Fool for You (Southern Bride 7)

“So you told her to bid on you so that no one else would win the date?” Malcolm asked.

I nodded. “Yes, but I didn’t tell her to go that high. By the way, when do we have to pay it?”

“You don’t, I took care of it,” my father stated. “I figured that kind of money wasn’t really floating around in Emmerson’s bank account.”

“That was so sweet of you.” Emmerson reached across the table and squeezed my father’s hand. “But I’m sure Landon will pay you back.”

Dad shot me a look. “Trust me, he’ll most definitely pay me back.”

And I would, but I had no doubt that my father would tease the hell out of me for years to come.

Malcolm glared at my dad. The two of them were the best of friends, but at times I wondered if that sense of competition between them was still there. “I should have known it was you who paid it,” Malcolm growled out.

My father gave Malcolm a one-shoulder shrug and smirked, knowing he had won this round. “I always was faster than you.”

Malcolm huffed. “Bullshit.”

Both of our moms sighed, and Paislie rolled her eyes and lifted her wine glass to her lips.

“Get back to the story!” Hailey said before she took a sip of her martini. I wasn’t sure why she was being so pushy—she already knew the whole story and then some.

Drawing in a breath, I slowly let it out. “Well, after the bidding war went down, I pulled Emmerson off to the side to ask her why in the hell she went so high, and that’s when Jason showed up.”

“I never did like that guy,” Malcolm mumbled, and my father nodded in agreement.

Emmerson picked up the story once again. “Anyway, Jason introduced us to his fiancée, Lillian, and then he made some messed-up comment about me not being able to love someone.”

“What did he mean by that, the little punk?” Paislie shouted more than asked.

Malcolm jumped in. “So wait, he pops off with some stupid remark and you come back with the idea that you’re engaged? Emmerson, it doesn’t sound like you to be so…what were you being? Jealous? Competitive?”

With a long groan, Emmerson replied, “I know, I know! I don’t really know what came over me. It’s just, everyone I know is getting engaged, and then that jerk-off said I wasn’t able to love. It really pissed me off.”

“So you invented a fake engagement?” my mother asked.

“I honestly don’t know what came over me. I couldn’t care less if he’s engaged or married or whatever. But when he said that about me, I…I…”

What is it, Emmerson? You wanted to prove him wrong because deep down inside you know you’re in love with me?

Okay, so I couldn’t say that.

“It was me not thinking and running my mouth off. I guess I was hurt by his comment more than anything. So yeah, I blurted out that we were engaged. Then Janet walked up and heard it and then Lillian shouted out that we were getting married in December.”

I cut in. “Janet took off like a damn race horse for the stage so she could announce it, not even once thinking to ask us first.”

Malcolm rubbed at his temples. “Why get up onstage with her and confirm it?”

I had to keep the anger out of my voice when I replied, “What were we supposed to do, Malcolm? Say ha ha, not really, Emmerson simply said that to her ex because he was engaged and told her she wasn’t capable of loving anyone? Think about what that would do to her business. Janet had already opened her big mouth, but we did try to stop her first.”

“He’s right, sweetheart. We all know what a bit of bad press can do to someone or their business,” Paislie added.

Emmerson cleared her throat. “That’s why Landon and I have agreed to keep up this charade for a few months. It really won’t be hard since we’re always together anyway, it seems like.”

“Wait, you’re going to continue this lie?” This came from my father.

“I don’t see the harm in letting it go for a few months,” I said. “Plus, it will give Emmerson a chance to relate a bit more to her clients and to pull in more clients once they see her going through the motions of her own wedding planning.”

“Fake wedding planning,” my father stated.

With a sigh, I went on. “Emmerson and I will amicably split at some point, and that will be that.”

Hailey opened her mouth to say something, but shut it when Emmerson and I both shot her a look of warning.

“Besides, I’ve already gotten so much publicity today,” Emmerson said. “Both from the People article and from tonight. If I come clean now and say I had only made it up to get back at an old boyfriend, my clients would lose trust in me. And think about Landon’s business as well.”