heart rate to return to normal. Her head was spinning and she felt as if she’d forgotten her own name for a short while.
“Good night,” Lucas said lightly.
“Good night,” she replied, not looking up at him. She spun around and rushed into her house, quickly shutting the door behind herself.
“Lucas is picking us up in half an hour,” she told Thomas the next morning. “You need to get moving.”
He grumbled, but he got out of bed. “I thought we were spending the day with Camille and Brandon and Molly.”
“We are, but also with Lucas.”
“Does he have to come?”
“It’s all part of the charade. We’re supposed to be madly in love.”
“Can’t you be madly in love later, at the ball, maybe?”
“Just get ready,” she told him firmly.
When the limousine pulled up outside the house a short while later, Terri and Thomas were both ready. Lucas got out of the back and met them at the door.
“The organizers suggested that I might want to take part in the pie-eating competition,” he told them as they walked back to the car.
“I don’t know why anyone would want to take part in the pie-eating competition,” Terri told him.
“They said it wasn’t about how much you eat, though,” he replied.
“It isn’t. It’s a speed-eating contest, though. You have to eat your piece of pie as quickly as possible,” she explained.
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” he said.
“With your hands tied behind your back,” she added.
“Really? That sounds rather awful. Maybe I’ll stick to judging the pie-making contests instead.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” Terri exclaimed. “People take these things very seriously. Whomever you pick, someone will end up with hurt feelings.”
“Why do people think this is fun, then?” he asked.
Terri laughed. “It is fun, if you can just go and enjoy yourself. You’re a celebrity in Ramsey, though. Of course the organizers are going to want you to be involved in some way.”
The car pulled into the large parking lot that was being used for the festival. There was a short line of cars waiting to be directed as to where to park.
“We can get out here,” Thomas suggested after a short wait.
“We may as well,” Terri agreed.
Lucas told the driver to let them out. He climbed out and then helped Terri and Thomas from the car. It only took them a short while to walk to the entrance gates.
“I already have tickets for me and Thomas,” Terri told Lucas. “Teachers can buy them at a reduced price.”
Lucas paid for his admission and then bought a program, as well. Terri felt as if all eyes were on her as they walked through the entrance. Lucas took her hand and squeezed it.
“They’ll get tired of staring eventually,” he whispered in her ear.
“Hopefully sooner, rather than later,” she hissed back.
Camille was standing with her boyfriend, Max, and her children just inside the gates.
“Can Thomas come with us?” Brandon asked. “Molly and I are going to explore on our own.”
Terri glanced at Camille and then shrugged. “If he wants to go with you guys, I don’t mind.”
“Of course I want to go with them,” Thomas laughed. “I’ll need some money, though.”
Terri grabbed her handbag, but Lucas was quicker. He opened his wallet and handed Thomas a stack of bills.
“He only needs ten dollars,” Terri said quickly. “There isn’t that much to buy here.”
“We might get lunch,” Brandon said.
“Twenty, then,” Terri replied.
Thomas took two ten dollar bills from the stack he’d been given and then handed the rest of the money back to Lucas. “Thank you,” he said a bit stiffly.
“No problem,” Lucas told him.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Terri told him as the three children walked away together.
“Why not?”
“He’s my child and my responsibility.”
“We’re going to be a family soon. He’ll be as much my responsibility as yours.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but there were far too many people around for her to say what she wanted to say. If they truly were engaged, he was right, and they were in a very public place. She needed to act as if they were actually engaged. “This is going to take a lot of getting used to,” she muttered after a moment.
He took her arm and pulled her close. After dropping a kiss onto the top of her head, he smiled down at her. “Just relax and enjoy being a bit spoiled for a while,” he suggested.
For the first half hour, things felt awkward, but after a while, people stopped staring, and Terri found that she was actually enjoying herself. A