Page 55 of Protect My Heart
‘You’d rather have them think their grandchild was conceived during a drunken one-night stand with a stranger?’
‘Well, no, but .?.?. I don’t know. I have to think about it.’
‘You’ve got a week to decide, but if you want to please your parents, a fake engagement is the way to do it. And hey, it’s not like you’re actually committing to anything. You let them think you’re engaged, then tell them it didn’t work out.’
Maybe she’s right. It’s a crazy idea, but it would save my parents the heartache of knowing their daughter got pregnant from a random hookup. And I know they’d love Jason if they met him.
I just don’t think Jason would go along with it, even if he owes me. But who knows? Maybe he would.
* * *
Friday night, I get nervous as I drive to Jason’s apartment. I only talked to him once this week and it was quick. We just confirmed the details for tonight, like when I’d be arriving and what I should wear, and that was it. He hurried me off the phone. He didn’t seem like himself, but maybe he was just tired.
‘Hey.’ Jason opens the door and gives me a quick hug, then steps aside to let me in. ‘We need to leave in a few minutes. Mom just called. The place she ordered the food from screwed up. They thought the dinner was at six, not seven, so Mom moved the dinner up. Everyone’s there. I told her we’d leave as soon as you got here.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ I set my suitcase down. ‘Do I have time to change?’ I point to my shorts and t-shirt, which are wrinkled from the drive. ‘I don’t want to show up in this.’
‘Go ahead. I’ll get your suitcase.’ He picks it up and takes it to his room. ‘I’ll just wait in the living room.’
He’s acting strange. He barely even smiled when he saw me. And that hug he gave me was like one you’d give a person you just met, not someone you slept with and claim to care about.
I change into a sundress, then go into the bathroom to freshen up my makeup and fix my hair. When I come out to the living room, Jason’s on the couch, watching a baseball game.
He sees me and gets up. ‘Ready?’
I walk up to him. ‘Jason, is everything okay?’
‘Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?’
‘You seem kind of off tonight, like maybe you’re in a bad mood.’
‘I’m not. I’m just tired. It’s been a long week.’ He goes around me to the counter to get his keys, then heads to the door and opens it. ‘After you.’
We walk down the hall and get on the elevator. He stands a few feet away and doesn’t even try to hold my hand. This is a totally different Jason than the one I was with last week. That Jason kept smiling at me, complimenting me, and couldn’t keep his hands off me.
Did he meet someone? Maybe that’s it. Maybe he has someone else. If so, why isn’t he taking her to the wedding instead of me?
‘How was the drive?’ he asks on our way to the brewery.
‘Good. It went faster this time.’
‘How was your week? Did you get everything done? All your assignments?’
‘Yes. I’m officially done with school.’ I smile at him, but he doesn’t even look at me, and he doesn’t say anything.
There’s definitely something going on with him and I think it’s more than him being tired. This is not the Jason I know. He’s acting like a different person. Cold. Distant. Quiet.
We don’t talk the rest of the way there. He parks in front of the brewery, which is closed tonight for the rehearsal dinner. He comes around the truck to help me out, but once I’m safely on the ground, he lets go of my hand.
‘Mia, welcome!’ Martha says as Jason and I walk into the brewery. She comes up to me and gives me a hug. ‘It’s so nice that you could join us.’
At least Jason’s mom is acting like she wants me here. The rest of his family seems to feel the same. They all come up and greet me. Gina, Kate, and Lyndsay give me a hug. Jason goes straight to the bar to get a drink.
‘Mia,’ he yells from the bar. ‘You drinking tonight?’
‘No. I’ll just have water.’
‘We have wine,’ Sawyer says to me. ‘And Brody brought some whiskey.’
