Katie winced as guilt sliced through her. “I haven’t told her yet. Thank goodness she’s off this morning. If she found out like this she’d never forgive me. And I’d have you to blame for spilling the beans.”
Lucy was clearly aghast. “Katie, at this rate you would have been celebrating your tenth anniversary before anyone was the wiser. People were bound to wonder why you kept the news secret. I know there are...”
Lucy hesitated, then visibly made a decision to speak her mind. “I know there are circumstances here you don’t want to discuss with just anyone, but wouldn’t it have been better to announce the engagement formally and get on with the wedding plans as if this were your ordinary, garden-variety, happy occasion?”
“I wasn’t ready to say anything,” Katie said stubbornly. She hadn’t known what to say, if the truth be told. She was afraid she’d give away every blasted detail of her contract with Luke if she opened her mouth at all.
Lucy studied her worriedly. “Katie, maybe you shouldn’t go through with it. Obviously you have serious reservations about marrying Luke. It’s written all over your face.”
“I have no reservations. I love him,” Katie said grimly. “That’s all that matters.”
“No, it’s not and you know it,” Lucy countered. “You deserve more than some weird business bargain. Katie, you’re the most honest, most straightforward person I know. You won’t be able to live with yourself if you have to lie to everyone. It’s no way to start a marriage.”
“This arrangement is between Luke and me, no one else. We’ll make it work.”
“How?”
Katie lost patience. She was doing her best here. She didn’t need her closest friend trying to sabotage her efforts. “Dammit, Lucy, I’m beginning to be sorry I ever told you the truth.”
Lucy promptly looked chagrined. “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I just want you to be as happy as I am.”
Katie hugged her. “I will be. You’ll see. Now scoot on out of here before Peg gets in. I have to tell her before the lunch crowd shows up and starts blabbing about the news.”
“Good luck. You’re going to need it. I remember when we were kids Peg could always see straight through you.”
“Then I’ll just have to do the best acting job of my entire life.”
Unfortunately, she never had the chance. Within seconds after Peg’s arrival—in fact while she was still tying an apron around her waist and Katie was gathering her courage—Luke strolled in the door of the diner. Katie guessed at once from his smug expression that he had heard that the news of their engagement was finally out. He was bound to figure that Peg would have heard it as well. In fact, he was making a beeline straight for her aunt. Katie rushed to intercept him.
Before she could get in a cautionary word, he smiled broadly at Peg, slipped an arm around Katie’s waist and said, “So what did you think of our news?”
“News?” Peg had said, looking suspiciously from one to the other.
Katie jammed an elbow into Luke’s side, but he kept that smile and his arm firmly in place and said, “The wedding, of course. You will be there, won’t you? I know Katie’s counting on you.”
He dropped a perfunctory kiss in the vicinity of Katie’s mouth, something he’d gotten into the habit of doing despite her protests.
“Gotta run,” he said, still oblivious to the fact that he’d just dropped a bombshell. “I’ll leave you two to finalize the rest of the plans.”
He was gone before Katie could muster the strength to murder him, before she could recover from that slap-dash kiss, for that matter. Still a little weak-kneed, she turned to Peg, who was regarding her with an expression filled with hurt and dismay.
Before Katie could open her mouth, Peg shook her head, then whirled and went into the kitchen, where she stubbornly remained for the rest of Katie’s shift.
Faced with her aunt’s obvious disapproval and consumed with guilt, Katie didn’t have the courage to force a confrontation. She slipped away from the diner as soon as her replacement came in and drove out to the beach. It was where she’d always gone when she needed to think.
She headed straight for her favorite secluded bench, drew her knees up to her chest and huddled there trying to figure out how to handle the mess she seemed destined to make of her life.
Today, though, the soothing sound of the surf, the scent of salt air and pine, was lost on her. She kept thinking of the hurt in Peg’s eyes, the worry in Lucy’s expression, and her own terrible doubts, which were mounting with every hour that passed.
It wasn’t as if anything had changed during the past few weeks since the decision had been made. She and Luke still maintained a cautious distance. Their conversations about the wedding were so matter-of-fact she’d found herself grinding her teeth every time she thought about them.
How could something she’d prayed for most of her life be making her and everyone around her so thoroughly miserable? Was Lucy right? Was marrying Luke for all the wrong reasons the worst mistake she would ever make? Could she survive day after day, living a charade with Luke and hiding her true feelings from him?
So far, he’d certainly lived up to his part of their bargain. He’d deposited ten thousand dollars into her bank account the very afternoon they’d reached an agreement. He’d negotiated a price on the new roof with Ron and had somehow managed to get workers on the job within days.
Maybe it would be good to have a brisk, no-nonsense financial whiz in charge of the business aspects of running the boarding house, she told herself consolingly. She had never been wild about maintaining the books, anyway. She was better at creating a homey, welcoming, family atmosphere. It seemed, in that regard at least, that she and Luke were a match made in heaven. And
