Page 26 of One Summer Weekend
This was Carly. He couldn’t risk not having her in his life at all because he’d blown it and made their friendship awkward.
“Give me your keys and I’ll go get your truck while you check us out,” she said, turning her back on the possibly frisky painted couple.
Noah handed the keys over to her and, taking their bags with him, went to the desk to officially put an end to their stay. He was almost to the exit when he heard his name and turned to see Jim and Emily walking toward him.
“Hey,” Noah said, turning back. “I thought you two would have been off on your top-secret honeymoon by now.”
Jim chuckled. “We kept the honeymoon a secret because we’re staying right here for another week.”
“I don’t blame you. We don’t want to leave, either.” Hereallydidn’t want to leave.
“That’s why we didn’t tell anybody. We didn’t want any of the family to find excuses to stay a little later. Like just a quick dinner because they barely got to talk to us during the reception and then we won’t even know they’re here. You know it would happen. The Caribbean was on the table but, once we saw the pictures of this place, trading one beach for another seemed like a waste of money.”
“I think the water’s a little warmer in the Caribbean.”
“We don’t intend to do a lot of swimming.” Jim chuckled, and then startled in a way that implied his new bride had grabbed his ass. Noah’s gaze flicked to the portrait of the ship captain for a few seconds. “We really enjoyed meeting Carly. She’s as awesome as you’ve been telling us she is.”
“She really is.” Jim had no idea justhowawesome. “She had a great time. We both did.”
“We’ll have to get together again soon. You know, do some couples stuff.” Emily leaned against her husband and turned her face up to give him an adoring look. “Like dinner and... I don’t know. Mini golf or something.”
Noah felt the smile freeze on his face, but he was thankful for the freeze because it meant his mouth couldn’t drop open. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead. He and Carly had discussed the fact he didn’t have a fake relationship exit strategy, but double dating—or whatever it was called when one of the couples was actually married—hadn’t crossed his mind. “That sounds great.”
“We should get back to our suite before we run into anybody else,” Jim said, and they shook hands. “We went for a walk on the beach and we were trying to avoid running into people, but I wanted to say goodbye and thank you for coming.”
Carly was already in the passenger seat of the truck, which was idling near the door, when Noah got outside. He put the bags in the backseat and then got in, thankful she had the air conditioning cranked. It was a muggy day and the situation he found himself in had him hot enough under the collar.
After fastening his seat belt, he put the truck in gear and slowly rolled away from the beautiful inn. “I ran into Jim on my way out. They’re honeymooning here but didn’t tell anybody because they want us all to leave.”
“I don’t blame them. And they seem like really great people. I enjoyed meeting them a lot more than I thought I would.”
“They liked you so much that Emily said we have to get together again soon. As couples.”
She laughed. “Your face right now is killing me. You look like you drank sour milk straight from the carton.”
“Milk doesn’t even come in cartons anymore, smart ass.”
“Yes it does, and you’re deflecting. What did you say?”
“What was I supposed to say? I told them that sounds great.”
“Okay.” She waited a few seconds and then held up her hands in a questioning gesture. “And what do you think is going to happen when couples date night rolls around?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you can...just go. It’s a night out on my dime. How bad can that be?”
“Noah, I can’t fake date you until you reach retirement age. We’re going to have to fake break up.”
He frowned as his guts tightened into a knot. Fake or not, the thought of breaking up with Carly made him a little sick to his stomach. “We can’t do that.”
She cocked her head. “Seriously? At some point in the near future, you’re going to have to tell Jim and Emily we broke up. I’m not going to pretend I’m your girlfriend forever.”
Okay, he knew that. There was a part of him that wasn’t happy about it, but on a logical level he knew he and Carly couldn’t maintain a long-term fake relationship.
“Noah. Come on. Think how awkward it’ll be when you show up for an event with your girlfriend...and her husband and kids,” she said, and his knuckles tightened around the steering wheel so hard he wouldn’t have been surprised if it cracked.
He knew how badly Carly wanted marriage and a family. He was her best friend so he’d been listening to her hopes and heartbreaks for years, and the thought of that change had never hit him so hard before. Maybe it was because they were still on Cape Cod. Once they crossed the bridge, he hoped things would start feeling more normal again.
“But we’re always hanging out,” he said once his throat loosened up, along with his grip on the wheel. “If I tell them we broke up, I’ll have to lie about almost everything I do.”
