“Hey,” she said just as a wail filled the line. “Just a sec.” Scuffling and crying came through the line. Bella spoke to her daughter in a harsh tone, and told her to find her shoes and put them on.
Things quieted, and she said, “Sorry about that. Annie lost her elephant, and that means the world has ended.” Bella sighed, and it sounded like it held the weight of the world. Her husband had been deployed for six months, and Bella was doing the single mom thing the best way she could.
“I can take the kids this afternoon,” he said. “Would they want to go to the water park for a couple of hours?”
“You would be my hero if you did that.”
“Consider it done,” he said. “Maybe like two or so? I…have a date at seven.” He pushed the last words out in a huge rush, hoping Bella would be so tired and overwhelmed that she’d just keep talking about the water park on the island.
“I’ll make sure they’re ready,” she said, and Brad felt like he’d dodged a speeding lineman. “Then I can get some work done on the computer in peace.”
“You still working for that airline?”
“Every day,” she said. “Who are you going out with?”
“Uh, Celeste Heartwood?”
“Celeste Heartwood?” The incredulity in Bella’s voice wasn’t hard to hear. “Wow, Brad.”
“You don’t have to say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like she’s way out of my league. I already know she is.”
“You have such a warped sense of who you are.”
“I know who I am,” Brad said. And he was simple. He didn’t care what anyone thought of him. He liked working out and working with his hands. So football and construction came naturally to him. He liked the tranquility of the beach in the morning before all the tourists showed up, and he liked the rolling hills of Kentucky.
“Listen, I called about Mom’s party next week,” he said. “Do you think I could bring Celeste?”
“Depends,” Bella said. “On how serious it is.”
Brad thought of the diamond ring he’d given the woman last night. “It’s pretty serious.”
“And this is the first we’re hearing about it?”
“I mean, I’m not famous here.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” She spoke to her son, and Brad was glad her attention was divided. “Everyone knows who you are, Brad. I have at least three women every week ask me if you’re dating anyone.”
“Well, tell them I am,” he said, his mouth suddenly so dry. “What do you think of the party?”
“It’s up to you. Mom and Dad are weird about significant others.”
Yes, they were. In fact, his older brother David had gotten engaged just so he could bring his girlfriend on a family cruise one year.
“Great, I’ll see you later.” Brad ended the call before he could get asked another question about the seriousness of his relationship with Celeste.
My mom’s birthday party is next week, he started typing in a text to Celeste, having to delete some of the words a couple of times to fix them. He could spell, but sometimes letters didn’t line up right for him. Thursday night. Are you available?
He half-hoped she wouldn’t be. Then he wouldn’t have to involve his family in the charade.
I’ll check my schedule when I get to work, she messaged back, his phone chiming loudly in the restaurant. He moved to silence it as Karen showed up with his food.
“Big Ben,” she said, setting down a plate laden with hash browns, eggs, and French toast. A plate of pancakes followed, along with, “Extra bacon. And I’ll get you another hot chocolate.”
“Thanks, Karen,” he said, flipping his phone over and setting it aside.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” a woman said over someone else, and Brad looked up to see what the ruckus was about.
Celeste stood there, and Brad scrambled to his feet. “See?” she said to Cindi. “He’s expecting me.”
Brad wasn’t, but he threw Cindi a look that said it was okay, and he awkwardly stepped into Celeste’s personal space. “Hey, beautiful,” he said, almost choking on the words, even if they were true. “I must not have gotten the message you were coming. I didn’t tell Cindi.” He pressed his lips to her cheek, surprised at how…good it felt. A spark ran down his neck, and he pulled back quickly. His eyes met Celeste’s, and she seemed as surprised as him.
“I’ve already ordered,” he said helplessly, dragging his gaze from hers to his spread of food that filled the whole table.
Karen appeared, and it was a tight fit with all of them standing. Brad wondered if he’d ever have a normal encounter with Celeste, and he gestured to the other side of the table. “Sit, sit.”
