Faking Ms. Right (Dirty Martini Running Club #1) - Claire Kingsley Page 0,69
silent?
Nora: Sorry. I’m just really overwhelmed right now.
Me: Why?
Nora: Do you know how long I’ve wanted to style someone for a Roaring Twenties party?
Me: No, how long?
Nora: BASICALLY FOREVER
Nora: But no one’s doing them anymore.
Nora: Everly, you just made my day. No! My week. My month.
Nora: Block out Saturday, girls. All day. We have work to do.
Hazel: Do we need to bring dates to the party?
Nora: Why wouldn’t we bring dates?
Me: You just asked me to invite more single men and you plan to bring a date too?
Nora: I like having options.
Hazel: I’m not dating anyone. And I don’t want to date anyone.
Nora: You don’t have to be dating someone to bring a date. Tell you what, I’ll get you a dress and a date. Deal?
Hazel: That sounds like a terrible idea.
Nora: Don’t you trust me to find you a good date?
Hazel: No. Can’t we just be each other’s dates?
I covered my mouth to stifle a giggle. Hazel was still on her anti-dating kick, something Nora couldn’t fathom.
Nora: Fine, I’ll be your date. But if there’s a hot man at Everly’s party, I’m ditching you.
Hazel: That’s fine. I can always Uber home.
Nora: Thank you, my love!
Me: So you’re both good to go? You’ll be there?
Hazel: I’m looking forward to it.
Nora: Wouldn’t miss it.
And that was why I loved my friends.
I put off calling my sister for another hour, but finally I decided to get it over with. I went into the bedroom and sat on the bed, then brought up her number and hit send.
“Hey, Everly,” Annie said when she answered.
“Hi, how are you and Miranda?”
“We’re doing well. What’s up?
“This is going to sound complicated, and also strange, but hear me out, okay?”
“Um, sure?”
I took a breath. “I’ve been pretending to be my boss’s girlfriend.”
“You what?”
“I know, I know. Like I said, hear me out. His dad started dating his ex, who’s a gold-digging harpy. But his dad doesn’t know she’s Shepherd’s ex, and Shepherd is pretty sure he’ll break up with her soon, because his dad has flings with younger women sometimes. But this woman, the gold-digging harpy, is actually trying to get to Shepherd. He didn’t want her to think he’s single, so he moved me in, and I sort of made things more complicated by telling her that Shepherd and I are getting married. So now I’m fake-engaged to my boss. And his dad is throwing us an engagement party and it would help us both so much if you and Miranda would come.”
“I…” She trailed off. “I have no idea how to reply to that. Are you joking?”
“No, I’m serious. I’m pretending to be marrying my boss, and now there’s an engagement party, and it would be odd if all the guests were Shepherd’s. The thing is, Shepherd’s dad, Richard? He’s such a nice man. He has terrible taste in women, but he’s like a big teddy bear. And he’s so excited about this. Shepherd has done a lot for him recently, and I think this is Richard’s way of thanking him. He keeps asking me if my family is coming, and I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“Everly, what were you thinking? Do you realize how crazy this is?”
Oh Annie, you have no idea. “It’s fine. Really. It’s not that big of a deal.”
She took a deep breath. “So, you need me and Miranda to come to an engagement party and pretend that we think you’re marrying Shepherd Calloway?”
“Exactly.”
“This is probably the weirdest thing you’ve ever asked me to do. But sure, we’ll come.”
“Really? Oh my god, thank you so much. But don’t tell Mom and Dad.”
“Oh god no, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Annie.”
“You’re—” She stopped talking and I heard the faint sound of Miranda’s voice in the background. “It’s what? Oh no. Everly, I’m sorry, I have to go. The toilet in the bathroom we just finished is flooding.”
“That’s not good.”
“Hang on, Miranda, I’ll be right there. Oh god, I can smell it from down here. I have to go. Love you, sis.”
“Love you, too.”
I could hear her calling up to Miranda again just before she hung up. Flooding toilet. Yikes.
She’d had to go before I could talk to her about Shepherd, but maybe that was a good thing. If they met Shepherd in person—in a non-work setting, where he was less likely to act like a robot—maybe they’d see him as more than just a potential source of DNA. He was a person. A man.