Page 47 of I Think He Knows
A lie of omission, really. Same as I’m about to do now.
I swallow. Smile. “Up until two months ago, I hadn’t dated in almost a decade. What’s a few more months? If anything, it’ll give me practice for when I find the real thing.”
Carter’s blue eyes narrow a touch. “So I’d be, like, a trial run for when you find the person you actually want to marry?”
“Sure,” I say with a shrug. Casual casual casual. That’s me right now. “I need practice. You’re the expert. Teach me your ways, O wise oracle.”
Carter takes a swig of beer and wipes his mouth with the back of one big, tan hand. Maybe I’m wrong, but he looks kind of bothered. Is the idea of fake dating me for a few weeks or months so repulsive to him?How lovely.
“It can be as long or short as you want it to be,” I add. “I’m ready to be dumped whenever you’re ready to dump me.”
Carter’s dimple pops as he smiles at me, but the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Who’s to say that I’d be the one doing the dumping? You’d be breaking my heart if you run off with your real true love, which would make you the dumper and me the dumpee.”
“Oh come on, CJ. We gotta make this story believable.”
“Exactly.” He gets up, moves towards the barbecue, and begins flipping the steaks. What on earth wasthatsupposed to mean?
He’s quiet for a few moments as he works, and I watch him. His broad shoulders are tense and I wonder if maybe the part in thisIf Onlymovie—and his reputation—mean more to him than he lets on. When he eventually closes the lid of the grill and turns to me, his face is composed. Neutral. The Switzerland of facial expressions. “K, how ‘bout this? We canmutuallypart ways when this is no longermutuallybeneficial for us.”
I nod. “That works.”
“When’s the campout?”
“Two weekends from now. How long does Elena want to keep this going?”
“Just until theIf Onlycast is officially announced. Elena thinks that, after that, we’ll be safe to split up quietly. In the meantime, she basically wants me to hang around Atlanta and do what I can to look tame and domestic and in love. And she thinks it would be good for you to come to the premiere of my latest movie in LA—it releases the week after the campout.” He glances at me quickly. “Assuming you can get a couple days off work and we can find someone to watch Legs.”
“I can ask Imani to cover some shifts for me, and I’m sure one of my brothers can take Legs.” I somehow manage to say this like it’s a totally normal thing to be discussing the logistics of attending a freaking Hollywood movie premiere with the hottest actor on the planet.
“Oh yeah,” he tacks on. “She also wanted you and Allegra to move in with me, but I can obviously tell her that’s not happening.”
This conversation is now taking a right turn at bizarre and barreling straight into the realm of the completely insane, but I nod. I love Carter’s house, but this is… a lot to take in. “K. And what do we tell our families?”
But Carter doesn’t reply. His eyes are focused somewhere behind my head…
Where there’s a sudden burst of chaotic noise.
I whirl around to see Allegra, who was taking an eternity to fetch that plate she’s still not holding, leading my brothers, their wives, Chimichanga the dog, and—oh, for the love of Moses—my father and his wife, Constance, into the backyard. My entire family, whom I have failed to text and call back regarding the sudden national news of my upcoming nuptials.
Frick.
Allegra is grinning from ear to ear, Luke is smirking his face off, Liam is sporting a small, close-lipped smile, Annie looks like she’s about to capsize with glee, and Mindy is… holding a cake.
A cake that’s clearly in the shape of a big, round butt.
Fabulous.
“Surprise!” my daughter yells, then blasts on a kazoo like a madwoman.
“Indeed, it was,” my father mutters behind her.
Unfazed, Allegra turns to Luke and Liam, who both smile at me mischievously before unfurling a banner that reads: “Congratulations, Lovebirds!”
Chimichanga promptly lifts his leg on it.
Carter lets out a long, low whistle, and when I look at him, his eyes are already on me. “I have a feeling that maybe, just maybe, Allegra might’ve already told your family it’s real.”
“Oh no. Oh no no no no no.” I cover my eyes then peek between two of my fingers, as if I can ostrich this entire situation away by sticking my head in the sand.