Page 14 of The Marriage Deal (Sunset Falls #1)

HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER

LILAH

“May thinks the man’s got some kind of dirt on you.” Mom eyes me from the counter where she chops veggies for tonight’s salad.

May, our neighbor since I was born, is suspicious of everyone.

Her mom on the other hand, Mrs. Opal Kennedy, is a hoot.

She’s also a die-hard romantic, which I’m sure is driving May up one wall and down another, what with the town tongue wagging regarding me and Briggs after our recent public sightings.

“You can assure May that I’ve not been stripped of my free will.”

“You can’t know that, kiddo.” Dad bends low to pluck a beer from the fridge. He pops the top and takes a swig. “He’s a pretty one. Girls always get a little funny with the pretty ones.”

“Briggs isn’t pretty.” I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous. He’s hard and sharp and fun to poke at.

Dad’s brows snap high. “Have you seen his eyes? They’re like gems bedded in a forest of—”

I slap my hands over my ears, but I’m not entirely able to snuff out my laughter. “Dad! Please don’t wax poetic about my boyfriend’s eyes. It’s weird.”

It’s also weird to call the man my boyfriend.

Dad’s cheeks are plump and red as he does his best to contain his own laughter. “I’m just saying. That boy is pretty, and we all know how weird girls get around pretty boys. Brandy,” Dad calls. “Remember that scene in the chemistry lab with the older Williams boy?”

Mom giggles into the chopped salad bowl as I groan. “I was fourteen.”

“Love is love.” Mom snickers. She’s always on team Dad.

“I wasn’t in love with Phillip Williams.”

“That’s his name.” Dad snaps his fingers. “Honey, you nearly burned the school down.”

“It was a test tube fire. You’re exaggerating again.”

“You were a girl distracted by a pretty boy.” Dad weasels his way closer to Mom, plucking a cheese cube from the bowl. She swats at him as he pops it into his mouth, washing it down with beer.

“Now you’re distracted by a pretty man.” Mom intercepts Dad’s attempt for another cheese cube, handing him a square of red pepper instead.

He shoots her a look of betrayal, ignores the pepper, and says to me, “I’m pretty sure The Tasty Rise had its best day this year. After rumor spread about yours and Briggs’ appearance there this morning, figure the whole town stopped in for a tongue wag.”

I groan. Again.

Dating in a small town is like going from a frying pan into a fire.

It’s impossible to live outside the sizzle of the small-town frying pan, where information jumps from one hot tongue to another.

When you’re one of the town’s own and you fall for an outsider who is currently splashing big waves, you skip the frying pan and land straight in the flames.

Currently, I’m covered in heat. As I’ve agreed to Briggs’ shenanigans, I’m going to be sitting in the hot seat for some time.

I resolve myself to it with a sigh. I mutter, “Can’t complain about business.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Mom dips her head to the stack of plates on the table. “Take those outside for me, honey.”

“We’re eating outside tonight?”

“Of course.” She shoots me a wicked smile. “May already has her wine poured out on the back deck. We need to give her something to chat about over coffee tomorrow morning.” She winks. “Business, remember?”

I laugh, lift the plates and start for the door. “Of course.”

Dad pulls the steaks off the barbecue—he splurged for dinner with Briggs—and slides them onto a plate.

“Looks good, Martin,” Briggs compliments. “Thank you for having me.”

“You brought wine.” Dad peers at the bottle, adding loud enough for May to hear on the other side of the fence. “The good stuff, too.”

“For my woman and her parents, only the best will do.” Briggs slides an easy arm around my waist, tucking me close like he’s been tucking me close like this for years. It’s surprising, the easy way he makes this feel real. Too real.

I’m still stiff and unsure. Unlike Briggs, I don’t know how to act the fake girlfriend.

That makes me wonder if he’s done this before. I want to ask, but of course, I can’t. Not in front of Mom and Dad, and especially not somewhere May can hear. Even now, I can see her white hair bobbing between the slats in the fence as she shimmies her chair closer to listen in.

Mom slides into a chair at the patio table, finger waving between the two of us. “I still don’t know how this happened.”

“I’ve told you, Brandy. It was that wink he shot her up on the stage.” Dad chuckles. “Hook, line, and sinker.”

“Oh, please.” Mom rolls her eyes. “It takes more than a wink to sink Lilah’s heart.”

A distressed sound escapes me. Briggs chuckles. “Actually, I first met Lilah on the cliffs overlooking the falls.”

Mom and Dad are quiet as we settle in our chairs. Then Dad asks dryly, “She jumped, didn’t she?”

Briggs grins. “She did. I swear, I felt my heart splash into that cold water with her.”

“And you’ve been hooked on her ever since?” Mom sighs, like it’s the most romantic story ever to be told.

I’m pretty sure I hear May harrumph.

Briggs slides his eyes to me, looking at me like—goodness, looking at me like I’m everything to him. “She’s not easily forgettable, that’s for sure.”

I feel pink heat my cheeks.

Oh, the man is good.

Dad chuckles. “She’ll keep you on your toes, that’s for sure.”

I roll my eyes mainly to cut the hold Briggs has on me. To Dad, I mutter, “I’m not that bad.”

Dad knocks a knuckle to his chest. “Kiddo, I’ve got a steel plated heart because of your antics.”

“Oh, please,” I echo Mom.

Dad cuts into his steak, but warns Briggs as he does, “You be sure to watch this one closely. Before you know it, she’ll have you wrapped around her little finger bowing to her heart’s every desire.”

“I’m prepared to kneel.” There’s a roughness to Briggs’ voice that I feel inside me.

“Oh, my God.” Mom claps her hands in front of her chest. “He’s perfect!”

I slide my eyes to Briggs, hoping that he can read the warning in them. Of course, I know he must romance my parents to some degree. I just don’t want them hurt by the loss of him. Because the loss of him is inevitable.

This isn’t real. And we have to be compassionate about the people in our lives. Because the reality I hadn’t considered until this moment is that this is going to affect more than just our lives. What we’re doing together, faking love, is going to affect everyone we love.

Everyone I love.

Briggs touches his hand to my thigh, squeezing gently. There’s a touch of question in his eyes. A look of concern darkening the green as he peers at me. Inside my chest, my heart feels funny. Slick and oily.

I’m no longer certain I’m doing the right thing, debts be damned.

Then Dad invites Briggs fishing, and Briggs accepts.

That’s when the wave of reality crashes over my head, threatening to drown me.

It’s sink or swim.

I’ve never been a sinker, so I let a smile hitch my lips and settle into the role I’ve agreed to play as Briggs’ girlfriend and soon-to-be-wife.