Joe and Andrew on her tail, watching her every move to make sure no one spilled the beans around her. By the time she left, Andrew was practically in love with her.
“I can’t believe you guys pulled it off,” Eric laughed.
“Yeah, I’m not sure Rebecca believed us,” Robert said. “She just had that look, like she knew something wasn’t right.”
“Well, nobody said anything,” Joe confirmed. “I was with her the whole time and I stopped anyone that was about to say something wrong. Even Corduroy stepped in a few times. How did you manage to pull that one off?”
I had my suspicions about that, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to share them with Robert. He and Carter were already enemies at this point.
“I didn’t do anything,” Robert said, looking over at me. “He loves Anna, and he would do anything for her.”
“Including walk her down the aisle at her fake wedding,” Derek laughed. “So, when’s the real wedding?”
“Uh…” I looked at Robert in panic. Did people actually expect us to get married now? “You know, it’s still early.”
“Yeah,” Robert laughed, but I detected a hint of hurt in his voice. “It’s…way too early to start thinking about getting married.” He looked away, like he didn’t want me to see his face and the whole room got quiet. Awkwardly quiet.
“So,” Andrew chuckled. “How does this work now? Are you two going to live together?”
“Rebecca will be leaving in a week,” Robert confirmed. “Whatever happens, we can figure that out.”
Again, the room grew silent. It had been a long day, and I just wanted to get out of there. I needed some time to think about everything that had happened, and where we went from here. I stood and smiled at everyone.
“Thank you for helping us pull this off, and Kat, thank you for the dress. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to wear it today.”
She waved me off. “Please, none of this was my idea. I think when Eric and I get married, we should do it our way.”
“We’re not base jumping,” Eric insisted.
“As long as it doesn’t include the whole town being there, I’m all for it.”
“You guys should just get married in Mary Anne’s bakery,” Joe grinned. “It would be poetic, going back to where it all began.”
“If we were going back to where it all began, we would get married in a bar,” Eric reminded him.
“Yeah, but the bakery is where your relationship hit Facebook status.”
“And if you post one more thing about our relationship on the town page, you won’t be invited to our next wedding,” Eric threatened.
“Geez, you don’t have to be so salty,” Joe retorted. “Alright, I’m gonna bounce. I have to work tonight.”
“We should get going too,” Robert said, standing and holding out his hand to me. I didn’t know where we were going, but I hoped it was just back to my place. I wasn’t in the mood for much else. I smiled and stood, thanking Kat and Eric again.
When we got out to his car, I sank into the seat and waited for the seat warmers to kick in. It was cold out, but right now I was grateful for how numb I felt. There was just way too much going on. I just wanted the day to end. Robert drove to my house and killed the engine when he put the car in park. He turned to me with a grin.
“So, should I carry you over the threshold?”
“Robert, that wasn’t real.”
“I know,” he said almost sadly. We both got out and walked up to my house, kicking off our shoes when we stepped inside. This was so weird. I didn’t know how to behave. We had just been fake married. I felt different, but I wasn’t sure it was the way I should have felt. If anything I was more unsure of our future than I was before. It was so clear the whole day that Robert wanted all this to be real, but the more he hinted at what he wanted, the more I questioned whether or not this could really work between us.
“Anna?”
“Huh?”
He smiled slightly, shoving his hands into his pockets. “What are you thinking?”
“Oh,” I laughed lightly, “you know, just about everything that happened today. We got really lucky that Rebecca didn’t already have your brother’s address or there’s no way we would have pulled that off.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, staring down at his shoes. “Anna, I know this is all really fast, but I meant every word