Page 113 of Empty Net

“And build it with my own two hands.”

Their conversation takes off from there, and feeling like I’ve done my duty, I take the opportunity to slink away, checking in on Fox, who is standing between our mothers as Bonnie explains her shifts at the hospital—twelve hours, three days a week, even on holidays. It’s something my mother can’t even fathom. I tip my chin at Fox, and he grins at me, then excuses himself, leaving them to chat.

“My mother looks bored as hell,” I say to him as we walk a few feet away.

“Don’t worry. My mama can charm anyone, even the coldest of cold.”

“Selene Maddison is another level of cold.”

Fox huffs. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

Even though Fox and I have shown her we are nothing but a loving couple, my mother is still convinced he’s beneath her and finds a way to insult him whenever I talk to her. Of course, he takes it like a champ, but I hate it all the same.

“Dude! You’re getting married!” Lawson slings his arm around Fox’s shoulder, ruffling his hair. “And I’m your best man!”

“He’s your best man?” I ask Fox, though I don’t know why.

There is no best man. He knows it, and I know it too. We haven’t talked about how this party means the end. We haven’t even talked abouthowwe’re going to break up or when. We just know this is it. That was the deal, right?

But now that it’s here… Well, I don’t know how I feel about it.

“Sure am.” Lawson smiles proudly, dragging me back to the present. “And look, I know Auden’s like your bestie and all, but if you could do me a solid and pick Rory as your maid of honor, I’d really appreciate it. I’m pretty sure Hutch would saw my nuts off if I had to slow dance with his gal.”

“With a rusty spoon,” says the man in question, strolling up with a glass of whiskey in hand, two ice cubes floating jauntily, and Auden on his arm.

She hands me a glass of champagne with a wink. “Looks like you need it.”

She’s right. With this party, I might have to rethink my recent no-booze stance.

“How do you even saw with a spoon, Hutchy?” Lawson’s still grinning as Rory fits herself against his side like it’s her rightful place.

They all look so…well, in love. Like couples. And I don’t want to gag at the sight of it. I don’t even want to call them fools.

What the hell is happening to me?

“You okay?” Fox asks, his own arm curling around my waist. I instantly settle back against him, and all my anxiety disappears with his simple touch.

I nod. “Yeah, I’m good.”

And Iamgood. Sure, I’m at my engagement party with my fake fiancé holding me in his arms and I’m having a mild internal freakout because this whole thing with Fox has turned me into some weirdo who doesn’t recoil at the idea of love, but still. I’m good.

At least I hope I am.

“For crying out loud, push your shoulders back, Lilah Jane. Stop slouching.”

I haven’t slouched once this evening, yet it doesn’t stop my mother from picking me apart. I’m not sure why I expected the night of my engagement party to be any different, but I hoped she’d lay off for once in my life.

Still, I find myself pushing my shoulders back even more as a photographer—one I didn’t even know she hired—snaps photos of Fox and me toasting the gathered crowd, our parents on either side of us. The flash from the camera is blinding, and I swear the only thing getting me through it is Fox’s hand on my waist, holding me steady. Everyone around us cheers, and we’re finally freed from our hostage situation.

“You smile like a crazed woman,” my mother says through a grin.

That’s rich coming from her.

She turns on her heel and marches away, her nose upturned the whole way.

“Well, isn’t she just a ray of fucking sunshine.” Fox glares after her, his jaw pulsing.

Bonnie smacks her son’s arm. “Arthur Francis Fox, be nice! I raised you better than that.” But even I can tell by her tone that she agrees with her son.

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