“Anything for you, honey?” Karen asked.
“Just coffee, please,” she said. “With sugar and cream. And real cream. Not these little cups.” She looked up at Karen. “Do you have real cream?”
Brad wanted to crawl under the table, and this woman had accomplished something he hadn’t thought possible: she’d made his appetite disappear.
“Coffee,” Karen repeated in a deadpan. “Be right back.”
Celeste unlooped her purse from over her shoulder and settled into her seat before looking at Brad. “I heard your phone go off when I texted you back.”
“What are you doing here?” he asked. This didn’t seem like the type of place a woman like her would frequent. The inn surely had room service, and they had a little bakery in the back too. He knew it was good—he’d eaten his second breakfast there a couple of times.
“Sunny’s has the best croissants,” Celeste said matter-of-factly. “I ordered a bunch for a client we have coming in today.” She smiled at him, and Brad couldn’t help smiling back.
He ducked his head a moment later, because he wasn’t supposed to like this woman. He picked up his fork and started pushing his eggs around his plate. They needed ketchup, so he reached for the bottle.
“You like ketchup on eggs?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, lifting his eyes to hers.
Time seemed to slow. “Me too.” Celeste smiled again, dropped her own chin, and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Maybe we will have some things in common.”
Chapter Six
Celeste couldn’t believe the balloon of hope expanding inside her chest. She and Brad seemed so different on the outside. Sure, he was refined in a different kind of way. He’d obviously gotten up and showered and ready for the day. He was employed. He had money. But he surely used those little cups of fake creamer, and Celeste didn’t.
But they both liked sunsets, and now they both liked ketchup on their eggs.
“So it’s your mom’s birthday,” she said, trying to get a conversation going. The man had food enough for three people in front of him, and it was obvious she’d interrupted a morning ritual he had.
“Yes,” he said. “Next week. My brother is coming in from Kentucky and everything.”
“Wow,” she said.
“Yeah.” Brad nodded and reached for his mug.
He wasn’t drinking coffee, and that surprised Celeste. “What does your brother do in Kentucky?”
“My grandfather owns a two-hundred-and-twenty acre thoroughbred farm,” he said over the top of his mug. “David runs that with my uncle.”
“Fascinating,” Celeste said.
“Do you like horses?” Brad asked.
“I mean, I don’t know.”
“You know you can ride ponies in the ocean, right?” he asked. “It’s awesome.”
“I’ve heard of it,” she said coolly.
“We should do it,” he said. “I love horses, and it’s been a while since I’ve been on the sea ponies.”
Celeste took an extra moment to take a deep breath. “I’ve never done it.”
“You’ve lived on Carter’s Cove your whole life and have never ridden the sea ponies?” He didn’t have to sound so surprised. Maybe even exasperated.
“Nope,” Celeste said, choosing to keep the moment light. “So we should do it.”
“You check your calendar,” he said, looking at his pancakes as he smeared them with all that delicious butter. Celeste decided she’d order breakfast from the kitchen when she got to the inn. “And let me know.”
“Deal,” she said, sliding out of the booth. “Okay, Bradley. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
He grinned at her and nodded, and Celeste was supremely glad he couldn’t see beneath skin and bone to the way her pulse bobbed in her chest. That smile…yeah, that smile was downright dangerous to her health.
“I’m just saying, you never eat breakfast,” Gwen said. “And you were wearing perfume last night when you got me up to go to bed.”
Celeste cut another triangle of pancake and put it in her mouth, buying herself some time before she had to speak. Of all of her sisters, she was closest to Gwen. Their relationship was why they could live together and not kill one another.
“I had a date,” she finally said, hitting the T in “date” hard.
Gwen just blinked at her, her eyes widening slightly. “Tell me it wasn’t with Andre.”
“Nope.”
“Boyd? Because you promised you wouldn’t go out with him again.”
“It wasn’t Boyd.”
