Page 116 of The Fiancée Farce
It was amusing how quickly Brooks froze, a look of mortified horror splashed across his face. “Lena’s right behind me, isn’t she?”
“Yup.” Gemma grinned.
“Ah, well.” He turned slowly, smile almost shy as he met her mother’s eye. “Hello.”
Mom blushed, smile brighter than Gemma had seen it in years. “Hi.”
“Did I tell you you look lovely this evening?” Brooks asked.
Lena laughed. “Only twice.”
“What can I say?” Brooks reached for her hand and brushed a kiss across the back of her knuckles. “I have a lot of time to make up for.”
“Oh my God,” Gemma muttered, rolling her eyes, trying to disguise the way her heart was going mushy at the syrupy scene unfolding. “Are you always going to be this disgusting?”
“If we’re lucky,” her mother said, and Brooks sighed, hearts practically bursting from his eyes—eyes he never once took off her mother.
“Not that this isn’t sweet in its own weird,weirdway,” Gemma said as she backed away, “but I’m going to leave before this reunion takes a turn from Hallmark to Skinemax.”
Her mother’s brows rose and Brooks answered her expression with a smirk that spelled trouble, and that was her cue to get the hell out of dodge.
Tansy was exactly where she’d left her. The furrow between her brow smoothed as soon as their eyes locked, her lips curving in a brilliant smile. Gemma added a burst of speed to her steps.
As soon as she reached Tansy, she wrapped her arms around Tansy’s waist, clasping her fingers together at the small of her back and leaning down to whisper in her ear, “How do you feel about getting out of here?”
Chapter Nineteen
The Lyft dropped them off across the street from Tansy’s.
Well, as of earlier this week,Gemma’sand Tansy’s.
Gemma stepped up onto the curb, thanked their driver, and shut the back door of the silver Camry. The drive home had been quiet, their silence companionable, their fingers tangled together atop the seat between them, but every now and then, Tansy had caught sight of Gemma’s frowning reflection in the glass of the rain-splattered window.
“Are you okay?” she asked, now that there wasn’t a driver who could overhear them.
“Just thinking.” Gemma shoved her hands inside the pockets of her coat, shivering softly, knees knocking together.
“Uh-oh,” Tansy teased, bumping Gemma with her hip and earning a small smile. “Penny for those thoughts of yours?”
“I know all of this is more than you bargained for. Scheming families that would sooner stab you in the back than shake your hand. It’s a lot for me, and I was born into it. I didn’t have a choice.” Gemma turned to her. “But you do.”
Tansy frowned. “What are you saying?”
Gemma flashed an annoyed look up at the stoplight; a steadystream of traffic was still oncoming. “I just don’t want you to regret any of this.”
Regret?Tansy’s head spun, and not from the two drinks she’d let herself imbibe. This wasn’t the first time Gemma had made a wild suggestion—after all, she’d proposed within three minutes of meeting Tansy—but this was by far the most absurd.
Tansy bridged the distance between them with one wide step, almost a hop, landing on her toes and swaying forward, resting her hands on Gemma’s shoulders. Misty rain had turned the fine blond hairs around Gemma’s face into a golden halo, softly backlit by the street lights. “Are you seriously trying to give me an out the night before our wedding?” A chill spread through her chest. “You aren’t getting cold feet, are you?”
Gemma gripped Tansy’s hips and gave an adamant shake of her head. “Absolutely not. My feet are toasty. I only meant that... I know you aren’t under the delusion that my family is like other families, but”—her throat jerked hard—“I thought I knew the depths of their depravity, but tonight I found something out that made me realize just how low they’re willing to sink, and I got to thinking, I guess. And I wanted to make sure you were sure. That you don’t want to change anything. Because after tomorrow...”
There’d be no going back.
Tansy raised a hand and stroked the lobe of Gemma’s ear, soft and bare. Gemma had foregone earrings in favor of a showstopping diamond choker. “Are you asking if I had the opportunity to, say, go back andnottell everyone I was dating you—well, notyouyou—would I?”
Gemma looked up and away. “Well, since you suggested this hypothetical situation, I suppose I wouldn’t mind hearing your answer.”
Tansy bit back a smile at Gemma’s affectation of apathy. She pursed her lips, pretending to deliberate. “Hmm. Decisions, decisions. Let me think . . .”
