Willow shook her head. “I can’t think about it. I drove myself crazy thinking about it for way too many months afterward.”
“And now it’s come full circle,” Bridgette said. “You two have kept in touch like you’re best friends or lovers. And you have sexual history, which begs the question . . . if you’re not still in love with each other, why would you have kept each other in the loop of your lives for all this time?”
Willow looked up at the ceiling and groaned. “That’s why I’m so confused.” She leaned forward, and her sister met her halfway, like they used to do as little girls sharing secrets. “I don’t think I ever stopped loving him,” she whispered. “But the whole reason we’re doing this charade is because of who he is. How can I be in love with a guy who sleeps around?”
A haunted look came over Bridgette’s face, and Willow wanted to evaporate into thin air. Jerry had been madly in love with Bridgette, but he’d been a snake in the grass before they’d started dating.
The front door swung open, and their parents walked in carrying two big presents. Louie bolted out of the playroom as if he had a grandparent-homing device. “Grandma! Grandpa! Auntie Willow made me a Spider-Man cake!”
Their father lifted him into his arms. “Spider-Man doesn’t seem to have a mouth. He can’t eat cake.”
Louie tugged off his mask. “I have a mouth, Grandpa! It’s just a mask.”
Bridgette covered Willow’s hand with hers and spoke quietly. “All I can tell you is that I knew Jerry was right for me from the very first time we met. It didn’t matter that he was in a band and everyone knew what kind of guy he was. Nothing would have kept me from marrying him, because I knew we were right, regardless of what happened before we met. Musicians and actors aren’t that far apart where their endgames are concerned. Jerry used to say, ‘A player will play while he’s searching for his soul mate, and then they’re all in.’ Remember how I compared myself to all of his female fans at first? It was hard. Like, really excruciatingly hard when he was on the road, but one look in his eyes and I was toast.”
“What is it about their eyes? I’m the same way with Zane. He does this thing . . .” She lowered her chin and looked at Bridgette through her lashes.
Bridgette laughed. “I hope he does it better than that. You look a little insane.”
“You always make me feel better. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth right away, but everything happened so fast.” She moved closer so there was no chance of anyone else hearing and said, “You cannot tell anyone that the engagement is fake.”
“I never would.” Bridgette hugged her. “I think there’s a lot more to this. He could have just asked an actress to play the part, but he went to all that trouble to get you to do it. That says something.”
“Yeah, that I’m an easy mark.” Even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. She’d compared every man to Zane for so long, and now she had the only man she’d ever wanted. But she was terrified of handing over her heart, afraid to believe what would make her the happiest woman in the world could really be coming true.
“Since when are you a pessimist? You’re the chosen one. That’s how I see it.”
Their mother breezed into the kitchen and kissed the top of each of their heads. “Are you girls going to chat all day? The rest of the kids are going to be here in ten minutes.”
“Come on.” Bridgette pushed to her feet.
“Where’s that man of yours?” their father asked on his way out to the yard.
“He’ll be here soon.” Willow glanced at her phone. It had been hours since Zane had left to pick up the rental car. She wondered where he’d gotten held up.
More than an hour later, ten little boys and girls were taking turns swinging a bat at the Spider-Man pi?ata, and Willow was chowing down on her second piece of cake.
“It’s pretty bad when your fiancé stands you up.” Piper stood beside Willow, stealing pieces of Willow’s cake off her plate. “But it’s even worse when he stands you up at your nephew’s birthday party.”
“Thanks for pointing that out,” Willow snarled. It wasn’t like she hadn’t already run through the gamut of possible reasons why Zane was late. She chose to ignore the worst of them—a pretty fan catching his attention—and went with what was clearly less likely but more palatable: he’d gotten locked in a gas station bathroom and had no way out.
“Well, he is Zane,” Piper said.
“Yes. My fiancé,” Willow reminded her, feeling oddly proprietary of him. “So please tread carefully, okay, sis? This is an emotional time for all of us.”
“Mm-hm. I’m sure he just got caught up with fans or something.”
Let’s hope not. “I know you don’t trust him.”
Piper tucked her stick-straight shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear and crossed her lithe arms. “It’s not that I don’t trust him, per se. It’s just always bothered me that he used to lead you on. I worried you’d hook up with him and get your heart broken. I’m so glad you weren’t that stupid.”
Willow watched Louie swing at the pi?ata, hoping Piper couldn’t read the truth in her eyes. “What are you talking about? He never led me on.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t try to pretend you weren’t completely in love with him when you were a kid. He was always right there when you were baking, and asking you for help with math? He was two grades ahead of you. That was sort of ridiculous, don’t you think?”
She decided to ignore the first accusation, because how many lies could one woman be expected to maintain in one day? “He was a kid who loved cookies. And I kicked ass in math.” Could he have been flirting with her back then and not really lame in precalc? She didn’t have a clear enough head to figure that out at the moment, and the truth was, she had been a tall, gangly girl with big boobs and an uncanny ability to work with numbers, while Zane could have had his pick of the most popular, beautiful girls. “But let’s say that was true and he really did flirt with me. Shouldn’t you be happy for us now?”
“Maybe,” Piper said cheerily. Then her expression turned serious. “If I hadn’t seen pictures of him with no less than three women in the last two months.”
“That was all part of our plan to cover things up.” Willow hoped she sounded casual, but she was pretty sure she sounded like she was lying.
“Then you’re a better woman than me, because I’d never put up with that shit.” She snagged another bite of Willow’s cake.
“I was doing the same thing!” Willow whispered harshly. “You know I went out with Billy Crusher six or eight weeks ago and Xavier Frank last month. We explained this yesterday.”
“That’s true. I had forgotten about that. I just don’t want you to get hurt, because if he hurts you, then I’d have to kill him. And then I’d go to jail, and look at me. I’m tough as nails out here, but in the pen? The whole scene isn’t pretty.”