Page 64 of Right With You
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We’d discussed our book, chatting and laughing and so happy to have Liz back with us. I’d also managed to not talk about myself at all, but when Dove leveled her gaze at me and raised those blond brows, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“So, you may have heard that Luc and I are fake-engaged right now.” Why not just put it all right out there?
Dove grinned and rubbed her hands together. Jo, Nikki, Winnie, and Catherine all nodded and murmured their awareness. Liz raised one brow ready for more, and Jess crossed her arms.
“Yeah, let’s get into it. Jude said you guys were glued together on the dance floor and even kissed, so sounds like the deception is going really well.” There was accusation in her tone, but it wasn’t mean-spirited. Jess liked honesty and I didn’t blame her.
“Sorry, but why is this happening? I think maybe I missed that,” Nikki admitted.
With a big sigh, I launched in. “You didn’t miss anything. I didn’t share anything because I was chicken.” I made a face, and they all chuckled, bless them. “Luc asked me to pose as his fiancée because his family is pressuring him to marry someone, which sounds insane and kind of is. That said, he comes from a very prestigious family and his sister did marry the man chosen for her, so there is a precedent.”
Everyone absorbed that while Dove clapped gleefully. “It’s the perfect set up for a marriage of convenience, right? He marries the woman his grandfather chose for him despite his wishes…” She swoons back into her seat on the sofa.
“Except for the part where he gets fake-engaged to me because he refuses to go along with it. So.” I held my arms wide. “Here I am, Mrs. Jean-Luc Devereaux to be.”
Jess squinted. “Devereaux? I thought his last name was Doux?”
“Apparently, he legally changed it? Or something? I don’t know. But his family name is Devereaux as in…”
“The conglomerate that owns multiple billion-dollar companies?” Nikki asked, right as Liz said, “I knew his clothes were fancy.”
“Yeah. He has money, to say the least.” I shifted, the reminder sending a swipe of discomfort through me. He didn’t seem to think his grandfather would release the trust to him now that things had soured so completely, but I hoped it would turn around. Even without it, he was set up very well financially.
“So you’re his fake fiancée for this deal, but you’re also dating?” Winnie asked, curiosity ringing through her words more than any shades of judgment.
“He doesn’t want anything serious, and I certainly don’t either.” Dove gave me a look and after swallowing hard, I added, “Didn’t.”
I couldn’t have anticipated the way saying those words—doesn’t want anything serious—pained me now. I’d felt sure it was the best possible scenario when he’d proposed it. I’d doubled down on it, reminding him I didn’t date and didn’t want to. Now…
Jess clapped once, Liz, Catherine, and Nikki grinned, Dove raised her glass high in celebration, and Jo and Winnie shared knowing glances.
“But that’s what I need to talk about. What am I doing? I mean, I’m barely done disentangling myself from Callum.” At the heart of my worry was exactly that—what if Luc really was too good to be true?
“When did you and Callum break up?” Nikki asked, usually the first to focus on tangible things, God bless her.
“It’s been almost eighteen months since our main break up, and over eight months since I finally stopped being reeled back in.” We’d been together almost three years by that point, and I cringed thinking about all that time wasted.
“Are you still tangled up in feelings for him?” Winnie asked, her words gentle.
“Callum? Gosh, no. I feel frustrated I ever let myself get wrapped up in him, and I don’t want to repeat that, or my mom’s pattern.”
They knew a little about my mom and most of them aside from Liz had witnessed me working through some of the process of distancing myself from him. I hadn’t wanted them to see—hadn’t even willinglyletthem, but from this point of view, it seemed so foolish. Like I’d lost out on their support and love, and now all I wanted was to tell them everything.
Or, if not everything, then most of it. Definitely about Luc, because I didn’t know how to handle this.
“A relationship like that is bound to have some fallout. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready, but only you can say whether you are or not.” Catherine tended to be quiet, but when she spoke, we all listened.
“Agreed. If you feel ready for something, then you’re ready,” Jess confirmed.
Dove leaned over and reached for my hand, grasping it when I set mine in hers. “And if you’re not sure you’re ready, but you’re feeling like youwantto be… that you want anything with him, that’s a huge sign.”
Her sparkly blue eyes were seconds away from getting teary. I could hear it in her voice. My sweet best friend who’d supported me as much as I’d let her and was holding so much up herself. I hugged her, holding her tight and whispering my thanks.
No one else knew the true extent of my disinterest in anything romantic. I’d made jokes about not wanting to date, even declarations at times, but I hadn’t told anyone but Dove how unappealing even the possibility of romance sounded… except that little inkling Luc had always sparked in me.
Some of it made no sense, and some was linked directly to how crappy Callum had been. But the point was, it’d all happened so seamlessly with Luc.
