Accidental Proposal (A Year Agreement Book 1) (17 page)

“Garrett, as in your driver and the one I met just the other day?”

“Yes. We just got back from McDonald’s and we were having a good time until he came and knocked on the door. He and Liam got in a little fight that gave away that I told Garrett about the deal. It was downhill from there. They cornered him yesterday for information and gave him money for it.”

“Wow. That is, just wow. I bet Liam was pissed.” I sent her a look of warning her that Sky was in the backseat.

“Well he was, and he put me on house arrest. So that is why I called you asking for a ride.”

“House arrest, really?” She let out a loud laugh while shaking her head.

“It isn’t funny, Lennon. He looked so mad at me.”

“Don’t worry, Jenna. He will get over it. Just give him a few days. And I am always up for some fun and ice cream.” She sent a smile over to Sky and kept driving.

“I hope he does,” I muttered softly.

“You know what? We are going to show Sky here a great time!” Lennon said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’ll see. She’s going to love it! You are already in trouble, so you might as well make the most of it,” she reasoned. She was right. If I was already in deep shit with Liam, I might as well do this. He was going to hate me either way, and this way I got to go out and have fun with Lennon and Sky. With a smile in my direction, Lennon turned on the radio.

The ride to wherever we were going went by fairly quickly, and we soon pulled into a huge place called Fiesta Fun. Helping Sky out of the car, I stood there, staring at the place wondering where we were exactly.

“This right here is the greatest place to come and have fun,” Lennon said dramatically. With Sky’s hand inside mine, we followed after Lennon, still slightly confused. The moment we walked in, I took it all in. Off to my right was a big section that had all different kinds of arcade games, and to my left was what looked like a miniature glow-in-the-dark golf course that went all the way to the back. There was a set of doors on the left that led outside, but what was out there I didn’t know. There even looked to be other doors on the right, leading to other rooms.

“You can literally do anything you want here. There’s miniature golf, both glow in the dark and regular arcade games, laser tag, 3D simulators, and go-karts. There is also a bouncing room for kids.” Wow, this place was huge! “Sky, would you like to play miniature golf?” she asked, looking down at her.

“Yes!” came a loud yell, and she started bouncing. Grinning, we made our way to the counter to pay. The next five minutes were spent paying for a pass that let us do three things plus tokens for the arcade, and picking out golf clubs and balls for golf. After much consideration, Sky finally picked a pink-handled club that fit her height, and a pink ball as well. Lennon ended up with a purple one and a purple ball, while I got blue everything.

I’d never played before, but I wasn’t an idiot. As we came up on the first hole, Lennon went first, then Sky, who in turn got a hole in one, making her scream and run around us. Miniature golf turned out to be a lot of fun as we moved from hole to hole, each one getting harder. It felt great to go out and do something normal like this. Sky was having so much fun, running from each hole hitting her pink ball before we could even reach her. More than once I caught her picking her ball up and putting it in the hole, and she would play it off like she didn’t do it.

We finished the glow-in-the-dark course about thirty minutes later and put our clubs back, heading to do something else. Lennon and I trailed behind Sky, letting her choose what other thing she wanted to do. She chose one of the 3D simulations for little girls. We each got strapped inside, and the ride started with us moving in a field of horses. You could definitely tell this wasn’t what Lennon or I would pick. Although the ride was for little girls, it was fun and was pretty funny watching Sky as her face lit up every time we “came” close to a horse. She’d reach her little hands out to try and touch it.

Twenty minutes later, we were back to finding another thing to do. I decided to play a few arcade games and win Sky a stuffed animal in one of the machines. It took me a few tries, but I finally was able to get her a pink teddy bear, which she named after me. Lennon and I played air hockey and Sky watched us, holding her bear to her. Once Sky started to get bored and antsy, we finally took her to the bouncy room. The moment we stepped through the door, she shoved her bear at me and ran off. The room had a few other kids jumping around, but not too many. Lennon and I took a seat kind of in the corner on one of the mats, watching Sky.

“She is a cutie,” Lennon said, smiling fondly at her as she bounced, giggling loudly.

“Yes, she is. Her mom has raised her well.”

“Who is her mom, anyways?”

