“Giving you a proper proposal.” He took the ring out of his pocket and held it out to her. “Hannah...”

Hannah held her breath, waiting for the words every girl dreamed of hearing one day, but Will seemed frozen.

“I don’t know your middle name,” he said with a small, uncomfortable laugh.

“Guess we should’ve made profiles instead of rules.” She waited a few extra beats before revealing the answer. “It’s Grace.”  

“Hannah Grace Abbott.” He put extra emphasis on her middle name, and for once, she liked it. Her parents had cursed her with a monogram that read “HAG” for the first thirty years of her life—yet another marriage benefit. She should really be writing these down. Will tugged gently on her hand, and she focused back on him and the ring and the moment. “Would you do me the extraordinary honor of marrying me?”

Her heart sped up, and despite the inauthentic circumstances of the proposal, the weight of the ring on her finger made it all the more real. Thirty years and she’d never worn a ring on that finger, and yet, as she looked down at the princess cut, the ring—which she knew must have been intended for someone else—looked like it had always belonged there.

“Yes, I’ll marry you, William Anderson Thorne.”

He groaned. “Only you would show me up at my own marriage proposal.”

“I suggest you get used to it,” she said with a grin.

Chapter 9Hannah

Hannah stared at the mash of letters in her word-scramble game, swiping a random combination. The game shook, signaling an error. Frustrated, she dropped the phone onto the bed next to her. Sleep wouldn’t come, no matter how many sheep she counted or how long she played that incessant white noise app. She’d read through the latest issue of Talented—the one meant for Kate—twice already. She knew everything there was to know about Matt Czurchy’s newest role and the inspiration behind Maroon 5’s latest album. She didn’t even like Maroon 5, but it wasn’t like Talented was going to have anyone remotely indie in its pages. Turning on her side, she picked up her engagement ring. It was ostentatious and everything she thought she’d never like. But she did like it. Maybe everyone liked their engagement ring because of what it symbolized, or because of that forever memory. Or maybe she was more materialistic than she wanted to be. A ring like that said something about who she was and the company she kept.

Will had already planned to spend the day on the golf course with one of their mutual college friends, Eddie. He had invited her along and even offered to cancel, but Hannah had wanted the day to decompress. And if Will saw how awful she was at golf, he might rescind his proposal.

Sitting alone in her apartment, she wondered if it would’ve been better to stay in the moment. And if she should’ve asked him to stay the night, considering they couldn’t date other people. Will had been pretty clear that the marriage had to appear as real as possible in public, but she’d been the one to push for exclusivity. Hannah didn’t want anyone to see her husband out with another woman. Marriage of convenience or not, there needed to be some sanctity—particularly if they evoked the clause about dating each other. Will had written it down in his clunky handwriting without hesitation. Because sex. Who wanted to not have sex for a year when they were sharing a bed? At least, she assumed they were sharing a bed. It would be too obvious otherwise, and in the city’s closet-sized spaces, having a second bedroom was unlikely. Though Will clearly had money.

She opened the memo app on her phone and added a note: Where do I sleep? Under it, she wrote a second question: Do I want to sleep with Will?

It was a valid question. The glimpses of him she’d gotten at the various toga parties over the years had been pleasing, and there’d been that one time she’d seen his butt. And it was a nice butt—it could be his main selling point when it came to appearance, especially with the jeans from yesterday. Thank God for slim-fit, straight-leg jeans. Brian always wore relaxed fit. Brian. Her heart rejected the casual reference. Had it only been two days? It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about him—she had. But whenever the thought popped into her mind, she banished it or let it bounce away. She needed to figure things out with Will first. That was all her brain could handle at the moment. Mission accomplished. Checklist checked. But now, she couldn’t ignore the Brian in the room, even as much as she wanted to.

She wasn’t callous enough to feel nothing. Things hadn’t been great for a while, but she did love Brian. A fight, a night, and an engagement weren’t going to suddenly change her feelings. That didn’t mean she wanted to get back together, but she couldn’t help checking her phone for an apology or, at the very least, an I’m coming to get my stuff text. Emotions whirled around inside her, and she let them grow. They extended to the tips of her fingers and burrowed deep in her gut. Each emotion demanded to be felt and experienced. Sorrow, loss, relief, fear, and clarity trickled down her cheeks. It had been time to end things—she knew that, had known it for months—but Will’s arrival had pushed the issue. Anger flashed in her chest, and for a moment, she hated Will and his stupid smile and his beautiful engagement ring and his perfectly shaped ass.  

But this wasn’t Will’s fault—yes, it definitely was. Though she had let things with Brian settle into comfortable dissatisfaction. Long-term, their life together would have been an unhappy one, filled with the differences they refused to either acknowledge or reconcile. She didn’t know why she was wasting time on these thoughts. A real future with Brian had always been a moot point. Binx was only three, and she wasn’t getting rid of him, and Brian would never have moved in with them. That didn’t make it hurt less.

