That One Night: A Fake Marriage Romance

by Amy Brent

  Lidia came back a moment later, and I paid for the dress after Alice insisted that I had to get it. The shop owner said she would call to schedule a fitting in a few weeks.

  I nearly collapsed in relief when we were finally heading toward the exit. I was once again dressed in my sensible work clothes.

  The relief lasted about two seconds after I pushed open the door, as then a dozen lights flashed in my face.

  “What the hell?” I asked in wide-eyed shocked as I looked over the group of photographers that had been waiting for Alice and me to exit the shop.

  “Alice! Alice, are you getting married? Are the rumors about you and Connor true?”

  I turned my wide-eyed stare on Alice.

  “You did not. Tell me you did not,” I said, keeping my voice low. She just shrugged, grinning at me.

  “I might have called a few local mags about an upcoming wedding in the band, and I just might have told them where the lucky bride-to-be could be found shopping for a wedding dress.” Alice leaned forward, whispering so only I could hear. “It’s for your own good. This is why you agreed to do this in the first place, so put a smile on your face and pretend that you are over the moon about Sam and excited to be marrying him. Make it believable!”

  I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the sudden shock, but Alice’s words had steadied me somewhat. I was just acting. That was all. I had to remember why. The memory of the threats painted on my door was enough to do that.

  “Actually, I’m not the lucky one today,” Alice said with a smirk, “but someone else in the band is getting married: Sam, actually, our star guitarist. And he’s lucky enough to be marrying this wonderful woman, Faye Donnelly.”

  I forced a grin onto my face, trying to look like I was in love. Whatever that meant. But the paparazzi seemed to eat it up and flashed another several photographs before one of them shouted out a question.

  “When is the big day?”

  Panic shot through me. When. When were we getting married? Why the hell hadn’t we figured all this out beforehand?

  “Uh, August. August fifteenth,” I said hurriedly, pulling out the first date that came to my mind. It was my grandmother’s birthday.

  I turned for reassurance from Alice, but she was looking at me with shock in her eyes. It was gone a moment later, replaced by a smile as she said we really had to get going back to the studio or something. Whatever excuse she gave, it must have worked, because a moment later the photographers were leaving and we were getting into Alice’s car and driving away.

  The ride was silent for the first ten minutes and then Alice gave me a sideways look.

  “August fifteenth?”

  “It was the first date I could think of.” I said, shrugging.

  “Faye, that’s…that’s only a month from now.”

  “What?! No, it’s not. It can’t be.” I was so flustered that it took me longer than it should have to do the math, but she was right. It was a little over four weeks away.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered. Why the hell had I said that? Those damned butterflies were back and worse than ever. “Alice, if I ever open my mouth to answer a wedding-related question again, just kick me.”

  Alice nodded slowly, and the rest of the ride back to the studio was made in silence. What the hell had I been thinking?

  Chapter 13

  Sam

  My fingers slipped over the guitar strings for the third time already in the last twenty-minutes, letting out a harsh, discordant note. Alice threw her hands up in the air, turning away from the microphone she’d been singing into to throw me a sharp glare.

  “Sam, what the hell! Get it together.”

  “Sorry. Sorry about that,” I muttered, trying to shake off my nerves. I was normally never like this. I never had a problem finding the right notes. I always knew where my fingers needed to go almost without conscious thought, like the guitar was an extension of me. But not today.

  I glanced around the recording studio with an embarrassed shrug.

  “Sorry, Case. My bad.”

  “No worries, dude. Happens to the best of us.” The drummer paused behind the drum set and shot me a shit-eating grin. “Not me, of course, but you know…other people I’m sure.”

  I just glared at him, shaking my head before turning back to my instrument and the sheet music on the stand in front of me. I didn’t need it. I knew the song by heart, which was why it was so baffling that I kept fucking it up.

  I knew these songs inside and out. There was no excuse to keep fumbling through them, and it made it even worse knowing I was wasting everybody’s time.

  “All right, let’s take it from the top again,” Alice said, shooting me one more hard look of warning before turning back to the mic.

  It was the third take already of trying to record this song. I tried to lose myself in the rhythm and the melody as always but something kept stopping me. No, not something. Someone. And I knew exactly who it was.

  I could see her dark eyes watching me from behind the window that separated the recording studio and the sound booth, Faye’s dark, mysterious, unreadable eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about her watching me. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Alice had told me, about Faye asking her to be her maid of honor, about telling every music magazine in Seattle that we were going to get married in a month. A month!

  I didn’t know why that sent nerves fluttering through me, but somehow it made it all seem so much more real. It wasn’t just an idea or a vague plan. It was really happening.

  My thoughts whirled chaotically, chasing each other around my head. Only four weeks, and there was still so much to figure out to make it work! We had to figure out the wedding venue and the dj. Who was going to dj? And a priest. I wasn’t really religious, but maybe Faye was? I just didn’t know. There were so many things I didn’t know, so many questions that still needed to be answered.

  A million panicked thoughts hit me at once, and I fucked up again, losing the rhythm as my hands stared to sweat and bile rose up inside me.

