The Wedding Agreement (4 page)

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Everyone had been shocked when Cass showed up at Lauren's housewarming with Nina. Cass was trying not to be offended, but her friends weren't making it easy.

“So wait. Alex needed a babysitter for Nina . . . and he called you?” Quinn questioned.

Cass crossed her arms over her chest. “Why is that so surprising? It's not like I'm some homicidal maniac. I'm a successful, responsible adult, thank you very much.”

Simone looked over at Nina, who was sitting on Scott's shoulders eating a hot dog. “She looks happy, so it couldn't have been too much of a train wreck.”

“Seriously?” Cass yelled indignantly. “Why wouldn't she be happy? I'm a great time.”

“At least that's what the bathroom wall at Mickey's says,” Simone said, causing Quinn and Lauren to burst out laughing.

“Screw you, guys,” Cass muttered as she walked toward Scott.
How did this guy make it through med school thinking it was safe to let a little girl sit on your shoulders and eat a hot dog? Didn't he ever see
Field of Dreams
?
“Hey, guys.”

“Hi, Cass.” Nina was beaming as she sat on Scott's shoulders, causing Cass to no longer have the heart to make him put her down. She'd have to settle for watching them like a hawk.

The backyard of Lauren and Scott's new house was packed with friends and family. Cass found it easy to mingle among the crowd, but she never strayed too far from Nina. She had a fleeting thought that she was being a bit of a helicopter babysitter, but Alex had entrusted his most prized possession to her and she didn't want to fuck it up. They'd been there about two hours before Cass began wondering where the hell Alex was. Tessa would be there soon to pick up Nina, and Cass didn't think she'd respond well to Nina being at a party when Alex wasn't present. But that concern was shot to shit when Cass heard Nina yell, “Mommy!” and saw her barreling toward a petite woman with Nina's large eyes. Cass had to admit the woman was striking.

Cass felt her eyes widen as she looked around for someone, anyone, who was better suited to meet Alex's ex-wife than she was. Thankfully Cass saw Scott and Xavier walking toward Tessa. Scott sent a brief wave to Cass—a kind of “I'll handle this” gesture—and Cass was immediately grateful. Despite that, she felt herself edging closer to them, curious to see how the exchange was going.

“Hey, Tessa,” Scott greeted.

“Hi, Scott. Xavier. How have you guys been?”

“Doing well,” Scott replied. Xavier nodded in response but mostly seemed content to let Scott do the talking. “How about you?” Scott asked.

“Can't complain. This is a beautiful house.”

“Thanks. We like it,” Scott said with a smile.

“And I hear congratulations are in order. I almost fainted when I heard you were getting married.” Tessa giggled at her own joke, which Cass found annoying.

“Yeah, well, when you meet the right girl, you gotta snatch her up.”

Tessa smiled in reply. “Where's Alex?”

Before Scott could get in a word, Nina burst out, “He had to go to work. I got to spend the day with Cass. We had tons of fun. We made brownies and colored and came here, and I ate hot dogs.”

Tessa had looked down at her daughter as she spoke, but raised her head sharply to glare at Scott once Nina's words registered. “What does she mean, he went to work?”

Scott shoved his hands in the pockets of his khaki shorts. “He got called in but didn't want Nina to miss the party, so—”

“So instead of calling me to come and get
my
daughter, he left her with someone I've never even met? I've only even heard that name a handful of times. This is so typical of him. Just last week he tried to guilt-trip me about leaving Nina with my parents for the summer, and then he pulls this?”

Cass watched as Nina lowered her head and stared at the ground. She clearly realized that her words had gotten her dad in trouble. Cass felt horrible for her. Without sparing a second thought as to what she was about to do, she ran over to Quinn, grabbed her hand,
and slid off the engagement ring. “I need to borrow this,” she said, before shoving it on her own finger and rushing toward Tessa. She slowed her approach when she got close, trying to catch her breath. She quickly stuck out her hand toward Tessa. “Hi. You must be Tessa. I've heard such great things about you. I'm Cass, Alex's fiancée.”

