I nod, trying to calm my racing heart. “You’re right. This is just a ring. A piece of the illusion we are providing for Alan.”
“See, no need to panic. At least, not until you have a chance to talk to Amos.”
I find myself nodding again—I’m doing that a lot lately. “I saw you talking to Carson…”
Ana blows a loose hair out of her face, a look of consternation on her face. “He’s impossible. One minute he’s a jerk telling me my skirt is too short, the next he’s flirting like crazy, then he’s back to being a jerk. I hate him.”
“I think he likes you. Why else would he constantly sit in your section, and even when he can’t demand that you serve his table?”
She snorts, “If he liked me, he wouldn’t be such a dick to me. I think he just likes to screw with me.”
“Amos was all gruff and growly with me for months before we started dating…”
She gives me a dirty look that I know she doesn’t really mean. “That was different. Amos is just gruff and overprotective growly, and he was constantly looking for ways to be around you.”
I raise my brow. “Exactly.”
Ana huffs. “Not the same.”
“Whatever you say,” I laugh. “We better get back out there before someone comes looking for us.”
Once I’m back at the table, Amos asks if everything is okay. I give him the brightest, fakest smile I can muster because I have zero idea how to answer that question without a mild freak out. Definitely not something I want to do in public and especially not in front of his parents.
Amos and I are getting ready for bed when he pulls me into his arms. “Sweetness, are you okay?”
I close my eyes and relax into his arms. “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I know all this is fake,” I wiggle my fingers, so he knows what I’m talking about, “but sometimes it… I don’t know.”
“Feels real?” he finishes.
I bury my face in his chest and nod my head. I am so ashamed of my feelings, especially since I know this isn’t real. This is all part of keeping Alan happy and letting him believe that Amos is married and happy.
“It’s just ridiculous, isn’t it?” I feel vulnerable as I ask.
He shakes his head. “No… not at all, love. There are moments like this one that everything feels right and real.”
Tell me you want it to be real, my heart silently begs.
“But it’s not. Just like this ring.”
Amos tugs me down onto his lap as he sits on the bed. “This ring is very real. My dad brought it to give to me before his mind completely betrays him. This was my great-great-grandmother's wedding ring.
“Wait, what?! You gave me a family heirloom to wear?” I start pulling the ring off my finger to give it back to him. Only the woman he plans to marry in truth should ever wear anything as special as this.
He grabs my hand, preventing me from taking it off, and kisses my finger above the ring. “It looks good on you.”
My heart leaps. This moment feels very real. It is fraught with emotions that I didn’t realize I was ready for. I want to marry Amos. It’s official, I’m insane. I’ve flown right over the cuckoo’s nest.
“Besides, you need to keep it in case my dad asks again.”
And then I’m knocked straight off of cloud nine, and I’m brought straight back to reality.
8 Amos
Seeing my grandmother’s ring on Margo’s finger is like a punch in the gut. I wasn’t lying when I said it looks good on her. I love how it looks, but the panicked look on her face when I told her it was a family heirloom was enough to have me holding back, telling her my true feelings.
The reality is that I love Margo Schultz, and I want to make her mine forever. The only problem is I don’t want her to think I’m telling her this because of my father. He’s told her how much he wants me happy and with kids before he’s completely gone… I don’t want to make her feel pressured or like she’s just the convenient option.
That’s not it at all.
It’s all about loving her and wanting to spend my life with her in my arms. Now to just find a way to keep her…
“I think you should move in.” I find myself saying without actually thinking it through.
Margo looks at me with a furrowed brow and an almost hopeful light in her eyes. The first sign that she might actually want the same things I want. “You mean until your parents leave?”
I shrug, “That’s a start.” I’ll have to do whatever I can to convince her to stay long after this fake marriage for my dad’s sake is over… like forever. I want that ring on her finger in truth, not just this farce.
I hate that I have to spend the day at work when my parents are here. Thankfully, Margo has Leanne covering for her at the bakery, so she’s taking my parents to Clearwater to visit with my father’s sister for the day.
There’s a brisk knock on the door before it swings open and a very flustered Ana storms into my office. “I can’t do this anymore!” she shouts, throwing her arms in the air. “That man is impossible. He’s a jackass, and I just can’t.”
“Carson?” I ask even though I know exactly who she’s talking about. Carson owns Sweet Rides, the only repair shop in town, though he specializes in customizing Harleys. And he is utterly obsessed with Analise, the sweetest person in all of Sugarhill. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. The fact that she is in here yelling and cursing say she’s finally fed up with him.
“Of course,” she flails her arms again, “Can you ban him from coming here? He refuses to leave me alone.”
“Has he touched you?” I
