Page 104 of Love Arranged

“Just checking.”

My heart, which was already beating faster after theconversation with my sister, picks up speed. “About that… I’m sorry to bother you in the middle of the workday?—”

Rustling on his end of the line makes my phone’s speaker crackle. “No worries. Give me a second.”

I hear him excuse himself from whomever he was talking to before I interrupted him.

“I can call back later if you’re busy.”

“It’s fine.” A door shuts in the background. “What’s up?”

“So…I planned a shopping trip with my sister this weekend.”

“And?”

“Andit turned into a lot more than I originally bargained for.”

“Lily, as cute as your conversational cliffhangers are, I’m in the middle of a meeting.”

I stop listening once he drops the wordcute. I mean, who could pay attention after something like that?—

“So if you don’t mind getting to the point…” His sentence hangs there.

“Right!” I’m in such a race to get the words out, I don’t process my thoughts before saying them. “Uh, basically she wants us to join her and Julian on a couples’ trip to Chicago this weekend, and you and I will have to share a room—and a bed since I can’t ask her for two queens without it looking weird—and she also wants you and Julian to hang out together while we go shopping, so I hope you don’t mind.”

It’s so quiet, I have to check to make sure he didn’t hang up.

“Are you still there?” I ask.

“Appears so.”

“It’ll be fun!” I repeat Dahlia’s words.

“Should we review the meaning of the word?”

I laugh him off. “Maybefunwas a bit of a stretch, but it won’t be the worst weekend ever.”

“With Julian attending, I can guarantee it.”

“Who knows? By the end of it, you two could become the best of friends.”

“In that case, I’ll start making our matching friendship bracelets.”

With a laugh, I hang up the phone, and the smile on my face remains, along with a hint of nerves about spending an entire weekend with Lorenzo, showing him exactly what he’s missing out on by denying himself what he clearly wants.

Me.

24

LORENZO

Julian, Dahlia, and Lily are outside the Muñoz house when I pull into the driveway that Friday evening. Julian is in the middle of sifting through a toolbox in the back of his truck while Lily is looking at him, panicked.

I hop out of my G-Wagon and walk over to them. “What’s going on?”

Dahlia glances up from her phone. “Julian tried to fix the fountain while we were waiting for you.”

“Did you get it to work?” I ask him.