Cass had never had four heads whip in her direction so quickly before. And since she was prone to impulsive displays, she found that fact quite surprising.

“His . . . fiancée?” Tessa looked shell-shocked. As did Scott and Xavier.

“Yup. He just asked me last night, actually. But we were waiting for the big announcement until after the housewarming. You know Alex—he's not one to steal anyone's thunder. I thought you might think it was weird for him to entrust Nina to me, so I figured it was better if you knew I wasn't just some random girl.” Cass knew she sounded like a blathering fool, but she couldn't help it. She was hoping if she spoke quickly enough, Tessa wouldn't see what complete and utter bullshit it was.

“I don't . . . no offense, but I've only ever heard your name mentioned in passing. If Alex was so serious about someone, why wouldn't he tell me?”

“Does he often talk to you about his personal life?” Cass hadn't meant the question to come out as bitchy as it did, but she couldn't help it. Who did this woman think she was, doubting their fake engagement like that?

“Well, no, but I thought he would have mentioned if he were planning on getting married.”

Cass plastered on possibly the fakest smile of her life. “Maybe he wanted to make sure I'd say yes first.”

“Maybe.” Tessa sounded completely confused.

Nina, on the other hand, looked ecstatic. “Do I get to help plan the wedding?”

“Of course,” Cass replied.
Shit
. She really hadn't thought this lie through. Her focus had been saving Alex from completely blowing his chances at spending his summer with Nina, but now she realized the mistake she'd made. Nina looked so excited—she'd no doubt be hurt when she found out it was all a sham. Cass refused to dwell on that thought though. She'd already told the lie, and now she had to see it through.

“Yay!” Nina exclaimed as she lunged toward Cass and threw her arms around her.

Thank God I let her make brownies today
. Cass had no doubt Nina's reaction would be different if they hadn't had such a fun day together. At least she'd done something right.

“Congratulations, I guess,” Tessa said as she offered a small smile that looked more like a grimace. “We've got to go. Tell Alex I'll call him tomorrow. Let's go, Nina.” Tessa took the bouncing little girl's hand and hightailed it out of the backyard.

Xavier and Scott slowly turned toward Cass. She offered a sheepish smile in response.

Scott shook his head before muttering, “If you get married before Lo and me too, I'll never hear the end of it.” And with that, he walked away.

“I hope you're really good at your job,” Xavier said with a smirk. “Because you're going to have some major damage control to do.”

Cass squared her shoulders and looked at Xavier with all the confidence she could muster. “I'm fucking phenomenal at my job.” And she was. She just
wished she'd asked Alex if he
wanted
to be a client before she'd taken him on.

*   *   *

Alex scanned the pairs of familiar eyes that had been trained nervously on him since he arrived at Lauren and Scott's. “What?” he asked cautiously. “Why are you all staring at me like that?” He tossed his beer cap in the trash and leaned against the rail of the deck before taking a long drink.

Lauren elbowed Cass in the ribs, causing a loud squeal to escape from her. “Tell him.”

Cass glanced from side to side at her friends, like she was waiting for someone to speak so she didn't have to.

No one did.

Alex's eyes stayed fixed on Cass as he spoke. “Better just to come out with it. You know I'm trained in interrogation techniques.”

“Fine,” Cass replied. “It's not even that big of a deal.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex noticed Xavier biting his lip. “I know it isn't anything with Nina. You said you guys had a nice afternoon.” Alex put his beer down on the deck railing and moved it between his fingers. Then he let out a long sigh. “Tessa said something to you, didn't she?”

Cass spoke softly but her voice exuded the same confidence it always did. “Well, yeah, but it isn't—”

“Don't tell me it isn't a big deal. It is to me.” Alex could hear the anger that now laced his words. “It's bad enough Tessa's always laying into
me
. But now she's bringing my friends into it?”

Cass kept her voice steady, but Alex could sense her hesitation. “I was going to say that isn't why
everyone's acting weird. Tessa's comment to me,” she clarified. “She
did
say that you had a lot of nerve giving her crap for leaving Nina with her grandparents, who at least Nina knows well, when your only option is to leave her with a virtual stranger. But it was what I said in response that you may have an issue with.”