“Her name is Candy. She used to work with me at one of my jobs. She was only seventeen when she got pregnant, so she left school and started working. Now she is on her way to be a hair stylist; she is actually there now, taking one of her final tests.”

“She sounds like a strong woman,” she commented.

“Candy is. I think you have to be when you are a single mother.” We sat in silence, watching Sky play around and find new friends.

“What do you think Liam is going to do if he finds out you left the house today?” Lennon asked out of the blue.

“Honestly, probably just yell at me like always, or insult me. It won’t be anything new,” I said, shrugging. It wouldn’t be. Ever since I had come to know Liam, all he did was be rude to me and not care about my feelings. I didn’t expect him to change.

“Jenna, he really is a good guy. It doesn’t seem like it now, but he is. Everyone has their baggage.”

“Can’t he just be nice to me? His baggage can’t be that bad,” I whined.

“I would tell you, but it isn’t my story. One day he will tell you.”
When I am out of his life.
She was right, of course, but I couldn’t help but want to figure his out. Yes, he didn’t know mine, but still…okay, that wasn’t a good argument. I sighed, leaning back against the wall. My life had turned into such a mess.

“When do you think she will be ready to go?” I looked up, seeing Sky with a little boy around the same age jumping around and holding hands.
Awww, young love.

“I give it an hour.” I turned to Lennon with a grin. “Thank you, by the way, for doing this. I know it was so sudden, and it means a lot to me.”

“No problem. I’m having fun; I like Sky. Plus, this is a lot more fun than what Liam wanted me to do with you today,” she commented.

“The manner lessons,” I grumbled. “I don’t see why he wants me to get help. I can act perfectly fine.”

“It’s not that he doesn’t think you know how to act. It is just the people at those events. They love to pick on anything they can find, and when they find something, they don’t let up until you are practically a sobbing mess in front of everyone. He just doesn’t want that to happen to you,” Lennon reasoned. She sounded exactly like Liam had the other day.

“I guess you’re right.” I guess I’d better start listening to and trusting Liam more. I was lost in my own thoughts until Lennon said something.

“We’ve been here two, almost three, hours. We may want to go get ice cream before we head back.” I nodded, standing up and calling Sky over. She looked over at us and looked sadly back at her new friend. I watched, smiling as they hugged, and she ran over to us.

“You ready to go and get ice cream?” I asked. 

“Yes!” Grinning, I grabbed her Jenna bear and her hand before leaving the bouncy room with Lennon beside us.

While Lennon drove us to an ice cream shop, Sky sat in the back gabbing about her new friend, Nathan. She went on about what they did and random things about him. It was actually really cute, listening to her getting all excited. About ten minutes later, we pulled into a cute place that had an ice cream cone on the side of it. After making sure Jenna bear was okay in the car, all three of us headed inside. Sky bounced on her heels as we waited in line, trying to see what flavors they had over the counter.

Lennon ordered first, getting a strawberry cone. She stepped to the side for us. Seeing as Sky needed help, I lifted her up and onto my hip so she could see the flavors. And, of course, like every little kid, she wanted to try every flavor, making the poor girl behind the counter go everywhere.

“I am so sorry about this,” I said after the fifth sampling.

“Don’t worry, it happens a lot.” The girl smiled at me. “Your daughter is super cute.” I froze at that. I had never even thought about having kids, and it was kind of a given that I wasn’t going to. I didn’t want to do to them what my mother had done to me. I always figured whatever made my mother leave me would pass onto me, and I did not want that to happen to anyone else.

“I want chocolate!” Sky finally said, jerking me back to reality. I rolled my eyes, and the girl scooped a small cone of chocolate ice cream for Sky before handing it to her.

“I’ll have mint chocolate chip.” We paid and took a seat in a booth so Lennon could eat her cone before driving us home. Only a few licks in, Sky got chocolate all over her face, grinning widely as she licked her cone. She looked like she was in seventh heaven. Knowing it was no use wiping it off just yet, I dug into my ice cream.

