Matched Online: Anthology Bks 1-4 (Contemporary Romance)
Page 28
She squeezed his arm tighter. In that moment, she was so grateful she could have kissed him. “Hopefully, we’ll get to talk more tonight, but now, I need to steal Christian away for a few minutes.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “Oh, okay. I’ll see you around.”
Not letting go of his arm, she guided him through a side door that led to a hallway. The same lockers she’d used lined the walls.
“Giving me a tour of the school?”
“We need to talk.”
He stopped outside Mrs. Manning’s biology classroom. At least that’s what it had been a decade before. “That’s why I came.”
“Not here.” She took his hand, and they went through another door. This one led to the backstage of the school auditorium.
He gave her a devious smile. “Is this where you took all your boyfriends in high school?”
What boyfriends in high school? It was clear Christian didn’t understand the full extent of her teenage awkwardness. “Very funny. Even if any of the guys had been interested in me, which they weren’t, I wouldn’t be sneaking around with a boy.”
He laughed. “I’m glad, but you’re being humble. I bet all the guys were secretly in love with you.”
Tonight they would show a slide show of their high school years that would prove just how wrong he was about that. Suddenly, dread ran through her. She’d been so focused on what her classmates would think about her now, she hadn’t even considered what Christian might think of her after tonight. She met his gaze. “I was a nerd. Honestly, inside I haven’t changed much.”
“You’re the cutest nerd I’ve ever met.” He kissed her on the forehead.
She closed her eyes as he pressed his lips on her skin. What were they doing? The line between real and fake was blurring. “Come on,” she said. He followed her through the wings to the center of the stage.
She sat on the edge, her legs dangling, and he joined her.
“So what did you want to talk about?” he asked.
She stared down at her feet. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe this is a bad idea.”
“What are you talking about? The reunion is tonight. My meeting with your uncle is on Monday.”
As much as she wanted to believe that this was about Christian wanting to help her, it wasn’t. For him, this was about his new business. She’d rather face the embarrassment of the reunion than have her heart broken. “You can still go to your meeting.”
“Is this about my mom? You can’t take that personally. She just doesn’t understand.”
“I thought we could do this, but I can’t. You’ve said from the beginning that you don’t want to be in a relationship right now. I respect that, but I can’t do this anymore.”
“Is this about your breakup? I’m willing to give you as much time as you need. Mary Beth, I know we’ve barely known each other a week, but I want to do this.”
She shook her head. Tears gathered in her eyes. “I thought I could handle this whole fake engagement idea, but I’m tired of pretending.” She wanted something real. Something that would last forever.
“No way!” a voice rang out behind them. “Did you say fake engagement?”
Mary Beth froze. This couldn’t be happening.
Harper Tulley stepped onto the stage. “Mary Beth, you are a sneaky one.”
“What are you doing in here?”
She held up an empty tape dispenser. “I was looking for a fresh roll. You just met this guy? Mary Beth, are you trying to get out of our bet?”
Mary Beth opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
Harper let out a long loud laugh, turned, and marched back toward the gymnasium.
8
Stretched out on a sleeping bag, Christian stared up at the evening shadows the tree limbs made on his tent. He’d set up the tent in the back yard one last time to make sure all his prototypes would be perfect at Monday’s meeting. This was where he belonged, right? Focusing on his business. Getting ready for his big meeting. That’s what this had been about all along.
But now, none of it seemed so important. Without Mary Beth, did any of it matter?
Pup walked in a circle, the sleeping bag shuffling against his paws, and then lay down beside him.
“Yeah, I miss her too,” Christian said. The reunion would be starting soon. Was she still going or had she stayed home? Was there something he could have said to Harper that would have changed things? He wanted to be there with Mary Beth. To tell her that it didn’t matter what all those people thought. To convince her that she was perfect just the way she was. But he didn’t have the right to do any of that. All he’d done was kiss her and then push her away.
“Christian?” Lori’s voice called out. “You out here?”
He sat up and unzipped the opening. “Hey.”
She gave him a concerned look. “Camping in your back yard again?”
He climbed out and stood. “Nothing better to do tonight.”