Gwen gasped and covered her mouth. “Ben?” came through her fingers.
“No,” Celeste said emphatically. “No, none of them. No one I’ve ever been out with before.” And Celeste couldn’t help feeling proud of that, even though a small pinch in the back of her heart reminded her that it hadn’t been a real date.
“Who is it, then?” Gwen asked, reaching for Celeste’s fork. Her sister didn’t eat breakfast either, so to have a plate of pancakes between them felt magical, like Christmas morning. Her mother had always made pancakes and eggs on Christmas morning.
“Okay, don’t die,” Celeste said. “And you can’t tell anyone. Not even Teagan.”
“Why would I tell Teagan? It’s not like he knows everything about me.” Gwen’s face turned red, though, and Celeste knew her head chef in the kitchen absolutely got to know everything about Gwen and her life.
“I don’t want anyone else to know,” Celeste said. She didn’t see Olympia, Alissa, or Sheryl that much. If she could contain Brad to just Gwen, the chances of her being able to get out of the engagement without involving a lot of her family members would be higher.
“Fine, fine,” Gwen said. “I only see Alissa and Olympia, and…maybe you shouldn’t tell me.” She looked like she might cry. “I’m not great with secrets.”
She really wasn’t, but Celeste really wanted to tell someone. “Alissa will be opening her shop soon, right?” Celeste asked. Her younger sister had rented a shop on Main Street and would be opening her own fish monger shop very soon. The inn had just hired Sheryl’s boyfriend at their head baker, which actually annoyed Celeste.
Gage was the best security guard on the island, and she’d used him for multiple weddings and events at The Heartwood Inn. After all, the wedding crashers who tried to get a two-hundred-dollar meal for free required someone with big muscles and a no-nonsense attitude, both of which Gage possessed.
How he and Sheryl had made things work was a mystery to Celeste. At the same time, she seized onto the differences between the bodyguard and her sister, using them to make an even stronger case for her and Brad.
“Yes, next week, I think,” Gwen said. “I think Friday.”
“I’m busy Thursday,” Celeste said. “So I hope it’s not then.”
Gwen didn’t ask what Celeste had on Thursday, though that would’ve been the perfect segue into talking about her new boyfriend. Fiancé. Date. Whatever Brad was. He certainly wasn’t to boyfriend status yet, as Celeste had a rule for that. A man didn’t get that label until she kissed him, and while Brad had said her no-kissing rule was impossible, Celeste still wasn’t sure.
He had kissed her on the cheek at Sunny’s, and Celeste took the fork back from her sister so she could distract herself with pancakes.
“Maybe just give me a hint of who you’re seeing,” Gwen said as she stood up. “I have to get back to work, and it’ll give me something to think about.”
“Besides Teagan, you mean.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “The man barely knows I exist.”
“You sign his paychecks. He knows you exist.”
“But not outside of the kitchen, he doesn’t,” Gwen said, her voice taking on a wistful quality. “It’s fine. I don’t have a crush on him anymore. He’s actually kind of annoying.”
“I’m sure he is,” Celeste said. “And the hint is he grew up here on the island, left for a while, and is back.”
Gwen grinned, her mind already working if the glint in her eye said anything, and waved as she left Celeste’s office.
She couldn’t help sighing as she put one more bite of pancake in her mouth. Then she needed to get to work. Focus on something besides the dashingly handsome former football player…who she was engaged to.
After pushing the remainder of her pancakes away, she opened her top desk drawer where she’d stored the ring. She didn’t need to wear it at work—unless she wanted to alert her sisters and her assistant to her recent relationship status change.
And she didn’t.
Not yet.
One of Brad’s rules was to wear the ring, but she didn’t need to do that until they went out. Another of his was to lie to as few people as possible, and storing the ring in the top desk drawer did that.
“Paige,” she said into the intercom. “Can you bring me the Brandsen files? I have them on my to-do list this morning.”