Once all three of us were done, I quickly wetted a napkin and wiped Sky’s face before we piled back into the car. Surprisingly, the ride back was quiet, and midway home I turned around to make sure Sky was okay. I found her dead asleep. Chuckling quietly, I turned around and shared a grin with Lennon. It was now three in the afternoon, and we had successfully worn her out. We got back to the house a few minutes later, and I slid out quietly.

“Do you need help with her?” Lennon asked, coming around the car.

“It’s okay. I got her. You can go home. Thank you so much for today,” I said softly, unbuckling the seatbelt and sliding Sky out of the car and into my arms. Clenched in her arms was her bear, and I smiled fondly down at her.

“No problem, I had a blast. Have a good night. I’ll probably be over tomorrow.” Giving my arm a pat because she couldn’t hug me, Lennon sent me one last grin before going back around to the driver’s seat.

While Lennon drove off, I awkwardly put in the code for the door and pushed it open with one hand and my butt. Sky snored softly on my shoulder as I quietly shut the door behind me, heading to my room. I was halfway to my room when a loud voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Where have you been?”

Chapter Seventeen

“Where have you been?” I froze, holding a sleeping Sky in my arms. I hadn’t expected Liam to be home so soon. Slowly, I turned around and found Liam standing there, his arms folded across his chest. I looked him up and down, finding him really attractive at the moment even though he was staring at me angrily. He was dressed in a dark blue suit jacket and dress pants, a light blue, almost white, dress shirt with a skinny tie around his neck but loosened. His brown hair was slicked back and to the side.

“Jenna, where were you? And who is that?” he asked again and looked down at Sky in my arms.

“I was kidnapping a child,” I said sarcastically before I could stop myself.

“Jenna,” he warned, his voice hard.

“Liam, chill. I was with Lennon. Let me put her down, then we can talk,” I quietly hissed at him. Ignoring Liam, I turned and headed to my room. With one hand, I peeled back my sheets and gently laid Sky down, grabbing her new teddy bear and her other unicorn stuffed animal. I put them around her before pulling the sheets around her little body. I smiled softly down at her and laid a kiss to her forehead before turning around. Silencing a scream that wanted to come out of my mouth, I glared at Liam, who was right behind me.

“What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?” I hissed at him.

“Who is she?” he asked, ignoring my question completely.

“Her name is Sky.”

“Who does she belong to?”

“Jeez, Liam, she isn’t a dog.” I rolled my eyes. I watched him looking at Sky almost kindly and with curiosity. I decided to mess with him a little bit. “She is mine.” Just as I wanted, his head whipped in my direction.

“She is your child!” he all but yelled.

“Quiet down!” I grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the room and closed the door quietly behind me.

“You have a child? When? How?” he sputtered. I bit back a grin as I made my way to the kitchen for a drink.
It’s time for a little fun with him.
“I had her during high school,” I said, grabbing a glass and getting some water from the fridge.

“So you didn’t finish high school? And that is why you had to have those awful jobs,” Liam said in realization. I rolled my eyes with my back turned to him. “Wait, so where has she been since you have been here?” I froze but quickly stopped myself.

“She was with a friend.”

“Man, I really did choose the wrong girl. You have a fucking daughter!” Turning around, I saw him running his hands through his hair and his mouth wide open. He actually believed that Sky was my daughter. I knew I shouldn’t be so happy to see him like this, but I was. “I hope you know she can’t stay with us. I don’t want a little whiny child running around.”

“Hey! Sky isn’t whiny. She is very well behaved. It’s not like you’re home anyways,” I shot back.

“Jenna, why did you never tell me you had a daughter?” he said angrily. Okay, never mind, this wasn’t going to plan. He was getting really upset about it.

“Good God, Liam, it was a joke!” I finally said.

“What?” He snapped his eyes up at me, confused.

“Sky isn’t mine! She is my friend’s daughter, and I’m just watching her today,” I admitted, staring straight at him.

“She isn’t your daughter,” he said slowly, like he wasn’t getting it.

“Liam, she is four. I would have had to be fourteen! I had barely gotten my period by then.” I hadn’t really meant for the last part to come out, but oh well. It would just make him even more uncomfortable. If you ever want to make a guy really uncomfortable and stammer around you, then just bring up how you bleed every month.

