reconsider now that you’ve seen another option?” He gave her an oversized wink, one side of his mouth cocked wide.
“Sydney.” While they shook, she winked back. With an equally big grin. “And while I appreciate the offer, let me reiterate that I’m not going to marry Alex. I’m simply…borrowing him for a short while to perpetuate that illusion.” Sydney pivoted to Alex. White-knuckled her scarf, her body drawn up as stiff and straight as if a puppeteer were pulling her strings. “That is, if you’re still willing.”
Sure, Alex was angry. Frustrated. But he wasn’t mean. The reason they were pulling off this stunt hadn’t changed. “Is your grandmother still going through chemo?”
“Yes.”
“Is talking about our engagement making her happy?”
“God, yes.”
What kind of a monster would he be to stop it all? Instead of his usual Giving Tuesday donation to the American Cancer Society this year, he’d make this his goodwill donation. “Then I’m still in.”
Her whole-body stiffness resolved infinitesimally. “Thank you. And to clarify to all of you, this engagement is finite. I’m gone in ninety days. Eighty-six, to be precise.”
Everleigh’s mouth gaped open. “You’re counting?”
Head bobbing up and down fast, Sydney replied, “I can’t ever scrape this town off my shoes fast enough. You bet I’m counting the days. My dad says that’s as long as they need me—through her finishing chemo.”
“Oh, I’m Everleigh, by the way.” She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her faded jeans. “Best friend to your fake soon-to-be sister-in-law, and co-winner-owner of the Three Oaks.”
Amelia wrinkled her nose. “Gee, that’s not confusing at all.”
“Hi.” Sydney beamed a smile at the other women. But it was so wide that Alex caught a portion of it, and it hit him like a two-gallon can of unfiltered lust straight to the gut. “I’m sorry to have interrupted your day with this nutty drama.”
“No, it’s good you came over.” Everleigh took Sydney’s coat and propelled her through the plastic-sheeted doorway into a parlor. Or what they were calling a parlor until they came up with a less stuffy word. Everyone followed them, dropping onto the flower-sprigged couch and chairs. Good thing they’d vacuumed the dust out of all the upholstery yesterday. “You need to make plans.”
“For what?”
“For your date. You have to go on a date for this to be believable.”
Everleigh was addicted to romance. She taped the Hallmark Christmas movies to watch year-round. Her love of being in love had led her into making crap decisions about bad boyfriends time and time again. But Alex had never expected her romantic idiocy to be inserted into his life.
A quick glance over at Sydney revealed rounded eyes and a half-open mouth that meant she was as shocked as him by the suggestion.
“No. We’re not complicating this,” Alex stated firmly.
Because an actual date would be one hell of a complication.
He’d have to sit across from a gorgeous, smart woman and not let himself fall for her. Ignore his already sky-high attraction for her.
Talk about no good deed going unpunished.
“Your engagement is literally the talk of the town. They’ll expect to see you two lovebirds out together,” Everleigh insisted.
Amelia curled her feet beneath her. “Ever’s right. You can’t drop a bomb like this and then not follow up. You two have to go on a date. As soon as possible. In front of as much of the town as possible.”
Teague slapped his hands together, and then pointed them at Alex. “Why not just ride on a float down High Street while holding hands? Something tastefully decorated, with turtle doves and bows and puffy hearts? I could get right on building that for you.”
Just because they were running this inn by committee did not in any way, shape or form mean that his life would now be run by that selfsame committee. “I’ll bet you think you’re hilarious, don’t you?”
Smirking, Teague said, “Yeah.”
“No way. This is an engagement in name only.” Alex got up to rip off a cracked piece of wallpaper. Hideous paper with its ancient print of birds that looked like it came from an ornithology textbook. “A date would steal time away from all the work we’ve got to do. Do you know how many stairs I can sand in the space of a two-hour date?”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “No, and I don’t care. You are not solely responsible for bringing this inn back into shape. The sooner you realize that, the better.”
Ever pushed onto her knees to twist around and lean over the back of the