It's About Time (Blossom Peak #4)(59)
“ What do you mean?”
“They were outside the office building, behind the dumpsters, and my dad was being demanding…”
“Okay…”
“He told her to figure out a way to get me to give her another chance or to just bide her time.”
My confusion grows. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, the next thing he said was that they both need me to get married to get what they want.”
My entire body tenses. “I’m sorry. They said what?”
“Right?” His eyes find mine again once he stops pacing, standing right in front of me. “Why on earth would they need me to get married?”
“I have no fucking clue, Elliot. But I think you are definitely missing something. I mean, if Tori and your dad are talking about shit like that, then I think there’s more to her reappearance than just wanting you back.”
“But how am I supposed to figure out what it’s about? It’s not like I can outright ask them…”
The corner of my mouth lifts. “Looks like your fake fiancée is going to come in handy, huh?”
His face falls. “What are you going to do?”
I pat him on the shoulder. “Don’t stress, honey. Just let me stew on this for a while and I’ll come up with a game plan.”
***
I d rain the rest of my glass of wine and then slide it across my kitchen counter to Laney. “Okay, no more. One to take the edge off and that’s it. I need to be in the right headspace tonight.”
Laney nods. “I know, but you were so fidgety when I got here that I just wanted to help.”
It’s Friday afternoon, and Elliot will be at my house in a little over an hour to pick me up for dinner with his parents. After digging through my entire closet and finding nothing that would suffice, I texted Laney yesterday and asked her to bring me some options from her closet.
Now, it’s time to decide what to wear and attempt to do something with my hair that isn’t throwing it up in a bun and covering it with a bandana.
Girly shit isn’t my thing. It’s not that I can’t do it, I just don’t do it often. And for some strange reason, I want to look nice tonight.
Is that for Elliot, or yourself, Dilynne?
A knock on the door startles me. “Is that Elliot already? He’s an hour early!”
Laney laughs as she walks to the door and opens it, revealing Elodie and Vienna on the other side. “Hey, girls! Thanks for coming. I’m going to need all the help I can get,” Laney says, widening her eyes.
Elodie laughs as she carries a bag inside over her shoulder that looks to be about half her size. “I brought everything I could think of.”
“And I brought the shoes,” Vienna adds, patting her own bag. She looks so much better than she did after her injury a while back, although she’s glowing from pregnancy hormones too, so that’s probably helping.
I turn to my best friend. “You brought in reinforcements?”
Laney plants her hands on her hips. “Uh, yeah. This isn’t just a typical date you’re going on. This is dinner with the Thornes. Your appearance matters.”
“ Trust me, I’m aware,” I grumble under my breath. “But this isn’t a date.”
“Then what do you call it?” Elodie asks. “Because you’re pretending to be engaged to the man and getting all dressed up for him. Sounds like a date to me.”
I arch a brow at her. “Did my brother ever bring Carol and Nick on one of your dates?”
“Well, no…”
“Exactly. Parents being in the vicinity nixes that definition. This is just to appease his dad, which reminds me…” I take a deep breath and say, “Elliot overheard a conversation between his dad and Tori the other day that caused some concern.”
Laney clears her throat and juts her thumb over her shoulder. “Not that I don’t want to discuss this, but we’re running short on time. Can we continue chatting while we start getting Dilynne ready, girls?”
Elodie and Vienna nod, and then the four of us head toward the other side of the house, stepping into my room that looks like a tornado swept through it.
Vienna’s eyes go wide when she sees the state of the floor. “Uh…”
“Sorry. Laney was throwing dresses at me to try on and I just threw them back to her.” Rushing to provide a walkway, I bend down and pick up Laney’s clothes, putting them in a pile in a corner to be dealt with later.
Elodie bites her lip in thought. “Let me go get some chairs from the dining table so we have somewhere to sit.”
Once everyone has a chair, Elodie makes me sit down in the bathroom with her facing me to start on my makeup. “Okay, so back to Elliot’s dad and Tori. What were they talking about?”
“Something about a deal they made and how they need Elliot to get married to both get what they want.”
Vie nna is standing in the doorway, holding a glass of water while listening, and Laney is ironing the little black dress we settled on in the main part of my room.
“Huh,” Vienna hums. “Any idea what their deal could have been?”
Trying not to move too much while Elodie works on my eyeshadow, I say, “Knowing Tori and how calculated that girl has been since she was in high school, it could be anything.”