I'm saying "I do"....but not for Love

Chapter 16

Katy's POV

I spent the morning talking to insurance agents and the fire marshall, trying to figure out what had to be done to get my family home and out of my hair. It was pretty much a waste of time. Since I wasn't an owner, or even a resident of the house, I couldn't do anything about it. The only positive aspect of the day was that I learned the cause of the fire: a cigarette butt that was still smoldering. It appeared that whoever had set it down sat it on furniture and started the blaze. And of course, nobody had noticed anything until it was too late.

According to the fire marshall, it wasn't even my parents or brother who had realized that house was on fire. The neighbors, a young lady and her boyfriend had been turning into their driveway and noticed the very conspicuous flames. Since no one was outside, they assumed that nobody was home, called the fire department, and didn't go near the house. About five minutes later, the fire department arrived. The only reason my family noticed the smoke was when the heard the sirens and that threw them for a loop. (To be honest, the probably thought that the sirens were the police coming to arrest Carter for drug possesion or something.)

I was frustrated and discouraged about the amount of time I had wasted all morning--I could've been in school, pretending like nothing was wrong in the world, but here I was, once again trying to fix my family's mistakes and problems. I got in my car to drive away when my phone rang. I picked it up and saw that the caller was my mother-in-law. "Hey Mrs. Hall," I answered.

"Katy!" she said in her lilting voice, cheerful as ever. "How are you, dear?"

 "Oh just wonderful," I replied smoothly.

"Really? Not according to Jordan," she said. "He told me your family decided to move in with you for the time being."

"Yeah, something like that," I said.

"Well, I was thinking. Jordan told me that you're taking your mother shopping this afternoon, so I was thinking we could all go together! I've been wanting to take you shopping anyways to buy you some clothes for some society dinners that you'll be attending with Jordan and such. This is the perfect excuse!" she exclaimed.

"Society dinners?" I said lamely. My head was spinning. What  was she talking about?

"Oh my. Jordan must've forgotten to tell you! He and his father will be attending charities and such many times over the next few months. Spring is always busy with these types of things. Of course, there'll be dinners and parties and luncheons all year round, but there are some important ones in the next few weeks. We just have to take you shopping for these events! Not only are we giving back to the community here, love, we're also advertising the business and keeping contacts with many good companies and homeowners. I'm just going to have to get onto Jordan for leaving this out and not telling you all about it!" she paused to take a quick breath. "Yes, that's what we'll do! I'll just swing by to pick up you and your mom around one thirty or so, if that's good?"

"Um, sure. That sounds great!" I injected some false enthusiasm into my voice. We finished our conversation and I immediately dialed Jordan's number.

"Hello?" his voice came through the speaker.