My (Mostly) Fake Wedding - Penelope Bloom Page 0,26

you off.”

“That’s… Yeah. I mean, you knew she was making up at least some of it. She told everyone at the reception that I’d been coming onto you for weeks. You just sat there and let everyone believe it.”

Lance hung his head, nodding. “I know. I’m not going to make excuses for myself. That was beyond shitty. And I’m sorry. Really sorry.”

I gave him a small little smile. Oddly enough, hearing him apologize only made me feel mad on my own behalf for the first time. Until now, I’d just been hurt. It was like the friend I knew was dead before. Because the Lance I knew wouldn’t have let someone make up those things about me. He would’ve stood up for me. Now I was seeing the Lance I knew, and I just felt pissed about what he’d done.

“And I was thinking about everything Shelby said. About how she always knew you had feelings for me. Belle… I’ve had feelings too. I just worried it would screw up our friendship to admit it. But now I’ve already screwed things so badly that I might as well come clean, right?”

“You’re married,” I said. My heart was pounding, but not for the reasons I would’ve thought. All I could think was, No, no, Lance. You idiot. Why now? Why did you have to do this now?

“No. I got a lawyer and filed for divorce the day she told me.” He held up his phone screen and showed me about twenty missed calls from Shelby, several voicemails, and a pile of unread texts. “She is a little upset about it. But I don’t care anymore. We can finally try this thing. The right way.”

He reached for my hand, then hesitated when he saw the big, fat engagement ring Chris had given me.

He stared at it like my hand had just grown a ball sack. “What is that?”

“Lance…” I scooted my chair back. “I’m sorry for whatever part I played in this. But,” I shook my head. “It’s too late. I moved on. We could work on being friends again, but I’m not going to lie. It’s going to take some time.”

Lance’s calm, nice guy vibe cracked. “Moved on? No shit. What has it been, two weeks? And you’re engaged? What the fuck, Belle?”

I got up, shouldering my bag and taking a step from the table. “I should really go.”

Lance got up and followed me as I tried to leave. He put his hand on my arm, stopping me. “Belle,” he said quietly. “Sorry. I didn’t expect the ring. But if this is about me somehow, let’s talk before you do something crazy. Give me a chance.”

I tried to pull back, but he leaned closer. Just before he could actually kiss me, I saw something from the corner of my eye. A man outside the shop with a professional camera was snapping pictures. Ever since Chris’ little stunt in the restaurant, I’d noticed people snapping pictures of me when I went out. I guess they all wanted the shot of me looking half-dead with no makeup as I left a coffee shop in the morning.

I let out a groan, then pushed Lance away. “I need to go.”

I left him standing there and rushed out of the shop. The man with the camera kept snapping pictures. “Make sure you get this one,” I said, holding up both my middle fingers in front of his camera.”

I had a feeling Lance and his horrible timing had just caused Chris and I a pile of trouble.

16

Chris

I waited on Belle’s couch. Part of me wondered if it was wrong to pick the lock on her door and let myself in again when she wasn’t home. Then I decided she hadn’t explicitly told me not to wait on the couch for her.

I mean, she knew I could pick her lock. If she didn’t want me to let myself in, all she would’ve had to do was say so. Besides, it was my duty as her soon-to-be fake husband to check the house and make sure she was okay.

I’d also done a quick count of her pickles before I settled on the couch. As I suspected, one was missing. Curious. Either she got hungry. Or she got hungry. I made a note to ask her about it whenever she showed up.

I’d been waiting about a half an hour when I heard someone try the doorknob. There was a jiggle, then a curse. It sounded like Belle, and when I got