The F-Word

“Honey. Don’t let that woman spoil things. She’s just a busybody.”

“A busybody with news she can’t wait to spread.”

Bailey starts to move back her chair. I clasp her wrist.

“She saw us here together. So what? You were going to a wedding. You needed a—What’s it called?”

“A plus one.” Bailey looks at me. “But she saw you acting as a lot more than my date, Matthew. She saw us, you know, together.”

Kissing, is what she means. Touching.

“And then my stupid cousin told her we were engaged.” Her eyes flash. “I’ll bet Violet did it deliberately. To stir up trouble.”

“This is one time Violet’s probably innocent of any wrongdoing. She’s seen us the way you just said. Together. Maybe she, you know, jumped to conclusions.”

“Is it impossible for you to construct a sentence without saying ‘you know’?”

Whoa. Bailey said the first you know. I’m only responsible for the second one. My girl is angry. But at me? What have I done?

“Look, sweetheart—”

“I am not your sweetheart.”

Dammit. This is going downhill fast.

“Bailey. Calm down.”

“I am absolutely calm.”

The hell she is. Still, confused as I am, I know better than to contradict her. Instead, I link our fingers together.

“Is it a problem? Violet—” The phrase you know is on my lips Fortunately, I

catch myself just in time. “Violet thinking we’re engaged?”

“Is it a…” She pulls her hand from mine. “Of course it’s a problem. Bad enough I let people believe you were my date. My boyfriend. By the time tonight is over, everybody will believe you and I are getting married.” She shakes her head. “I cannot, I cannot believe I thought this would work!”

She’s upset. I’m baffled. “Yeah, but it did work. Didn’t you just say that?”

“Don’t be an idiot, Matthew! Violet will make sure the real story gets out. That this was all a sham.” She buries her face in her hands. “My mother’s going to be horrified.”

“Honey…”

She looks up. There’s fire in her eyes. “Do not call me that.”

I can feel the situation snowballing. There must be something I can do to stop it, but I’ll be damned if I can think of what it is. Plus, dancing around in the back of my head is what faces me unless I get to my mother before Jessie Simms does. Mom will go from joy that I’ve finally come to my senses to dismay that I haven’t in less time than it takes to blink.

Bailey shakes her head. “I should have known this wouldn’t work!”

“But it did. Everybody who saw us believes we really are a couple.”

“You mean, we were excellent actors.”

“Right!”

Her cheeks flame. Her mouth thins. She’s either going to slug me or kill me and as soon as I realize how idiotic that Right! must have sounded, I know I can’t blame her if she does either, but what she does instead is snatch her purse from the table, shoot to her feet and head for the ballroom exit.

“Bailey. Wait!”