Page 4 of Owen

“Couple’s activities?” Since this was a retreat designed to save relationships, he had to assume that was the nature of the activities. This was going to get interesting. Part of him looked forward to being her pretend husband, to see what it was like being an average citizen whose most pressing concern was trying to stop fighting about the right way to load the dishwasher.

“I have no idea what those’ll be,” Sophie admitted, “but I promised Luna that I’d play along and make her program look good. You’re part of that now, too, partner. Luna and I spread the word last evening that my husband and I were estranged, and he’d refused to come with me. Your sudden appearance changes all that. How are your improv skills?”

“Pretty good.” He went to the cabin door, gesturing for her to go through first. As she went past him, he caught her hand in his and grinned at her. “Gotta make it look real. Seems like the show starts now.” She gave him a disgruntled look but didn’t yank her hand free.

When they reached the lodge, they found the other couples arranged in a circle. Luna stood in the center of the circle, explaining the purpose of the activity. The couples were supposed to share their “origin stories” to remind them of their initial spark. Luna invited an older couple to tell the story of how they’d met.

When they launched into a detailed story of their first encounter at an amusement park where they were both summer workers, he realized that he and Sophie had a problem. Improv was great, but they lacked any kind of prearranged cover story, so they were walking into this completely blind. Next to him, Sophie shifted in her seat when the couple talked about their first kiss on the Scrambler. They even knew the exact date.

Yeah, well, he knew the date of his and Sophie’s one and only kiss, too. New Year’s Eve, three years ago. Right before she told him that he wasn’t her type. Either way, it wasn’t a story he was going to share, but they’d have to come up with something. Suddenly, Sophie looked at him and grinned. Owen felt a little wary, but he couldn’t resist grinning back. This was going to be interesting and maybe just a little bit fun.

“So, Sophie and Owen,” Luna said. “Tell us how your relationship began. Did your jobs bring you together like Mike and Vicki’s did?”

“In a way.” Sophie jumped in to start the narrative. “You see Owen’s a mall cop.”

What? Ah, hell. Two could play this game. “And Sophie’s—”

“—in HR for a tax software company. Boring work but it pays the bills. So, anyway, one evening I was at the mall, and I—”

“Shoplifted.” If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he would have missed the slight clenching of her jaw. Oh, yeah, this was fun.

“That’s not exactly true,” she said. “You see I’d been carrying around this really beautiful lingerie set—black silk with white lace—in the store. And I accidentally walked out with it. It didn’t weigh a thing there in my hand, so I forgot that I was even holding it.”

Damn, her words made him picture a bra and barely-there panties. On her. “The store manager had a different opinion of the whole episode,” he said. He gave her the sweetest smile he could muster. “I got a call and started after her.”

“And I couldn’t figure out why this big security guy was coming after me, so I started dodging around people on my way to the exit.”

“She made it difficult, but I caught her.” He was absolutely getting the last word on this little story.

“Once I explained what had happened, Owen was so adorable.” She touched his leg. “He even paid for the lingerie out of his own pocket.”

“How nice,” Luna said. “Maybe you could tell us what’s brought you here. How long have you been married?”

“Two—”

“Three years,” Sophie talked over the top of him. “It’ll be three in June. We had a lovely wedding, didn’t we?”

She was looking at him, waiting for him to agree. He could just nod and make this easy, but something in him wanted to see what would happen if he didn’t. They were supposed to be estranged, right? “If you say so. I showed up, wore a tux, and learned two important words that day.”

“What were those?” Luna asked.

“‘Yes, dear.’ Those words have served me well,” he said and saw Sophie’s mouth drop open in surprise. Then, a gleam came into her eyes.

“Have they? I’m not sure I’ve heard them often enough. Take last November, for example. I wanted you to take that cake decorating class with me, so we could bond over fondant and frosting. But would you do that for me? We could have made such beautiful Christmas cakes together.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a huff, and he wanted to burst into laughter. He was opening his mouth to one-up Sophie’s ridiculous example when Luna cut in.

“Thank you so much for sharing. You two arefullof surprises, but I’m sensing a little tension so why don’t we move on to our next couple?”

The group’s attention shifted away from them, and Owen sat back in his chair. Sophie gave him a side glance, her eyes brimming with humor. He had to admit, when she wasn’t overly focused on her job or giving him the brush-off after a kiss, she could be fun.

THREE

“What a day,” Sophie said as she dropped down on the loveseat in her cabin—their cabin now.

“Some of these couples seem to really hate each other. You gotta wonder why they got married?” Owen came and sat next to her and propped his feet on the coffee table.

“Or why they’re still married.” The day and evening had been filled with icebreaker-type activities for the ten couples, designed to make everyone comfortable with each other before the real relationship work began.

Throughout the day, she’d thought about how she’d write an article featuring the retreat. That was how she organized and processed information in her head. Plus, she probably would do a story to help out Luna and thank her for letting them stay, and it was never too early to start figuring out what she might want to say, what angle she wanted to take. “Here’s my assessment,” Sophie said. “I think four of the couples want to be here and are serious about fixing their issues.”

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