“I know. When you didn’t answer your phone, I called Mary Beth. She told me what happened.”
He let his head drop. “I feel awful.”
“Then do something about it.”
Pup barked.
“Oh, yeah,” Lori said. “Mom’s with me.”
His mom walked carefully through the grass. “There you are. What are you doing out here?”
They hadn’t spoken since he’d left dinner last night. “Working on a tent I developed,” he said, his voice flat.
Her eyes widened. “You mean to tell me you made that tent?”
He held both his arms toward it. “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you for months. Lori helped me with the sewing and the fabric.”
Her brow furrowed. “And this is why you pretended to be engaged to that girl you brought to the house?”
“You know her name. It’s Mary Beth.” He walked over to his mom and put an arm around her. “I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”
She patted his hand. “And I should have trusted you more. I hope you know I was only trying to protect you from getting hurt.”
Stepping away from her, he gave a half-hearted laugh. “It’s okay. I guess I was trying to do the same thing, but I fell for her anyway.”
“Fell for her?” His mom’s eyes narrowed. “You really like this girl, don’t you?”
“I do.” But he didn’t just like her. He was falling in love with her. The fact landed on him like a boulder to the chest. He’d known she was special from the second he’d seen her in that coffee shop, but he’d been afraid of it. Mary Beth had never tried to change him. She made him the best version of himself.
Despite the crazy plan, she’d never asked him to be anything but himself.
He’d been an idiot. He turned to Lori. “You were right. I need to do something about it. I have to go.”
“What?” his mother said. “Now?”
Lori looked at their mom. “Now, Mom. I’ll explain it all later.” She leaned down and picked up Pup.
“Thank you,” he said to Lori. “Thanks for everything.”
He left them standing in the yard as he ran up the back porch steps to grab his keys.
“See,” Lori called out. “I knew you were a good guy.”
* * *
Standing at the entrance of the gymnasium, Mary Beth took a deep breath and smoothed the skirt of her blue dress—the same sapphire blue as the ring now back on her right hand. She could do this. She wouldn’t live her life afraid of what anyone thought of her.
Most people were already sitting or gathered around their tables. The music playing in the background had come out the year they’d graduated. The committee had worked so hard to organize every detail of the night, and she’d decided it wouldn’t feel right to miss it. Who cared what anybody else thought?
She headed for the round table where Jo, Angela, and Morgan laughed and talked with their guys. A pang shot through her heart. It would have been amazing to come here with Christian, not as his fake f
iancée but as his actual girlfriend. Maybe everything would have worked out if she hadn’t fallen for him, but she couldn’t help it that she’d felt happier than she’d been in years sitting by a fire with him.
Jo gasped as she approached. “You came?”
Angela and Morgan both looked up and smiled.
Mary Beth took her seat. “I told you I’d be here, and I figured I wouldn’t gain anything from running from my problems. Might as well face them head on.” But the words sounded stronger than she felt. She only hoped that Harper and her other classmates wouldn’t be as cruel as they’d been in high school. Her heart was feeling especially vulnerable tonight.
Morgan leaned forward. “We’re glad you’re here.”
Angela nodded. “This reunion wouldn’t be the same without you.”
The music stopped, and everyone turned to the DJ booth where Harper Tulley stood with a microphone.
Mary Beth’s stomach tightened.
Harper wore a short black dress and high red heels. “It looks like Mary Beth Holland just made it, so I’d like to ask her to join me for a special presentation.”
Mary Beth gritted her teeth. She could feel all the eyes in the room on her.
Harper ducked her chin down. “Mary Beth and I made a bet ten years ago, and it’s time for her to pay up. It’s all in good fun, of course, but a bet’s a bet.”
Jo leaned over to her. “Mary Beth, you don’t have to do this. It’s silly. The other girls and I all have your back.”
“We can just tell Harper to leave,” Morgan said.
At least through all of this she’d formed some true friendships with the other ladies on the planning committee. Mary Beth straightened, pushing her shoulders back. “You guys are the best, but like she said, a bet’s a bet.”