Alex looked at her curiously. “What did you say in response?”

“That I wasn't a stranger.”

“You're not.” Alex looked confused.

“I said I was your fiancée.”

Alex looked desperately around at his friends for a hint that this was some sort of joke. But he didn't find one. When his eyes found Cass again, she nearly winced. “My what?” he asked, his voice rising. “Please tell me I just misheard you—that you did
not
just tell my ex I got engaged to someone she hadn't even met until tonight.”

Cass remained silent.

Alex threw his arms in the air. “Oh, this is fucking great. So now my ex—who already thinks I'm an unfit parent—also thinks I found a new mother for our daughter.”

“I'm not Nina's new mother. That's insane,” Cass said.

“I fucking know it's insane,” Alex nearly yelled. “You know what else is insane? You!”

Alex ran a shaky hand through his hair and plopped his elbows onto the deck railing. As he collapsed his head into his hands, he caught a glimpse of Scott ushering the guests on the deck into the house to give Alex and Cass some privacy. In his anger, he'd forgotten anyone was even watching. By
the time Alex had calmed down enough to turn back toward Cass, they were alone.

“Alex, it just came out. I wasn't really thinking. It'll be fine,” she said casually. “Let me explain.”

“Explain, then.” Alex's eyes bore into Cass' before he began pacing. How could Cass act so nonchalant about what she'd just done? “What reason could you have for telling Tessa I was engaged?”

Cass sat down on a nearby chair, obviously feeling a sense of ease about the situation that Alex found impossible to understand. “Because there wasn't any other option at the time,” she replied simply.

Alex strode toward her, feeling the anger pulsing through his body. “No other option? Really? How about
not
saying we're engaged? You could have tried that.”

“If I didn't say we were engaged, then Tessa would just have more ammunition on you—another day when her unreliable ex couldn't even make time for his only child. Just one more tally mark to add to her ‘times Alex was an undependable dad' list. This way Nina was just spending quality time with someone her father trusts enough to marry.” Cass turned one corner of her lip up, clearly amused with herself. “You should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you? You've got to be fucking kidding me. On what planet should I be thanking you for creating another whole new mess of problems that I now have to deal with?”

“I think you're overreacting.”

“Am I?” He could feel himself ready to explode at any moment, but he knew that would only make things worse.

“Yes,” she said calmly. “You are.” Then Cass let out a long sigh, and Alex saw her expression shift.
She looked contrite. “Though I'll admit that I didn't think this through, I think that it's actually turning out to be a pretty decent plan.” She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, resting her forearms on her thighs comfortably. “It's all about perception. And I'm in the business of perception. Don't forget that,” she said, lifting her eyebrow slyly.

Alex sighed heavily and then groaned at the realization that it was doing no good to get so worked up. What was done was done. There was no turning back. “Perception,” he repeated. Though he sounded incredibly unconvinced, he'd finally relaxed enough to take a seat next to her. His voice sounded much calmer now, but it still held the same cynicism as before. “What other way is there to perceive our ‘engagement'?” he asked, using air quotes to emphasize how ridiculous it all sounded. “I mean, other than as a gigantic lie—and one that will come out eventually. You know, when we don't get married and all.”

Cass thought for moment. “Engagements fall apart all the time. Ours won't be any different. We just need to let Tessa think we're engaged long enough for her to decide Nina can stay with you while she's away. You needed a person to spend time with Nina when you can't. Here I am,” she said, pointing to herself.

With no choice but to hear her out, Alex sat back down next to Cass and let her continue.

“And Nina would have a positive female role model to hang out with while her mom's away.”

“Yeah? Who?”

Cass gave him a shove. “Glad to see you got your sense of humor back. I mean, it wasn't anything to brag about to begin with, but it's better than the anxiety you've been throwing around for the past ten minutes.”

Alex almost released a laugh, but the gravity of the situation just wouldn't allow for it. So he gave her an eye roll instead.