“I—I—”

“You are not the smartest, are you?” I said, sending him a grin. When he glared at me, I lost my grin and sobered up. “Okay, I’m sorry, Liam, for lying that she was mine. I just wanted to mess with you. I didn’t think you would freak out as much as you did.”

“It’s okay. That was a good one,” he admitted, a small smile gracing his lips.

“You know, I thought you got a background check on me before you offered me the deal,” I said.

“I kind of did, but not a thorough one.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I only knew where you lived, your name, and your jobs. Didn’t really think to check anything else.”

“You wouldn’t be a good CIA person then. But seriously, who wouldn’t do a proper background check on someone who they wanted to be their fake wife? I could be a serial killer for all you know.”

“I was desperate. I didn’t think it through. And you couldn’t be a serial killer. You’re too little.” He moved around me to the fridge and pulled out a beer.

“‘I’m too little’? That could be my trick, making people underestimate me, and then I go in for the kill.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t it too early for a beer? And it is a Tuesday.”

“Whatever. Well, I need one with what you just pulled on me,” he said, rolling his blue eyes at me.

“Yeah, I got you good.” I grinned like the Cheshire cat.

“Whatever,” he muttered under his breath.

“What are you doing home so early?” I asked, remembering why he was here.

“You wouldn’t answer my calls or texts, so I came over.” He said it like it was no big deal, but my grin widened at the sound of that.

“Liam Stanford was worried about me.” I reached over and poked his arm.

“What? I was not worried about you.” He scoffed at me, taking a pull of his beer.

“Yes you were, don’t lie!” I prodded him, still grinning. It felt great teasing Liam and getting a reaction out of him. This probably wouldn’t happen again, so I was going to take a full advantage.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, changing the subject quickly. I reluctantly let my teasing go. I opened my mouth to answer when my stomach decided to answer for me. That morning I had forgotten to eat before leaving with Sky and Lennon. “That’s a yes.” Liam shook his head, then started moving around the kitchen. It seemed that after I messed with him about Sky he had relaxed and even become friendly. Of course with him seeming bipolar, that could probably change at the top of a hat.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked, peering into the fridge and looking at me over his shoulder.

“I don’t care really,” I answered, shrugging.

“How about we just order something?” he offered, closing the fridge and coming to a stop beside me. Ordering something actually sounded really good because I was not in the mood to make anything.

“That sounds good to me. Let’s get pizza since we didn’t get a chance to have any last night.” With a nod, Liam grabbed his phone and tapped away on it. I leaned against the counter, staring at him.

Our relationship was definitely a weird one. One second we were yelling at each other, well, him yelling at me, and the next we were talking to one another like civilized human beings. Everything that happened yesterday seemed to be forgotten or at least put on the back burner. I didn’t know if it was because Liam was just in a good mood or my teasing lightened the mood, or if it was because of Sky; I honestly couldn’t tell. If I knew how to keep Liam happy or at least not yelling and getting angry, I’d gladly sell my soul for that information. The thought of a year with his attitude and emotions changing at the drop of a hat was already getting old and on my nerves.

“What kind do you want?” he asked, holding his phone to his ear.

“Pepperoni. Sky likes that kind too,” I added. He nodded and spoke into the speaker. I stared at him, leaning against the counter. His work clothes hugged his well-defined body. His brown hair was messy from running his fingers through it a second ago. His jaw and cheeks were starting to get a five o’clock shadow, showing that he hadn’t shaven in a few days. To me it made him more rugged and handsome, even though that was practically impossible. I bet Liam could make anything look great, even if his hair was bright pink and hanging down to his shoulders while wearing a Speedo.

The longer I stared at Liam, the more I realized he wasn’t the worst person to fake marry. I could be stuck with some old, fat guy. Here I had a smart, sophisticated, rich, sexy guy who wanted me to be his fake wife for a year. Someone like him could get any girl he wanted, but instead he chose me, the girl who had no parents, hadn’t ever even kissed a guy, and was just a plain-looking girl. In all honesty, Liam could do a lot better, but not me. He was the one who was stuck with my baggage-filled life. Here I was, complaining about having to marry him when in reality he would probably be the only person that would want me, although none of this was real.

