“I have no idea. Jeremy didn’t say anything about bringing him.” Lexie snapped her mouth shut, her eyes narrowed into slits of annoyance.
Catherine blinked. “Gen?”
I shook my head. “Don’t look at me. I sure as hell didn’t invite him.”
“You sure? You can tell me,” Catherine insisted. “I thought maybe since you and Matt aren’t dating—”
“Even if he was the last man on earth and I thought my only shot at saving the human race was inviting Brent to eat cupcakes, I would let humanity go extinct and be okay with it.” So maybe that was a little harsh, and definitely overdramatic, but exactly how I felt. Catherine nodded understanding. The only other conclusion dawned on me. “It had to be—”
“Jeremy,” Catherine and Lexie said at the same time.
I hadn’t a clue what had warped Jeremy’s brain lately, but for some reason he’d clearly adopted some mission to fix Brent’s and my nonexistent relationship. It was the only explanation I could come up with. After what Brent had done, did the guys really believe he’d be welcomed with open arms?
I shook my head in bewilderment.
My dad had never approved of Brent, not since the botched camping trip the first summer we started dating. Brent had spent most of the first day holding up his cell phone for better service, complaining about the heat and the bugs, and incessantly rubbing his hands with my hand sanitizer. He refused to touch the bait so I had to bait his hook for him, and then he’d refused to touch the fish he’d caught, so I had to take the bass off the hook myself.
What had really cut the cake was when, after Dad and Tony cleaned all the fish, Brent declined to eat it after Mom grilled it. Not because he had anything against bass, per se, but because the fish had been wild caught and he was afraid of the germs in the lake. Even Jeremy had been embarrassed to claim friendship with Brent that weekend. Jeremy had spent the weekend going behind Brent’s back and apologizing. I’d hoped Brent would get used to the camping bit, but he’d refused to go since.
Looking across the room, I wondered what the hell I’d been thinking, dating him. Brent was handsome, the whole perfect package, but he’d turned into a severe disappointment.
“Well, this is going to be fun,” I said and turned my attention to the box of cupcakes. I’d been looking forward to this cupcake tasting event for a week now, but that was before my ex had been thrown into the mix.
“I
cannot
believe he brought him here.” Lexie’s jaw tightened as she stared across the room at her fiancé and his best friend.
“Well,
I’m
not okay with it, either,” I grumbled.
“Excuse me.” Lexie’s chair scraped across the tile and I winced at the sound.
“She’s pissed.” Catherine said as Lexie stalked across the room. “What was he thinking?”
“I’ve stopped trying to figure Jeremy out. I think he might be an alien. Like Brent.” I set a cake plate in front of Catherine and that’s when the idea popped into my head. I gave Catherine a sweet smile and said, “If I do something, will you promise not to tell Mom?”
Catherine peered at me, curious. “Depends.”
“Matt and I aren’t dating.”
Catherine raised her brows. “Yes, I know this. You made that clear. Something about his feet and Tony’s BO. ”
“Mom wasn’t supposed to tell you about Tony’s B.O.” I stuck my finger into the chocolate icing on a cupcake.
“You know you’re eating that one, right?” Catherine said, eying the cupcake I’d fingered up.
I took the cupcake and set it on my cake plate. “About that whole Matt thing; I just told Mom his feet stink because she didn’t believe me that we weren’t dating. Matt’s not available to date.” I thought about his recent divorce, like one month recent, and added, “He just got out of a really bad relationship. And I’m just not ready to jump back into something serious like I had with Brent. You saw how badly that went.” I took another swipe of frosting. “And I’m sorry about saying Tony had B.O. He doesn’t stink.”
“I know he doesn’t stink. Tony is perfect,” she said. Brent watched me from across the room even though I was working hard at pretending he didn’t exist. What the hell did he want from me? An open armed greeting? Catherine said. “I get why you’re being cautious with men right now, but you can’t play safe for the rest of your life just because you dated a jerk. Matt seems like a great guy.”
