The Dating Arrangement. Kerri Carpenter

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СКАЧАТЬ blinked, but quickly reached for a mug and pulled on the tab in front of him to fill up the beer. Once the frothy, amber-colored liquid was in front of her, Emerson downed half of it in a single gulp, relishing the malty taste.

      A look of surprise, followed by amusement, crossed his face. “Thirsty?” He filled up a bowl with water and placed it on the floor. Emerson let Cosmo down and the dog happily trotted toward the bowl and delicately lapped at the water. Satisfied, he returned to his bed, walked in a circle and then settled into a little ball.

      Emerson let out a burp. “Excuse me. My mother would kill me if she could see this.” She drank the rest of the drink and held the mug up. “Maybe a water now?”

      “Of course.” As he grabbed a clean glass and filled it with ice and then water, he eyed her. “Want to talk about it?”

      She liked his eyes. They were a dark chocolaty brown. Serious and mysterious, but there was that twinkle after all.

      Emerson took a sip of the water and settled in to explain. “My mother owns Dewitt’s Bridal, over on Prince Street.” She gestured in that direction now. “When she gets new dresses in stock, she asks me and my sister to try them on. She likes to see them on a real person before she recommends them to a customer.”

      “So you were helping your mom out?”

      “Basically.” She broke off as she looked down at the dress with an eye roll.

      “Go on,” he urged, waiting for her to finish her thought.

      But Emerson didn’t know what to say. What could she say really? The truth? Jack might be nice, and he had provided her with some much-needed alcohol during a trying moment, but he was still a stranger. Did she dare tell him that, as soon as she’d taken one look at herself wearing the wedding dress, in the three-way mirror, the air had whooshed out of her lungs? Her heart had begun beating so fast and so hard that she could practically hear it. The room had started to spin.

      She played with the straw in her glass of water.

      “Emerson?” Jack asked. “What happened? You seem...upset.”

      She sighed. “It’s stupid, really. I saw myself dressed like this and I freaked. I was being dramatic and unnecessarily emotional.” She attempted a smile and shrugged, trying to make light of the situation.

      The reality was the last time she’d been wearing a wedding dress, she’d been standing in the back of a church, waiting for her fiancé. But he hadn’t shown. Only the note had arrived.

      Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Climbing out of a window is a bit drastic. But something must have made you feel that way to need to escape so badly.”

      “Like I said, I overreacted. I’m just not that into weddings.”

      Jack nodded. “You don’t want to get married?”

       I did. He didn’t.

      Not being into weddings and not being into her marriage were two very different things. Emerson nodded. She agreed with Jack’s presumption because it seemed a lot simpler than going into the whole mess. Let him think she didn’t want to get married. It’s not like she’d see him again after today.

      “That must be hard, since your mom owns a bridal shop.”

      “Understatement.” She sat up straight and put on her best impression of a Southern accent. “Why, Beatrice Dewitt will have both of her daughters married faster than you can say mint julep.”

      Behind the bar, Jack grinned. Emerson felt lucky to already be sitting down. She was a sucker for a good smile on a handsome face.

      “Mama is from Spartanburg, South Carolina.”

      He met this information with a blank stare.

      “She was a deb. You know, a debutante?”

      His facial expression didn’t change. She was going to have to spell this out.

      “Southern women live for weddings. My mama’s chosen profession only adds to her wedding-mania. Being surrounded by silk organza gowns, lacy veils and sparkly accessories on a daily basis does nothing to suppress her desire to see me married.”

      “But you’re not engaged right now?”

      “I’m not even dating anyone at the moment. But that doesn’t stop Mama. My younger and incredibly perfect sister, Amelia, isn’t helping matters. She got married six months ago. I’d had a bit of a reprieve while Mama was busy planning her wedding.”

      She clasped her hands in her lap and studied the bright coral nail polish that was chipping. Her mother had been harping on it earlier.

      “So now that your sister’s married, your mother is trying to get you married off, even though you’re not interested.”

      Again, she didn’t correct his assumption. Mainly because she didn’t want to tell him that she had been engaged. She had done the whole song and dance.

      “This year is my parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. They’re having a huge party in a month. I think she’d like me to have a date. Or a fiancé. Or a husband.” Emerson threw her hands into the air. “It would complete the perfect family image. Amelia did her part.”

      “Is your sister as pretty as you?”

      Emerson sat back and swallowed, feeling her cheeks heat up. “Um, no—I mean yes—I mean... Thank you.” She bit her lip. “My sister is gorgeous. But we don’t look alike. Except for the hair color.” She ran a hand over her curly auburn hair until her fingers tangled with the floor-length veil.

      “Amelia is tall and thin and beautiful. She looks like a model. I’m short and curvy and definitely not.”

      Jack took her in. His gaze swept from the top of her head, over her body, all the way down to the ground. Slowly. Surely. “I think you look just fine.”

      Emerson fought the urge to fidget. “Again, thank you. You’ve made me feel a lot better. You must be a really amazing bartender.”

      Jack’s face fell. “I wouldn’t exactly call myself a bartender.”

      She took in the various taps of beer, bottles of liquor stacked neatly on the far wall and rows of pristine glassware. “No?”

      “I mean, I own this bar. Now. Recently, that is. My father passed away and left it to me.”

      The emotions on her new friend’s face tugged at her heart. “I’m so sorry. About your father, I mean.” She could only imagine if something happened to her mother and she had to take over the bridal shop.

      Cosmo made his way to Emerson’s chair. Then he let out a sound that sounded very close to a sigh. She picked him up again and placed him on her lap. He snuggled closer to Emerson.

      “Poor thing.” Emerson rubbed her hands up and down the dog’s back, enjoying his soft fur. “I bet you miss your dad, don’t you?”

      “Yes.”

      She’d СКАЧАТЬ