She walked over the dance floor and met Harper, who bent behind the DJ booth and stood back up with a tall, purple fuzzy marching band hat and a trombone.
It was like waking up in the middle of Mary Beth’s worst nightmare, but she’d do it. At this point, she just wanted to get it over with.
Harper smiled. “I’m not going to make you wear the uniform. I figured the hat was bad enough.”
“Thanks,” Mary Beth said through gritted teeth as she took them.
Harper leaned in. “And I’m not going to tell anyone about what I heard in the auditorium.”
“You’re not?”
Harper shrugged. “I probably would have in high school, but a lot of things I did in high school were stupid.”
Maybe Harper had grown up. A little, anyway. “I think we’ve all changed,” Mary Beth said.
Mary Beth turned toward the tables filled with her classmates, and everyone stared back at her. Some in disbelief. Some already laughing. Jo, Angela, and Morgan looked nervous for her.
Jo cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. “You got this, Mary Beth.”
As she put the hat on and buckled the chin strap, she laughed. No one could humiliate her now. For the first time, Mary Beth realized that she could choose what she let define her, and neither her awkward teenage years nor this crazy moment could make her worth any less. She had Jesus and friends and family who loved her. She wished that she could count Christian among that list too, but that was in God’s hands now.
She blew out a deep breath and held the trombone to her lips. Then, not remembering the entire fight song, she began playing the first thing that came to mind—the one the DJ had been playing earlier. She was able to play a rough version of the chorus by ear, and when people realized, they started clapping. One of her classmates yelled out another song from their high school years, and she attempted to play that one too. By the time she was finished, nearly all of her classmates were on their feet cheering, clapping, and whistling.
She handed the DJ the trombone and bowed to the audience.
The DJ got a song playing. As she walked back toward her seat, one person patted her on the back and another said, “That was the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
As they all began to find their seats, she saw a figure standing in the doorway. Tall and lean. As she got closer, she knew. “Christian.”
He met her at the edge of the bleachers. “I hope that it’s okay that I came. I see that you already had to pay up on your bet.”
She wanted to push a little strand of hair off his forehead, but she clasped her hands in front of her. “You saw that?”
“It was pretty great.”
“I don’t know what I was so afraid of.”
He took her hands in his. “Me neither.” His eyes were intense. “Mary Beth, meeting you is the best thing that has happened to me in…well…ever. And I’m sorry that I let my business and my own insecurities get in the way of that.”
Looking down at the shiny wood floors of the gymnasium, she shook her head. There’d been so much pretending, she was afraid to hope this was the real thing. “I feel the same, Christian, and you have no idea how much I wanted to hear that, but are you sure?”
He took her face in his hands, forcing her gaze up to his. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
Emotion bubbled up in her. Sympathy for that poor teenage girl who had let something like a missing prom date define her for so long. And gratefulness for the woman she was today. “You’re sure you want to be with a nerd like me?” she said, laughing through her tears.
“I’ll say it again, Mary Beth. You’re the most gorgeous nerd I’ve ever met.”
She pressed her lips together. “Actually, last time, I think you said cutest.”
He smiled his sweet, boyish smile. “I was trying to play it cool, but I can’t deny it anymore. I’m falling for you.” He leaned in and kissed her, and this time, it wasn’t for practice and it wasn’t pretend. It was real and true, and Mary Beth couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Dear Reader
Thank you for reading Engaged by Friday. This novella is special to me because I had the opportunity to work on the Matched Online anthology with three wonderful Oklahoma writers. It has been a blast!
If you enjoyed this story, check out my Taste of Texas series. The Art of Falling, Kiss the Cowboy, The Wedding Barn, and Cowgirl in the Kitchen explore the world of Texas families and southern food.
As a thank you gift to my readers, you can receive a free e-book by signing up for my newsletter at www.JulieJarnagin.com/connect.
Sincerely,
Julie Jarnagin
www.JulieJarnagin.com
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Dates Copyright © 2016 by Lacy Williams
A Package Deal Copyright © 2016 by Robin Patchen
Rival Hearts Copyright © 2016 by L. Susan Crawford
Engaged by Friday Copyright © 2016 by Julie Jarnagin
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