Page 58 of Unintended You

“Vail, wait,” I hissed in her ear, pulling her toward a bathroom.

“What is it?” she asked as I pulled her into the room, which was blessedly empty. I locked the door and faced her.

“We never discussed what we were going to do. Are you introducing me as your girlfriend? Are we kissing? What am I supposed to say to people if they ask?”

I could hear how panicked I was.

Vail put her hands on my shoulders.

“Right. Of course. You can just be my date for tonight. We’ll dance. We’ve just started seeing each other after reconnecting.”

I stared into her brown eyes and disappeared for a moment.

“What if someone asks how we met? What if people make comments?” Obviously we weren’t blood related, but our parents had been married. It wasn’t the most scandalous thing that had ever happened, but it was juicy wedding gossip that I knew would spread faster than a wildfire. No doubt it would get back to my father at some point, so I bet I had a phone call from him in my future. Not that I cared.

“Do you want to leave? We can go, right now.”

I knew we could. But I’d agreed, and I kept my word when I’d given it.

“No, it’s okay. I just…can I hold your hand? Or is that off-limits?” I sounded like a child asking a question to my teenage crush.

Vail smiled. “Yeah, you can hold my hand, PT.”

Lifting her hand from my shoulder, she held it out to me. I didn’t want to be so obvious at taking it, but there was nothing I could do.

I laced our fingers together as my heart raced and then slowed and then raced in my chest as if it couldn’t make up its mind what it wanted to do.

Vail gently swung our linked hands. “Ready?”

I took a deep breath. “Ready.”

We left the bathroom holding hands and walked together outside to where the ceremony would take place on the bridge over the pond.

“Jesus Christ,” Vail muttered when she saw the wooden ship steering wheel hung from the arch that said CHARLES and ALLEGRA on it.

“Tacky and tasteless,” I said under my breath.

Vail grinned. “She would hate to hear you say that, but it’s true.”

White chairs with dark blue silk tied on them were lined up on the grass in front of the bridge.

“I’m shocked they didn’t bring in a boat and stick it in the pond,” I said as we made our way toward the chairs.

We’d obviously sit together, but I was hoping we could keep to the back, even though I knew that wasn’t Vail’s plan.

Now that I was faced with the reality of what we were doing, I started to feel nauseated and nervous.

Vail squeezed my hand, as if she could hear my thoughts.

“I’ll bet you Charles wears a captain’s hat,” a voice said behind us and we both turned. At first I didn’t recognize the man with the blond hair and beard, but then I realized that it was Dallas. Holy shit. I hadn’t seen him in a long time.

“Fifty bucks?” Vail said.

Dallas held his hand out. “Deal.”

They shook on it but didn’t hug. Dallas’s eyes flicked to me.

“It’s good to see you again, Lea. It’s been a few years, hasn’t it?”