“Okay, pizza will be here in about twenty minutes.” His deep voice snapped me out of my staring. Blushing, I looked away, hoping he didn’t notice I was staring at him the whole time.

“S-sounds good,” I stammered out, willing the red in my cheeks to die down.

“Oh, before I forget, tomorrow afternoon we are getting our engagement photos taken.” I nodded and stood there awkwardly, glancing around the kitchen. Thankfully the awkward silence was broken when a little voice spoke.

“Wenna, who is that man?” Whipping around, I found Sky standing in the doorway of the kitchen holding both of her stuffed animals in her arms. Her blonde hair was falling out of her pigtails, and her dress was squawky on her body.

“Oh, Sky, this is…” I trailed off, thinking of a term to call Liam.

“I’m her fiancé,” Liam butted in.

“What is a bey-once?” Sky asked slowly, saying it wrong. I couldn’t help but grin.

“Well, a fiancé is like a boyfriend,” I said, walking over to her. “His name is Liam.” Looking over my shoulder, I motioned for him to come over.

“Is he nice?” I wanted to say no, but I stopped myself.

“Yes, he is.”

“What is your name?” Liam asked, squatting down in front of her and smiling.

“I’m Sky!” she said, grinning brightly at Liam.

“Wow, what a pretty name for a pretty girl.” Seeing him smiling and looking at Sky all cutely made my heart swell. Before it sounded like he didn’t like children, but seeing this I knew he had a soft spot for them. “What do you have there?” he asked, pointing to her bear and unicorn.

“This Wenna. I just got her today,” she said, holding out the brown bear to Liam. “This is Pinky. She’s a unicorn.”

“They are both very cute.”

“You can hold them if you want,” Sky said, holding out both and waiting for Liam to take them. Shooting me a look, he took them and held them in his big hands. I grinned, finding the situation very cute.

“Is Wenna named after Jenna?” Liam asked Sky.

“Yes! Wenna is the bestest person ever! Her and Lemon took me to play golf and this jumpy place where I met Nathan and then we got ice cream!” I let out a chuckle at Sky calling Lennon “Lemon.”

“Wow, sounds like a great day!” Sky nodded, making more of her blonde hair fall into her face. Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Food is here. Here, Sky, do you want to hold these for me for a second?” he asked, almost giving her puppy dog eyes. She grabbed them and stared at Liam as he went to the door to pay. The way she was staring at him was like he was her knight in shining armor. Looked like Liam had an admirer. Shaking my head, I grabbed three plastic plates I found in one of the cabinets just as Liam came back with two pizza boxes.

“Pizza!” Sky yelled, running over to the counter where Liam set the boxes. Liam grinned down at her and opened them up.

“Sky, how about we eat these while watching TV? Does that sound fun?” he asked her. She didn’t even reply. All she did was nod enthusiastically. Candy was never going to let me watch her again, as I’d spoiled her all day with fun, ice cream, and now pizza while watching TV. Putting a small piece of pepperoni pizza on a plate for Sky, I put one on mine along with the meat lovers from the other one Liam got.

“I got drinks,” Liam said.

“Just water or apple juice for Sky. I don’t think she needs any more sugar,” I said, grabbing our plates along with Liam’s and heading to the living room, following Sky. Sky made sure her animals were all comfy on a chair to the side of the couch before she jumped up in the middle of the couch, her legs swinging back and forth.

“Sky, let me know if you can’t finish this okay, and if you want more,” I said, putting her plate in her lap along with a spread-out napkin; I didn’t want anything to get on Liam’s expensive couch.

“Here is your drink, my princess,” Liam said dramatically, walking into the room and setting a small plastic up on the coffee table with what looked like apple juice. I stared at him, completely baffled at his mood. He was acting the complete opposite of anything I had seen from him prior. He was being sweet, funny, and amazing with Sky. Sky’s giggles made me look away, but I kept glancing at him. “And here is yours, Jenna.” He handed me a glass with apple juice as well.

“We are all having juice tonight,” he said, catching the look on my face. Nodding, I sent him a smile and took a seat with Sky on one side and Liam on the other. He flipped on the TV and started browsing the stations as we munched on our food.