Page 48 of Rory Rides Her Fake Fiancé
Rory shakes her head.
By the time I’ve made sandwiches and we sit down to eat, the group chat has coordinated. “Right, so, tomorrow morning Bailey, Silas, and Kit will swing by and we’ll take my truck to your place. Load the cars up, I’ll drive your car back here, Kit will drive your van, you ride the bike, and Bailey and Silas will bring my truck back. That’ll get me back in time to open the bar at four.”
Rory thinks about it. “Aren’t you closing the bar tonight?”
“I’ll let Silas drive my truck in the morning and I’ll sleep in the passenger side.”
“Where will I park?”
I’m not sure if she’s talking about her bike, car, or van, so I answer for all three. “Why don’t you park your work van on the street, and the bike in the grass by the driveway. Then we only have to worry about shuffling your car and my truck.”
Rory nods, and then Princess bounds up and nudges Rory for head rubs. Rory bends down. “You’re going through an awful lot of trouble for me.”
“You are trouble,” I say, and the quick half smile on her face tells me she takes it as the compliment I intended. A thought occurs to me and I snap my fingers. “Or, you could stay here tonight and ride with us tomorrow morning.”
Rory stands and shakes her head. “I need to pack. I’ll see you in the morning, though, okay?”
“Sure thing, my queen.”
Morgan
* * *
Moving goes well. I sleep most of the drive to Rory’s place in the backseat of my car. Rory gets in good with Silas, Bailey, and Kit when we show up at her apartment and she’s bought donuts.
Which is good, because I have something to show her. She’s gonna hate it.
I can’t wait.
While we’re munching on donuts, I pull out the folded-up newspaper from my pocket. “Look what was published in the newspaper this week.”
My friends smirk, because they already know. Rory grabs it and her eyes widen when she sees the picture. “What the?—”
Now, I knew this was coming. Mrs. Patterson recruited my help, and if I may say so, I picked the perfect picture of myself to go alongside the photo of Rory in a white dress. In the photo printed next to it, I’m in a suit, a bow tie under my chin, and a canine missing from my toothy grin.
Also, we’re children.
Rory hasn’t said anything, but her eyes scan the article. Finally, she drops her hand and the paper crinkles in her grip.
“An engagement announcement? Really?”
“That’s the one my mom clipped,” Kit tells her. “You can keep it.”
“I’m thinking of framing a few,” I add. “Since I have so many of them.”
“No,” Rory says. “No way.”
“Yes way.” I grin at her. “People have been dropping them off at the bar ever since the announcement came out. They love the pictures of us as kids.”
“It makes us look like we’re child brides, or whatever the non-gendered equivalent is. Wait, how did Grandma get your picture?”
“She asked me. Actually, she asked me for a photo of us together, which”—I almost say that I obviously don’t have one, but my friends might think that was pretty weird. Bailey and Silas exchange bemused glances. If they’ve guessed this is all fake, they haven’t said anything—“I didn’t think you’d want that.”
“Right.”
Rory picks the article up again and stares at it. Silas changes the subject. “Hey, you won’t believe who Hunter added to the Save Sirens Valley Lodge group chat.”
“You have a group chat?” I ask.