“Sure thing.” A few moments later, Paige appeared in the doorway. She put the files on Celeste’s desk with, “What’s all this?”
“Pancakes,” Celeste said. “You can have them. I’m done.”
“I thought we were having lunch together.” The brunette folded her arms and lifted her eyebrows at Celeste. “You have something to tell me about that guy that stopped by yesterday.”
“Do I?” Celeste flipped open one of the folders Paige had brought.
“Yes.” Paige sat down in the chair across from Celeste. “I already ordered cheesesteaks from House. You can’t back out now.” She sang the last few words, and Celeste giggled.
She abandoned the paperwork, though she really did have so much to do, and said, “Okay, fine. But I really have to get something done first.”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” Paige said, standing up. Her heels clicked on the industrial carpet as she walked toward the door. “I’ll leave you alone to do that.”
“Great,” Celeste said to herself. Now it was time to get to work.
“Henry Sylvester,” Gwen guessed from the kitchen. Celeste had come home early from work again, and this time, Gwen wasn’t already asleep on the back porch.
“Ew, no.” Celeste bent to set the food bowl down for Midnight. “There you go, sweets. Eat your dinner.” With Gwen awake, she’d see Brad when he showed up in only thirty minutes.
“He’s the only one left,” Gwen said, a definite whine in her voice. “You’ve said no to every man I’ve said for the past half-hour.”
“There’s one more,” Celeste assured her.
“Just tell me then.” Gwen slid her grilled cheese sandwich onto a plate, her eyes wide and filled with curiosity.
Celeste really wanted to tell her. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“We’ve already established that I won’t. I don’t have anyone to tell.”
“That’s not true, Gwenny. You have your bunko group. And your sea kayaking group.”
“And we don’t talk about men,” Gwen fired back. “It’s actually a rule in the bunko group.”
And Celeste liked rules. “Okay,” she said. “You’re going to meet him in a minute anyway.” She’d opted for an elegant-yet-flirty sundress for their second attempt at Radish, and she adjusted one of the wide straps on her shoulder, the weig
ht of the engagement ring in the pocket almost too heavy to carry.
“It’s Bradley Keith.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she said it.
“You’re kidding!” Gwen shrieked and ran over to hug Celeste as if she knew about the engagement and thought it was real.
Celeste wanted to tell her, but her sister didn’t really have a lot of opportunities to interact with people, and she wanted the secret for one more night.
Now, if only tonight would be more successful than last night. And honestly? That wouldn’t be hard to do, and her trepidation returned.
Chapter Seven
Brad’s stomach squirmed like he’d swallowed live snakes as he walked up Celeste’s front sidewalk. Somewhere in her garden, crickets sang, and he wished he was as content. The woman had been on his mind for hours, and he hadn’t even cared that another delay at his construction site across the channel that separated Carter’s Cove from the mainland would set him back a week.
Didn’t even care.
He wasn’t sure how the woman had wormed her way under his skin so quickly. Sure, she was beautiful, but he knew outward beauty could only go so far. He’d noticed that she hadn’t been wearing the engagement band at breakfast that morning, and he’d been stewing over her rules ever since.
He knocked, and another blonde opened the door barely two seconds later. Her sister—and she’d clearly been anticipating him. His heart twisted, but he put his professional football smile on his face. “Hello,” he said. “I’m here for Celeste.”
“Celeste,” she said at the same time as him, her smile so wide it had to hurt. “Come in. I’m Gwen, her sister. She’s just doing something with Midnight.”
Brad stepped into the house, because it was air conditioned and the front porch was not. Plus, Celeste had not invited him in last night, either before or after the date. “Midnight?” he asked.
“Her dog.” Gwen closed the door behind him. “She’s a little miniature poodle. Cutest thing ever.” The back door opened, drawing their attention, and Gwen added, “There they are. Celeste, your date is here.” She strode through the living room to the kitchen.
Not Her Real Fiance Page 4