  “Sam, what the hell is going on with you?”

  I couldn’t meet Alice’s sharp gaze. I shook my head as I tried to draw in a breath, but I couldn’t seem to slow my pounding heart.

  “I just…I need to take a break, okay? Just a quick break,” I muttered hastily over my shoulder as I walked over to where three chairs were propped against the wall and grabbed my water bottle. I chugged the cool liquid, but it didn’t calm the thoughts or panic that was raging inside me.

  “Hey, man, what’s really going on?” Casey asked softly, coming to a stop beside me. There was a worried expression on his normally laughing face, and before I could stop myself, it all came tumbling out in a rush: my worries about the wedding and how I didn’t think we could get it all figured out in just a month, the sudden stress of trying to juggle all the details. I slowed down mid-way through my speech when I saw Casey’s wide grin.

  “What the hell is so funny? This is really messing me up!” I said, suddenly angry, but Casey just shook his head at me as if I had said something stupid.

  “Come on, man, you know as your best man that I’m going to take care of all the details,” Casey said, still grinning, and I stared at him in shock.

  “You want to be my best man? Even though it’s a fake wedding?”

  “Fake wedding, real wedding, hell yeah I want to be your best man!” Casey pulled me in for a fierce hug before stepping back, and I felt like hugging him again.

  “Thanks, Case. I really appreciate it.”

  “I know you do, Sam. Don’t worry so much. We got your back.”

  I nodded, finishing the last of the water from the bottle when Casey tilted his head to one side, his expression curious.

  “So, what do you think Faye would like better, Chuck E. Cheese or Taco Bell?”

  I stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. It felt so good, letting out all the stress that had compounded over
the last couple of days, that I nearly collapsed right there in the middle of the recording studio.

  Casey clapped me on the back. “Just remember why you’re doing all this in the first place, man. It’s all to keep Faye safe. That’s the important thing. Nothing else matters.”

  I looked at the other man sharply. Casey was a total clown most of the time, but every now and then he said things like that that made me think he saw a lot more than he let on.

  “Okay,” Alice said. She was standing there, the picture of impatience with her hands on her hips and the toe of her black leather boot tapping out a fierce rhythm. “Breaks over, babies.”

  “Yes, oh great one,” Casey said, shooting a mock bow in her direction. I had to bite back a grin as Alice stuck her tongue out at Casey’s back.

  Suddenly feeling lighter than I had all day, I resumed my spot and picked up my guitar. When we started again, every note came out perfectly.

  *

  Faye

  I glanced surreptitiously to my side, watching Rebecca watch Archer. We were all crowded into the sound booth, along with Robert who was handling the sound board and the actual recording.

  Rebecca looked up at Archer, giving him a bottle of water before he even asked for it, anticipating his every move. It made me even consider hiring an assistant.

  I glanced down at the binder full of paperwork that still had to be dealt with today, that I probably should have been working on right now, but I’d been walking past the recording studio and heard the music the band was playing. I’d been drawn in almost against my will.

  After working so hard to avoid Sam the last couple of days, the last thing I should have been doing was putting myself in the same room with him.

  At least we were separated by a pane of glass. It made me feel a little bit better even though my breath hitched every time he looked in my direction. I knew he could see me just as clearly as I could see him, but it helped—a little.

  I had been mesmerized by the sound of Alice’s husky voice echoing through the walls, followed along by Casey’s driving drum beat and, of course, Sam. Always Sam.

  I watched him talk to Casey near the wall for a moment before throwing his head back on a deep laugh that startled me. The sound was so rich and gruff that it made the hair stand up on my arms, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had made him laugh like that.

  I was even more surprised to find that I wanted in the joke. No, not even that. I wanted to be the one to make him laugh like that. I shook off the thought.

  It was absolutely ridiculous. This whole thing felt like it had gone off the rails, especially after the story of the upcoming nuptials had been printed in not one, not two, but three magazines. And one of them had been national!

  I still couldn’t believe anyone would be interested. But that was the whole point. I had to remind myself of that firmly. We needed to publicize this…this…thing so that Archer’s crazy ex would fall for it, believe that I was actually in love with someone else and stop sending me threats. I hoped it would stop. I prayed it would stop.

  I even harbored a secret hope that this whole thing would blow over before I actually had to walk down the aisle and go through with the damned wedding. How had I gotten myself into this mess? And why the hell had I told those photographers that we were getting married in a month? A month!

  My attention was drawn back to the band in the recording studio. They were playing their hearts out for the album, and it showed. I couldn’t help but watch them, watch Sam, as the notes tugged at my heartstrings as Alice wailed about love and loss.

  I’d been so caught up in my own thoughts and worries, and then hypnotized by the band, that I didn’t notice my phone buzzing in my pocket until it was too late.

  Curious, I pulled my phone out to see who I’d missed a call from and gasped out loud. There were thirty-seven missed calls and more text messages than I could count.

  Even as I was opening my screen to see who it was, the thing buzzed again. Robert shot me a chastising look, and I shrugged in apology before answering and holding the phone to my ear.

