Danielle "Dani" Joyce has been working long hours and living paycheck to paycheck to keep her bakery, The Dough Divas, open. Spending all her time at the store, her only romantic outlet is to crush on regulars like Justin Waverly. She keeps her flir...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Justin deposited his suitcase and bear claws into the trunk, made his way into the cab, and instructed the driver to head towards a rather fancy hotel downtown. Thankfully, I didn't need to remind him he owed me an explanation.
"So here's the thing," he said, pressing his palms into the tops of his knees as he took a deep breath, "I've been telling my parents about you, acting as if you were my girlfriend, to keep them off my back."
"You've been doing what?" My words rode along my breath as I debated what kind of insult it was that I was good enough to be his pretend girlfriend, but not a real one.
"Shortly after I met you, I realized you were just the person my parents would love," he said with an uncomfortable laugh. "So I thought I'd just use the little tidbits I learned about you whenever I came to the store and would share that with my folks."
He flashed an uneasy smile, cleared his throat, and then looked through the passenger side window, trying to see how much longer we had until our destination.
"W-why?" I stuttered with a shake of my head. "Why would you tell your parents that? Everyone has that problem. I have that problem. And I will admit, now and then, I've considered inventing a relationship to make my life sound better and have one less thing for them to pester me about, but to use someone from real life..."
"I'm sorry," he sighed, his head drooping slightly as he looked over at me from the corner of his eye. "I was desperate and, sadly, I'm not very creative. So I pull from what I know."
"What exactly did you expect to happen once you decided we were engaged? Con me into wearing a white dress and have me walk down the aisle pretending to be your bride?"
"Uh no," he mumbled, "engagement wasn't originally in the game plan. It's just after six months of regaling them about my lovely girlfriend, they wanted to know when wedding bells would be ringing. My family can be persistent if my sister Lucy hasn't demonstrated that to you already."
"I understand persistence, I really do, but I mean you are a good-looking guy..." I swallowed hard and blushed when he turned to face me with a playful smirk upon his lips. I looked at the floor and continued. "You know, you're successful in what you do. A world traveler is always exciting, and you are really friendly..."
"Is this why you agreed to the engagement?" he asked, his inflection mischievous.
"I thought I wasn't your type," I snapped, turning back to face him. Instead of being frightened by my assertion, he leaned back with a laugh.
"Doesn't mean your attraction can't flatter me." He gave me a wink, and I fought back a roll of my eyes.
"I think we both established we'd be better friends than lovers. Doesn't mean I didn't find some of your qualities alluring..."
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from pointing out that those very qualities stopped being attractive once I met Wes and saw his compassion, consideration, and quiet nature. It was then that I realized the things I desired in Justin were fleeting, but the ones I saw in Wes promised a more stable and loving relationship. At least that's what I hoped, and that's what I desperately wanted to prove was true.
