Mike.’” He locked his gaze onto hers. “‘I’ll marry you.’”
Why was her pulse going nuts? Spiking hard and fast against her veins. “Yes, Mike,” she parroted. “I’ll marry you.”
“Good. I’m glad we got that out of the way.”
“Me too,” she said, feeling marginally better and yet slightly faint. “But this is a lot to ask.”
“We only have to be engaged until you guys finish the quilt, right?”
She nodded.
“So only a few weeks?”
“We could finish the quilt much faster if Shelley and Madison can get over themselves and work together instead of yanking in opposite directions.”
“I’m sure you’ll whip them into shape.”
“I wish I was as confident in me as you are.”
“What’s next?” he asked, plating the omelet and setting it in front of her. She wasn’t so sure she could eat.
“We’ll need an engagement ring. My sisters were already asking about one. I fibbed and said it was being sized. Maybe I could find a cheap zirconia we could use.” She picked up her fork.
“I have a ring,” he said casually.
She put down her fork. “You have an engagement ring?”
“Yeah. It’s not a big honker or anything. But it’ll make me look better than a zirconia.” He laughed.
“You bought someone an engagement ring?”
He shrugged, looked sheepish.
“Seriously? I didn’t know you’d ever been engaged.” Gia took a bite of the omelet. It was delicious, loaded with cheese, onions, and mushrooms, but she was too tense to enjoy it.
“I wasn’t,” he said. “Until now. Until you. I never got around to asking her.”
“But you were close enough to marriage to buy a ring for a woman?”
“I was serious.”
“And you never returned the ring?”
He shook his head, plated his own omelet, poured a cup of coffee, and came to sit beside her at the bar.
“Why not?”
His shrug was easy. “I dunno.”
Mike was their neighbor and a close family friend. How had she not known he was on the verge of becoming engaged? This bugged her. She thought she knew him.
She snapped her fingers. “Let me guess, it was that woman you used to work with before you started your own business. What was her name? It started with a C.”
“Good memory. Her name was Cassandra.”
“So why didn’t you ask her?” Something weird punched Gia in the gut. An odd feeling she couldn’t identify.
“Cassandra scored a high-powered job in Houston. I couldn’t hold her back.”
“You could have gone with her.”
“Nah. I’m a Moonglow Cove man. Always have been. Always will be.”
“You love your town more than her?”
“Guess so.” He met her gaze. “That’s how I knew she wasn’t the One. If I wasn’t willing to leave Moonglow Cove for her—”
“Not a legitimate excuse. You travel often in your Habitat for Humanity thingy.”
“But I always come back home.”
“Where’s the ring?”
“Safe-deposit box at my bank.”
“Please don’t tell me you were planning on keeping the ring to give to the next woman you wanted to marry. That’s truly tacky.”
“No way,” Mike scoffed. “I’m frugal, but not an idiot. When the time came, I figured I’d trade it in and buy a much bigger ring. Now that I can afford it.”
“I see.” It still bugged her that Mike had almost gotten engaged and she hadn’t known about it.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” he asked.
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“One slip and the whole town will know our engagement is a fake. To pull this off, we’ve got to be convincing.”
Her throat tightened. “Meaning?”
“Public displays of affection.” He touched her elbow. “How do you feel about that?”
“Um . . .” She moistened her lips. “You mean like holding hands?”
“Yes . . . and more.”
“Cuddling?”
“At times.”
She gulped, felt her entire body heat. “K-ki-kissing?”
Mike leaned in so close she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. Gia’s heart stilled and for one long heartbeat she thought he might kiss her right then and there.
“If the situation calls for it.” His voice turned husky.
“I see.”
“Still on board?”
Mutely, she nodded. “Are you?”
He eyed her up and down. Cracked a wide grin. “I wouldn’t call it a hardship.”
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears and she had absolutely no idea why. My goodness, he was being so nice. How could she ever repay him? “So we’re really doing this?”
“Looks like.” He bobbed his head. “My bank opens at seven. Should we go get that ring?”
Chapter Seven
Shelley
RAW EDGE: An unfinished fabric edge.
THE SOUND OF the front door closing woke Shelley.
Unable to fall back to sleep, she got dressed and set off running on the empty beach, barefoot, just as she had every morning in Costa