“He is. But he’s just a friend,” I said.
A friend I can’t stop thinking about.
Day number four since I’d seen him last, though he had sent me a message the night before. The night I’d learned about his divorce. I picked up my cell phone. “I’m going to call in a friend favor and ask Matt to come pretend to be my boyfriend one last time. Because of Brent. I don’t want him getting any ideas about us. I thought I made it perfectly clear to him the last time he called. Apparently he needs to see proof about my fake boyfriend.”
Catherine considered it for a moment before nodding. “I think that’s a good idea. I don’t want Brent getting any ideas that he’s got a chance with you, either. If I weren’t pregnant, I’d probably punch him.” Catherine nodded her head toward Brent. “He hasn’t stopped looking at you. Even with Lexie ripping his ass. Gross.”
Brent was taking Lexie’s ass ripping much better than Jeremy. Jeremy was as pale as a ghost and looked as if he’d swallowed a nail. I took my phone out of my pocket and stood. “I’ll be back. I’m going to the bathroom to make that call.”
I was almost relieved when he didn’t answer because I’d been scared how to bring up my current situation. When the line beeped for me to leave a message, I just winged it and got straight to the point. I said, “Hey Matt, I need a favor from you. ASAP. I know you said you were going in to work this afternoon for a little bit. If you’re still there could you meet me at
Baby Cakes Boutiques
on Kerry Street? It’s only a few blocks from your work. And if you can, hurry. I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend again. I’ll buy you pizza later. Or beer. Whatever you want. My ex just showed up. I need you.”
It was a long message. I spoke quickly so the answering service wouldn’t cut me off. I was about to walk out of the bathroom when Lexie barged in. She went straight for the vanity, gripped the edge with her hands until her knuckles went white and went into the deep-breathing technique. Her face was flushed, like she might breathe fire at any moment.
I went to her and rubbed her back in the small circles we’d adopted for each other. “You okay?”
The wrinkle between Lexie’s brow, the same wrinkle that found its way between my own brows, told me things were not okay. And for once Lexie’s irritation had nothing to do with my still pink hair. At least I had a scheduled hair appointment to report. She’d be happy to hear about it later.
“Not really,” Lexie looked at my reflection in the mirror. “I just don’t know what’s gotten into Jeremy lately. And clearly he’s not giving up with his insane idea to get you and Brent back together.”
“When Brent called, he said Jeremy was worried we wouldn’t get along at the engagement party. I had a feeling it was more. What’s the deal?”
“Jeremy says Brent regrets what he did and that he hates to see his best friend unhappy.”
I quirked a brow. “Do guys even talk about that kind of stuff?”
She shrugged. “They must?”
“Weird…” I’d never before pictured Brent and Jeremy as the type of guys to gossip about their feelings over drinks. Then again, they drove around a golf course for hours to hit balls around with a club—it probably got pretty boring after awhile. We stepped aside for a woman and a bubbly toddler hanging on her paisley printed skirt.
“Excuse me,” she said kindly and shooed the toddler and her cute little blond pigtails to the other side of her legs. “Emmie, don’t pull Mommy’s skirt like that. Thank you, sweetie.”
It made me think of Lexie and me, toddler twins with identical pigtails, flanking our mom, just as small-framed as we both were now, already with her hands full with a five-year-old Catherine. We waited for mother and daughter to wash their hands and leave. Once they were gone, I said, “I thought I was being paranoid about it.”
“You’re not being paranoid and I’m embarrassed for it. Jeremy
knows
how I feel about Brent, how
you
feel about Brent. He didn’t just screw up, he
hurt
you.”
I frowned at her vehemence. “Lex, it’s okay. I’m over it.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean you’re taking him back. Jeremy just won’t get it through his head. It’s like…like—”
“He was taken over by an alien who is telling him what to do?”
Lexie gave me a strange look. “What is your obsession with aliens lately, anyway? And I thought aliens were green.”
Poor, uneducated Lexie.
