a 1955 Chevy pickup truck, would come pick me up and drive me to City Hall in style.
I couldn’t have asked for more from our family and friends—except that all of it was adding to the pit in my stomach.
When all the catering details had been finalized and we were alone again, Blair picked her wine glass up and touched it to mine. “Cheers. I’m so happy for you, honey. I don’t blame you one bit for not wanting to wait to get married. When you know, you know. Now show me that ring.”
I held out my hand, and she gasped at the diamond on my finger. “Oh, Bianca,” she said breathlessly. “It’s beautiful. The stone is big but not ostentatious, it’s a classic setting, and yellow gold is so stylish right now.”
I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“It’s not real,” I blurted.
“What?” Blair blinked at me. “You mean it’s a fake diamond?”
“It’s a fake engagement.”
“I don’t understand. You’re not really getting married?”
“No, we’re getting married. That part is real. And as far as I know, the diamond is real.” I took a breath. “But everything else is fake.”
“But . . . I don’t understand.”
“Drink some wine,” I said, picking up my glass for a sip. “You’re going to need it for this story.”
And she did. While I explained the situation to her, outlining the reasons we were getting married and what each of us would gain from it, Blair not only finished her first glass of wine but got halfway through a second. She nearly fell off her barstool when I showed her the engraving on the ring.
“So you’re not in love?” She looked so heartbroken I had to laugh.
“No, we’re not.” I slipped the ring back on my finger. “I think we might like each other a little better at this point, but we are definitely not in love.”
She sighed dejectedly. “This is so depressing.”
“Not really,” I said, trying to perk her up while also keeping my emotions in line. “We’re doing this for one another. We’re going to get exactly what we want in the end. No one is going to get hurt.”
“But I’m hurt.” She looked miserable for a moment, then she perked up. “Maybe you’ll fall in love for real once you’re married!”
“Good God, I hope not,” I said, making a face.
“Why not?”
“This plan works specifically because we’re not in love. Phase three would be a disaster if one of us had real feelings.” A huge, flaming dumpster fire where my heart used to be.
“Phase three?”
“The plan has three phases,” I said, sitting up taller and taking a sip of my wine. I’d been talking so much, I was still on my first glass. “We’re in phase one right now—that’s the engagement and wedding. The marriage and getting pregnant is phase two. The breakup is phase three.”
“But if you really fell in love, you wouldn’t have to break up,” she said brightly.
I shook my head. “We will not be in love, Blair. We’re not like you and Griffin. This is a business arrangement.”
“But maybe—”
“No,” I said with more vehemence than intended. “I don’t think you understand—I don’t want to fall for Enzo. I was in love with someone in Chicago for five years, and it was toxic and terrible and tore me apart. It took me a long time to feel whole again, and now that I do, I don’t plan on giving anyone that kind of power over me, especially not Enzo Moretti.”
She nodded and spoke hesitantly. “I’m really sorry about the bad relationship. I didn’t know.”
“I don’t talk about it much. And it doesn’t matter now.” I softened my voice. “Sorry I got testy. I don’t love discussing my romantic past. But I’m never going to be hurt like that again. Because I realized I don’t need a man for what I really want—to be a mom. To raise a child. There is nothing between Enzo and me except some bad blood and a contract—which, by the way, I have just violated by telling you the whole truth.”
“My lips are sealed,” she said. “I won’t even tell Griff if you don’t want me to.”
I bit my lip. “I hate asking you to keep a secret from your husband.”
“In this particular case, I don’t think he’d want to know the truth,” she said. “So we’re okay.”
“Thanks.” I finished my wine, set the glass down, and asked her the question I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to. “You think this is a mistake?”
She sighed and swirled