Page 30 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
“I won’t be there alone,” Adaline said. She’d be surrounded by family and friends. Plus, given that Lady Bird was going to be the flower girl, she had a feeling the reception would be dog-friendly. Maybe Fuzzy could be her plus-one. “I’ll be there with—”
“Donotsay Fuzzy’s name. You know I love him to bits, but you cannot bring a dog as your date to your brother’s wedding,” Gram said, seeing right through her.
Adaline lifted her chin. “That’s not what I was going to say at all.”
“Wasn’t it?” Gram said, casting a purposeful look at the envelope from Miss Maxi’s Matchmaking Service.
Argh, even that name was embarrassing. It made Adaline want to break out in hives.
“No. I was going to say that I’d be there with my...” Adaline paused for a beat to clear her throat and pray for forgiveness. She hadn’t lied to her grandmother since the time she’d broken Gram’s favorite ceramic pie pan when she was nine years old and tried to blame it on Ford. “...boyfriend.”
Gram’s eyes narrowed. “Boyfriend? Since when? What boyfriend?”
“My very human, very real boyfriend,” Adaline said.
This was why she’d stopped telling fibs after the pie plate incident. She was the world’s worst liar.
“It’s recent. I was going to tell you about him today, actually.” She just kept digging herself into a hole, deeper by the second. How she’d ever get out of it was anyone’s guess. “I’ve been keeping it a secret from everyone, because I didn’t want to jinx things. But we’re very happy. We’re in love, in fact.”
In love?
She’d lost all control of her sanity. That was the only explanation for why she couldn’t seem to stop the flow of nonsense coming out of her mouth.
“In love!” Gram gasped. Evidently, those had been the magic words. “Oh, Adaline. This is such wonderful news. Tell me everything. Who is he?”
“Well.” Adaline gulped a lungful of air. She felt like she might pass out. She wished she would. Unconsciousness would be a blessing right about now. “He’s, um, he’s...”
He’s kind. He’s handsome. He’s imaginary!
“He’s me,” someone behind Adaline said.
Her heart knocked hard against her rib cage. She must have just experienced a stress-induced auditory hallucination, because that certain someone had sounded exactly like...
No.Adaline’s chest rose and fell with rapid breaths.It can’t be.
Oh, but it was.
Her eyes bore into him as he came around the back of the sofa, pushing Mr. Martin’s wheelchair and flashing her a saucy wink.
Her stomach fluttered. “Jace?”
Chapter Ten
“That’s right.” Jace spread his arms open wide. He needed to sell this. Adaline was by far the worst liar he’d ever come across. She was so bad at it that it was actually sort of cute. “It’s me, Jace. Your very human, very real boyfriend.”
“Oh, jingle balls,” Adaline muttered under her breath, proving to the world at large that she wasn’t any better at cursing than she was at telling little white lies.
“I knew it,” Uncle Gus cried, pounding a fist on the arm of his wheelchair.
Adaline finally stopped gaping at Jace long enough to narrow her gaze at Gus. “You did?” Her eyes darted back to Jace. “He did?”
Gus huffed before Jace could say a word. “I called it on the very first day. If you two have been trying to hide your relationship, you’ve been doing a terrible job of it.”
Fuzzy scampered toward Jace and danced happy circles around him as if he hadn’t just seen him less than half an hour ago, and Adaline’s grandmother was officially convinced.
“Adaline, sweetheart. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your beau?” Gram looked Jace up and down. “I’ve seen you around here, young man. But I wasn’t aware you were dating my granddaughter. This is quite a surprise.”
“A good one, I hope?” Jace raised a brow.