“I was once like you, Lexie. I’ll tell you what, after this engagement party is over with and you have free time we’ll watch some alien documentaries together. But until then, if you are approached by an alien and it’s gray, make sure you run. If it’s green it’s okay to stop and say hello.”
Lexie laughed and hugged me. “I know you’re trying to cheer me up. Thank you.”
“Anything for you, twin,” I said and gave her a light punch in the shoulder.
“You are such a dork. Can we get serious for a minute?” She pointed at the door. “Brent is
out there
. With Jeremy. Planning a freakin’ reunion.”
“It’s okay, Lex. This reunion party isn’t happening. We’re just here to eat cupcakes.” I tucked a strand of Lexie’s hair behind her ear. “Tell me what’s really going on.”
Lexie sighed and turned on the faucet, washing her hands with unnecessary vigor. I leaned against the bronze bathroom stall. She said, “Jeremy’s been acting so strange since we announced our engagement.” She ripped a paper towel off the dispenser and dried her hands. “It’s this damn wedding.”
And then she paced.
“Damn wedding?” Now I was worried. “Since when do you refer to it as a ‘damn wedding’?”
Lexie started pacing. “Since his mom decided to get involved with
everything
and argue with me about it all. I told myself I was okay with moving the wedding up, but I’m not.”
“Is that why you’ve been spending so much time at Mom and Dad’s?”
She nodded. For a newly-engaged woman, she’d been spending very little time with Jeremy on the weekends.
The door banged open and Catherine hurried in, a scowl on her pretty face, her pink stained lips puckered. “What is taking so long? I thought I was going to have to gouge my eyes out with a fork and stick napkins in my ears. They’re talking about how important they are at their country club.”
“Sorry. Lexie’s having a crisis. She just referred to her wedding as a ‘damn wedding.’ Something to do with Jeremy’s mom.”
Catherine frowned and crossed her arms above her belly. “Lex?”
“Jeremy’s mom decided that I’m not competent enough to plan my wedding. She’s decided to stick some snotty wedding planner on me. One who, by the way, agrees with everything Deborah tells her to agree with, and they’re trying to change everything I’ve already planned.”
“
What?
” I said.
“
No!
” Catherine said.
I put my hands on my hips. “Why would she hire a wedding planner without okaying it with you first?”
“Because she’s a control freak.” Lexie frowned and massaged her fingers against her temples. “God, I’m getting a migraine again.” She dropped her hands and said, “I know Deborah’s a control freak. I mean, my entire relationship with Jeremy has been based around her approval of
everything
—where we go to dinner, what we order, who we can be seen with. Appearances are everything right now since Jeremy’s dad is running for senate next year.”
“That sounds awful,” I breathed. I tried for a joke, hoping to lighten the mood. “But you know Jeremy’s going to be president of the United States so it’s important to prepare early. Your wedding can be like practice for all the fancy balls you’ll have to attend as First Lady.”
Lexie’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I know!”
“Oh, Lexie, I’m so sorry,” Catherine said and wrapped Lexie into her arms. I stepped behind her and patted her back.
“It’ll be okay,” I assured her, but knowing Jeremy’s parents, especially his mom, Deborah, my heart wasn’t in it; things were probably
not
going to be okay.
“Maybe,” Lexie said. “The guest list for just the engagement party has doubled in size. She’s taken over that too. Our parents are supposed to split the cost, but now it’s become a political social event full of people Jeremy and I don’t even know, and Mom and Dad can’t afford to feed them all! My seating chart is all screwed up! I don’t know where to put everyone!”
Oh no, not the seating chart.
No wonder Lexie was on the verge of a breakdown.
“If his parents want to invite all those people then they can pay for it, too.”
“Jeremy already offered to pay for it all. I can’t let him do that.” Lexie shook her head and wiped at her eyes. “It’s just turning into a mess. His dad’s assistant has taken over the rest of the seating chart because I can’t even keep track of all the new RSVPs anymore.”