Her hand trembled as she wiped away stray tears. Her heart was bruised, but she could already feel it rebounding. The decision to marry Will—though crazy—was a good one. She believed that. She longed to talk with Kate, her fingers hovering over her phone, but Kate hadn’t answered a single one of Hannah’s calls in the last three days. Kate had posted the latest podcast episode, so Hannah knew she was alive and well. And tonight, Hannah wanted to share her news with someone, not explain it. She swiped around until she found her text conversation with her sister. She glanced up at the time in the corner of her phone—nine forty-five. Not too late, but Stephanie was an old twenty-six.

I’m getting married in two days, she typed, the words unbelievable even to herself.

Stephanie’s response was fast, which usually meant she’d caught her scrolling in bed. Ruh-roh—preggo?

She’d have to get used to that reaction. It would be the norm, and no one was going to believe she wasn’t pregnant until her belly remained flat—well, flattish. But knowing didn’t help the flip-flop in her stomach as she reread Stephanie’s words.

Another text came in before she could come up with a proper response. Charli says she didn’t think Brian had it in him.

Well, if there was ever an opening, that was it. Not pregnant, and not to Brian.

Hannah didn’t have to wait long. She’d only counted to twenty before her sister’s picture popped up on the screen. She wondered if it would be Stephanie or the hybrid, “Charlanie”—Charlotte and Stephanie. The static of speakerphone came through on the other line. Charlanie it was. Hannah pushed the thought away. She liked Charlotte. But Charlotte and Stephanie had been hard to handle from the beginning, always attached at the hip, talking in that royal relationship “we.” Time and marriage hadn’t made it any better.

“Explain,” Stephanie said in response to Hannah’s greeting.

Hannah chewed on her thumbnail, regret settling deep inside of her. There was no way she could tell her the truth. Lying wasn’t Stephanie’s specialty, and one wrong look from their mother and Stephanie would spill every one of Hannah’s secrets—she had in the past. But Hannah had to say something. “Do you remember Will Thorne?”

“Your friend from college? Yes.”

Last night, she and Will had briefly discussed the need for a backstory, something along the lines of having reconnected a few months prior. But having to formulate it on the spot and have it be less than scandalous—Brian had been present at a family event on Labor Day—left Hannah at a loss.

“What’s going on?” Stephanie asked.

It took Hannah a moment to realize she’d been taken off speakerphone, which meant for once, she just had her sister. She wished that changed anything. 

“Will and I reconnected a few months ago. It was totally platonic, but then things with Brian took a wrong turn... and I’m getting married in two days,” she said, the weight of the lie lessening with each word.

“How are you getting married in two days? Does Mom know?” Stephanie was getting worked up now. Hannah heard it building with each syllable.

“No, and you can’t tell her, Stephanie. It’s just going to be a really small thing. I thought maybe it would be better to let Mom think we were just engaged for a while. Ease her into it.”   Calling Stephanie had been a mistake. She should’ve just manned up and apologized to Kate. This news was never going to stay quiet.

“She’s going to kill you.”  

“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have involved you.” Hannah hoped she sounded remorseful and not regretful, but at this point, she couldn’t tell the difference. The lies and the truth were too meshed together.  

“Of course you should involve me. I’m your sister.” Hannah could feel the depth of Stephanie’s eye roll through the airwaves. “That’s like the whole point of my existence.”

There had been a time when that was the unequivocal truth. A time before houses in the suburbs and model domesticity. Before midweek concerts, two a.m. deadlines, and a city had stolen Hannah’s heart. Back then, it had been cute that Stephanie couldn’t keep a secret instead of being a fatal flaw. Not that they weren’t close, because they were, but slowly, their disparate styles had caused their lives to diverge.

“You know Mom will be mad at you simply for knowing the truth,” Hannah said, shifting her phone to her other ear.

“So I won’t tell her.” For the first time, Hannah sensed a hint of frustration in her sister. Stephanie had definitely picked up on Hannah’s subtle attempts at backpedaling. “When you show up with Will and a wedding band, I’ll act appropriately shocked. And I’ll barely have to fake it.”

“You are going to lie? To Mom?”

“Trust me, Mom’s not going to be mad at me for, like, the next nine months and probably for the next few years after that.”

“Wh—” No way. “You’re pregnant?”

“Surprise, Auntie Hannah!”

“Way to bury the lede!”

“Um, where in the conversation that started with ‘I’m getting married to some random guy in two days’ was I supposed to slip that in?” Stephanie giggled. The lightness of her laugh carried through to Hannah, calming her head and heart. “It’s still really early. I don’t want to tell Mom until I’m further along. So... I’ll keep your secret, and you’ll keep mine. Deal?”

If they had been together, Stephanie would have had her pinky out. Without a pinky swear, everything was hearsay and words. Without a pinky swear, all bets were off.

Hannah linked her own pinkies together. “Deal.”

Chapter 10Will