Faking Forever (First Wives #4)(9)

Hair on the back of Shannon’s neck started to slowly dance.

“He’s always working. My mother says that’s a good thing, that we won’t get tired of each other.”

Shannon laid a hand on the countertop. “What do you think?”

Corrie swallowed. “I think it’s a crappy way to start a marriage. It feels like I’m just another merger for his company.”

Shannon was starting to understand Corrie’s point.

“And all this . . . the rain, the screwed up guest list . . . it’s an omen.”

She took a breath and waited. “Are you having second thoughts?”

Corrie nodded once. Her eyes started to well up again.

“Hey. It’s not too late to back out. If you really don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”

Corrie looked at her like the thought had never crossed her mind that she actually had a choice.

“Trust me. You’re better off walking away now than going around faking forever with a man who isn’t right.”

“I can’t do that. My mother would kill me. All the guests are flying in.”

Oh, the pressure. Shannon knew it well.

“Listen. I understand that there is a plan here, but you still have a choice. Take it from me, once you say I do, it’s going to take a lot more to say you don’t.”

“You think I’ll end up divorced.”

Shannon didn’t want to put that on her. “If you both love each other enough, you can work through anything.”

Corrie narrowed her eyes. “Did you love your husband enough?”

“I did. But it takes two, Corrie.”

She closed her eyes.

“I’m not saying your fiancé doesn’t love you.” Not that Shannon would know.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Corrie’s friend appeared with the makeup. “He’s here,” she announced.

Corrie released a breath and brushed away the remainder of her tears. “I’m okay.”

Shannon stood back and let the conversation drop while Corrie attempted to erase the stress with powder and blush.

“I’ll leave you girls.”

Corrie painted on the fake smile Shannon had seen the day she’d met her. “I’m fine. It’s just rain, right?”

Shannon left the room, anxious now to see who Corrie’s future husband was.

Three steps into the dining room, where the waitstaff had already pushed tables aside in an attempt to create a makeshift aisle, Shannon’s heart jumped.

Mrs. Harkin stood in animated conversation with Mr. Phone.

Slowly, as if feeling her disapproving gaze, he turned her way. The smile he wore while talking fell.

“You,” she whispered under her breath. Maybe he was just a guest here for the wedding and knew the mother of the bride.

Only those hopes faded when Corrie emerged from the bathroom, walked past Shannon, and straight up to Mr. Phone.

He turned his attention to Corrie and kissed the side of her cheek. Their conversation was too far away for Shannon to hear, but it became perfectly clear who the man was, and who his girlfriend was.

Not only was Mr. Phone not good enough for Corrie, the man was robbing the cradle.





Chapter Four

Shannon flagged down the bartender and sat at the bar. “I’ll have a margarita.”

“Make that two.”

She turned to the man who moved up beside her.

“It’s an open bar, might as well, right?” he said, smiling.

Was it an open bar? She didn’t know. “Right.”

“Now that the groom finally showed up, we can get this shit show moving so we can do it again tomorrow.”

Shannon couldn’t stop from laughing. “So that is him,” she said more to herself than the stranger standing beside her.

He gave her a sly look out of the corner of his eyes. “You must be a friend of Corrie’s.”

“I’m the photographer, actually.”

He sat down. “Then you’re not friends with either of them.”

“You could say that.”

When their drinks arrived, he lifted his glass and said, “Cheers.”

She took a healthy drink and tried not to cough. They poured their tequila with a heavy hand in Mexico. Something Shannon was sure Avery would enjoy, once she arrived.

“I’m Justin, by the way.”

She shook his hand. “Shannon.” His eyes crinkled as he looked at her.

Cute. Had to be in his midforties, with a tiny amount of gray showing up in his hair. He’d be someone she might try to get to know better if she wasn’t first, working, and second, looking for a baby daddy who could never learn her name.

She instantly removed him from her list of prospects.

He turned his attention toward the bride and groom as they walked around the room. “Since you don’t know either party well, what are your thoughts on the happy couple?” The sarcasm that laced his question had her answering honestly.

“To start with, he’s too old for her.”

Justin nodded and sipped his drink.

“And then there’s the fact he’s an asshole.”

Justin choked on his cocktail, spitting some of it on his shirt.

Shannon handed him her napkin while he recovered.