“Do you want to wait for the photographer?” I asked, glancing around the restaurant.
“He’ll get pictures during dessert,” Gavin said and pulled out a diamond ring from the box. I held back a gasp. It was huge, at least several karats, and bounced off rays of light as the light fixtures on the ceiling caught the sharp edges. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, certainly not Gavin to go down on one knee, but I definitely didn’t expect him to toss the ring on the table in between us.
“Put it on,” he said. “For the pictures, and for the wedding, but you don’t have to wear it any other time.”
It was the least romantic moment of my life, but there was a spark inside me that I couldn’t ignore. Even as I grabbed the diamond ring from the table and slipped it onto my own finger, I still felt the tiniest bit happy.
The rest of our dinner was served, and finally a matcha bean cake for dessert. A photographer arrived and began snapping pictures of us at the table. It wasn’t very difficult to force a smile on my face, and even Gavin’s looked more natural than I would have expected.
I took a picture of both of us with the ring in between and posted it on my social media accounts.
“There,” Gavin said as we finished up. “Proposal night went off without a hitch.”
“Now for a weekend wedding,” I said as we walked back to his car. I couldn’t stop staring at the ring on my finger.
“You don’t have to keep wearing it,” he said. I nodded and slipped it into my purse. I didn’t want to make things any weirder than they already were.
“We’ll have dinner with my mother tomorrow to celebrate,” he said as we arriv
ed at my apartment. It didn’t seem as if he was going to walk me to my door. “And then start planning the wedding.”
“It’ll be a fake license, right?” I asked. “How are you getting a clergy to sign off on a fake wedding?”
“You’d be surprised at what people will do for money,” he said and glanced at me. “Then again, maybe you wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Low blow,” I said and left the car. “Good night, Gavin; thanks for the fake proposal.”
His head ducked until I could see him through the passenger side window.
“Thanks for the fake acceptance,” he said and drove off.
I walked back to my apartment and closed the door behind me. I glanced at the alarm system and reminded myself to call in the morning and activate it, although I wouldn’t send Gavin any proof. I didn’t need anything more from him.
I sat at the small breakfast table and dug through my purse until my fingers found the rounded metal of a ring. The diamond ring fell in front of me, and I slipped it onto my finger and stared at it.
Gavin was insane if he thought I wasn’t going to wear it every chance I got.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Gavin
I spent double the amount of time at the gym than I normally did. I pushed myself harder than before, risking a torn muscle, and ran cardio for nearly an hour by the time I hopped off of the treadmill and into the shower. My phone continued to ring throughout it all, but I ignored it.
I already knew it was Ron freaking out over the big news. I hadn’t even given him a head’s up, not to mention he was well aware that Maddie and I had only been going out for a short amount of time. I didn’t want to answer his questions or tell him about the dinner, so I continued to ignore his calls and focused on cleaning myself in the shower.
There was something that was keeping my nerves on edge. I felt like throwing up, a sort of nausea that was in the pit of my stomach and would flare up into my throat if I dwelled on it too long. What was wrong with me? Why was I the one freaking out? Maddie seemed excited at the thought of a fake wedding so soon, but then again, I supposed I had learned not to be surprised by anything she did.
But even though everything about this was fake, I still wanted to shove my fist in my mouth, bite down, and scream. And what was more concerning was the fact that my feelings were leaning more toward excitement and giddiness than sorrow and worry.
Maddie would be coming over to the house before the dinner, and a part of me was looking forward to seeing her. There was something about sharing a secret with someone else that bring you closer to them. I told myself that that’s all it was: a mutual secret. Not the blooming of a romance.
I shook my head. There would never be romance between us; she made sure of that the minute she said she had an offer. And I set that fact in stone the minute I accepted her offer.
I glanced at my phone after getting out of the shower. Ron had messaged me several times, urging to call him back. He wanted details, but not too detailed, about our dinner. I was worried that I was going to have to convince him that the proposal was real and not too sudden, but it didn’t seem as if I’d have to worry about it.
Ron was the kind of sucker that believed in true love, and all I’d have to say was that Maddie and I were in love. I almost felt bad for him.
My office was cold as I took a seat at the desk and opened my laptop. The first three chapters were written, and I set an alarm on my phone for two hours. I wanted to finish at least another two chapters before dinner, which shouldn’t take very long. The words flowed onto the laptop at record time, and it helped ease my nerves and the minutes passed.