reason for not attending the party.
I narrowed my eyes at Amelia. “I thought your babysitter was sick.”
“She miraculously recovered in time for us to come over to see how tonight went.” She lifted a bag with Maggie’s Bakery printed on the side, and she was instantly forgiven.
How could I be grumpy when they had brought me the best brownies in all of San Francisco?
They had also brought a bottle of red wine.
Clearly, if they had shown up with the post-breakup survival gear, it meant they had suspected tonight would be nightmarish.
More so because I hadn’t even broken up with anyone.
Not unless they considered what had happened between Eli and me a breakup.
Amelia and Rachel retrieved the plates and wineglasses from the kitchen. Then the four of us made ourselves comfortable on the couch and armchairs.
“So, how bad was it?” Dani asked.
“I take it you three knew what Robert and Tony were up to? Is that why you all came up with excuses why you couldn’t be there?”
Amelia flashed me a sheepish smile. “Robert called and explained what he and his husband were up to. He asked us to not come because of the sensitive nature of the evening.”
I huffed a laugh. “What, was he worried the men would fall in love with you three and not me? So, he was eliminating the competition?”
“It was more like we would be a distraction. I just think it was his way of living out his fantasy of being part of the reality show.”
She got that right. “He and Tony were having a little too much fun tonight. More so than me.”
“Was it really that bad?”
“Did you at least meet a decent bloke?” Dani bit into her brownie.
“I met several decent blokes.”
“But none of them tugged at your heart the way a certain hockey player does…” Amelia said.
I exhaled, sounding like an inflatable toy that had sprung a leak. “How did you know?” I thought I’d done a decent job hiding it.
I mean, other than when I risked having my heart dragged across the ice by telling Eli how I felt about him.
“Every time you talked about Eli, your eyes lit up like a lighthouse.” Rachel tossed me a sympathetic glance.
“Was I really that obvious?”
The three of them nodded.
“Why don’t you tell him how you feel?” Dani asked.
A pitiful laugh fell from my lips. “Already two steps ahead of you.”
They all winced, guessing how that had gone down.
Amelia picked up her wineglass from the coffee table. “That bad, huh?”
I nodded. “That bad. But I can’t blame him for that. There was a reason he needed a fake girlfriend for his cousin’s wedding. He didn’t want a real one. My heart just forgot that part.
“And then there’s the issue where I need to get married within the next thirty-six days. Talk about putting a lot of pressure on a guy who doesn’t even want a real girlfriend.”
“How do you know he doesn’t want a real girlfriend?” Rachel asked.
“Did you miss the part about the fake girlfriend?”
“The trip to Copper Creek seems pointless now that it’s out that the woman he was spotted with there wasn’t his real girlfriend,” Dani said. “How did anyone find out about that anyway?”
“I have no idea. Everyone knew me as his girlfriend. We were careful to keep up appearances as a loving couple.” A memory of when Eli hadn’t been careful hit me like a bitch slap to the face. “Oh, God,” I groaned, slumping back on the couch.
“What?” my friends responded in near unison.
“We drove to a nearby town to buy fabric so I could make the dress for his niece. Eli blurted in the fabric store that I was pretending to be his girlfriend. He said it in front of the cashier. But I have no idea how she ended up with the photo of us walking down the Main Street in Copper Creek. At least she doesn’t know my name. That didn’t show up on social media.”
Amelia and Rachel grimaced. Dani muttered, “Bloody hell.”
“Please tell me my name isn’t on social media,” I groaned.
“It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. All it took was for one person to recognize the town, and people would start putting things together. The cashier might know people in Copper Creek and could have remembered your name from your credit card.”
“Dani’s right,” Amelia said. “It’s not like Eli is unknown. Didn’t you tell me that the town’s population is only around eight thousand? Eli is a big-name