunningham.”
Vincent huffed as he stared at his friend, a single eyebrow arched. “You were right.”
“Those three words that—wait, what?” Billy asked surprised.
“You were right, and I’m not sure how I can thank you. Lana is amazing, and I met her because of you.” He strode to his friend and held out his hand. “Thank you, Billy, really.”
Billy shook his hand and winked. “You are very well welcome, Congressman Cunningham.”
Vincent’s chest swelled with a strange sense of pride at those words. “Not yet, but soon. With this woman by my side, I might manage to keep myself in check through all your political mumbo jumbo crap. I can’t imagine my Dad going through all that shit without Mom.”
“And now you’ll have a wife equally as grand. The wedding takes place this Saturday, correct? Where do you want to have it and how many people? I know it’ll be difficult to get into some places, but with the right amount, we could make it work.”
“Actually,” Vincent said as he held up his hand to stop Billy’s ramblings, “she asked if we could simply elope this Saturday. Her, me, and a witness.”
Billy tapped his chin. “She really doesn’t want a big wedding?”
“Nope, and honestly, I’m okay with that. I feel like it’s going to be hard enough convincing everyone that I’ve had a fiancée this whole time and she didn’t magically pop out of the ground.”
“I have that covered.” Vincent brows both shot up this time. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s my job to make sure every aspect of your life is covered. You’ve been with Lana Jenkins for a few years now and you finally popped the question. You’re both so in love you didn’t want to wait to get married so you decided to have a nice, simple ceremony because being together was more important than wasting thousands of dollars on one day.” Billy nodded firmly when he finished. “Of course, it will be more extensive than that, but I’ll have to actually meet this woman and ask her some questions.”
“You’re insane. Is this what you do in your free time? Come up with contingencies and stories?”
“Eh, some people go golfing. I ensure my friend and favorite client has his ass covered.”
“Well, I don’t get to meet her until Saturday, so you won’t get to meet her until then either.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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