  “Hello?” I said as quietly as I could, trying not to disturb the others.

  “Well, it’s about time, missy.”

  I cringed at the sound of my mom’s voice coming over the line. “Mom, this really isn’t a good time. Can I call you back later?”

  “No! You absolutely can’t call me back later. Your father and I are furious!”

  “You…you are?”

  “We can’t believe we had to learn that our little girl is getting married from a magazine instead of from her first.”

  My stomach sank as her words registered.

  “Oh, that. Um, I can explain. I can explain everything, just, uh…”

  “You certainly can explain. You can explain tomorrow night, over dinner, here at the house. I already booked your flight. And make sure you bring your fiancé with you.” Suddenly her voice changed, growing giddy with excitement. “Oh, I can’t believe we have a wedding to plan! I can’t believe it. And only a month the article said! You really don’t wait around once you’ve made up your mind, do you? I’ve always said you were too impatient. You’re not pregnant, are you?”

  “What?! No!” Robert shushed me, and I had to fight to moderate my voice. “No, I’m not pregnant. We just…can’t wait to get married. That’s all.”

  “Oh, I can’t wait to meet him. I already emailed you the flight number. Your father will be there to pick you up. He has a few words for that man of yours as well.”

  “He’s not my—” There was no use. My mom had already hung up. By the time the conversation was over, the band had wrapped on recording the song and they were filing into the sound booth, crowding it even more to have a listen.

  Wordlessly, I glanced over at Sam, and he must have seen the desperate panic in my eyes.

  “What? What is it, Faye?” he asked, his own dark eyes full of concern as he made his way to my side. “Did you get another threat?”

  “Worse,” I whispered, swallowing hard. There was no point in trying to get around it. My mother was just as determined as I was when there was something she wanted. She wasn’t going to let this go. I shot him a hard grin. “You need to pack a bag,” I said, and he gave me a curious look. “You’re about to meet my family.”

  Chapter 14

  Sam

  My knuckles were ghost white against the dark fake leather of the armrest, but I knew if I wasn’t holding on so hard, they would be shaking like two leaves.

  The plane had been in the air for hours already, but I still couldn’t force myself to relax. I hated flying. I always had hated it. It terrified me.

  Yeah, right. That was why I was trembling in my boots, because I hated flying. I was sure it has nothing at all to do with the fact that we were on our way to meet Faye’s family, who thought we were madly in love and would probably tear me to shreds.

  The mental image the thought conjured had me grimacing, and I had to swallow hard against the nausea that rose in my stomach.

  Obviously, I hadn’t fully thought through all of the ramification of our fake marriage. Like the stress. And the panic. And having to go to a family dinner at Faye’s parents’ house in Michigan.

  Why the hell had it never even occurred to me? Maybe because family wasn’t really a thing I was used to. But apparently Faye had a mom and dad and uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents who were all eagerly waiting to meet me. A part of me wondered what would happen if I hurled myself from the airplane. Surely it would have been better, right? Anything had to have been better.

  I swallowed again, trying to banish the nerves that were suddenly make me want to take flight myself. I laughed nervously to myself at the pun, but it didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it just made Faye, who was sitting in the seat next to me, shoot me a concerned look.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, trying to make her voice soothing, but it didn’t
help in the least. “It will be okay. You’ll see.”

  “This will not be okay, Faye. Don’t try to tell that this is going to be okay.” I forced the words out through a jaw so tight I could barely speak. “They’re going to hate me.” It was the truth, though I hated that I’d said it out loud. Faye immediately jumped to defend me.

  “No, they’re not.”

  I turned to her, begging her with my eyes. “Are you sure we can’t just tell them all the truth? Just tell them that it’s all a fake…” I let the words trail off. She was already shaking her head.

  “I love my family, Sam, but they are terrible at keeping secrets. All it would take is one nosy reporter asking Aunt Jan the wrong question and everything would come tumbling out. Everything we’ve done so far would be wasted. I’m not willing to take that risk,” Faye said softly. Feeling her soft breath whisper against my cheek as she leaned close almost made it worth it. Almost. “Besides, it’s only for one night.”

  “One night! That’s easy for you to say.” I huffed, trying not to look out the window on my other side. “You’re not going to have to spend the next twenty-four hours being grilled by your dad. You said he worked at a high school, right?”

  That didn’t sound so bad. A high school teacher. How tough could a high school teacher be?

  “Yeah. He teaches physical education. He used to be a weight-lifting champion.”

  I nearly groaned out loud at her words. “Oh Jesus. I’m dead. I’m going to die. He’s going to kill me.”

  “No, he’s not, Sam. Stop being so overdramatic,” she said, brushing an invisible crumb off the bottom part of her dress. It was a sweet cotton sundress that I’d been surprised to see her in. I had thought she lived in those power suits of hers. “My dad is going to love you. They all are. Believe me, you’re very lovable…”

  I looked over at her in shock, surprised by her words and even more surprised by the hint of a blush that stained her cheeks a dark dusky rose.