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Adam drove the SUV expertly through the crowded Manhattan streets. Yellow cabs, buses and New York drivers proved no match for his skill.
“How was the wedding?” he asked.
“Do you really want to know?” Teddy remembered his comment on weddings in general. “I thought you didn’t go in for the happily ever after.”
“I don’t. I was only making conversation.”
It was a long ride back to Princeton. It would be even longer if they didn’t talk. “The wedding was beautiful. The bride was beautiful. Several of her bridesmaids cried. You saw the church.”
“How long does it take to plan a wedding?”
“I thought you were married before. How long did yours take?”
“We didn’t have all the bells and whistles. We went to the justice of the peace and got married,” Adam said.
Teddy was surprised. “Your wife didn’t want a big wedding?”
“She did, but we couldn’t afford it. So we decided to use the money we had for the honeymoon.”
“Maybe next time,” Teddy said, forgetting his beliefs.
“There will be no next time,” he said. His voice was final.
“Then you better stop your mother from setting up blind dates for you.”
“Oh, it’s on the top of my list of things to do.”
Teddy laughed. “If you find a solution to that, please send me an email and share it so I can stop my mother.”
Teddy reached down and opened the small package she’d brought with her. Inside was a pair of shoes, which she traded for the ones she was wearing.
Adam glanced at her.
“Different muscles,” she explained.
“What does that mean?”
“After a wedding or a long day on my feet, changing my shoes means I use different muscles in my legs and they don’t get as tired.”
“From the way you were all over the place, you must be tired of running.”
Teddy sighed. “This one wasn’t that bad. The cathedral was huge, but everything ran rather smoothly. Jessica will be pleased.”
“Jessica is the bride, I take it?”
Teddy nodded. “For the fourth time.”
“Four husbands?” he said.
“She keeps us in business.”
He must have mulled that over. Adam lapsed into silence while he maneuvered through the traffic. Teddy realized she’d given him more ammunition to support his impression about weddings and marriage. Thankfully, traffic was clogging and Adam kept his attention on the road.
Finally they reached the gallery. Adam pulled into a space someone vacated and the two of them went inside. The place was bright with light. Huge windows covered the entire first story. Interior lights were placed strategically toward paintings to give them the best appearance.
A man came from the back of the small building. He was about six feet tall with gray hair, a potbelly and a welcoming smile. “Ms. Granville?”
Teddy nodded.
“I’m Gene Restonson, the gallery owner.”
“I’m Theresa Granville, Gemma Granville’s daughter, here to pick up a painting you’re holding for her.” Teddy introduced Adam. Gene shook hands with them both.
“We were just finishing packing it up. Give me a moment,” he said with a smile that took in both her and Adam. “Excuse me.”
Teddy nodded and he left them to go to the back.
The huge windows looked out on the afternoon traffic. Teddy moved away from them, going to a painting on a back wall. It was a landscape of the sea and sky. Adam came up behind her. “You know what they’re doing, right?”
She turned to him. “‘They’?”
“Our mothers.”
“What?”
“They’re going to keep throwing us together in hopes that we finally decide to date.”
“I’m sure I can handle that,” Teddy told him.
“I can, too. We’re both very busy, but I think there’s another option that will satisfy us all.”
Teddy was intrigued. “What is that? You’re not going to propose?” She held her breath. It wasn’t possible, but she was unsure of what he might do. He’d appeared out of the blue today and after their conversation on weddings at dinner, he could be setting her up for anything.
He shook his head. “No, that’s not it.”
“You have my attention. What do you think we should do?”
“I think we should give them what they want.”
“I thought you weren’t going to propose.” Teddy had no idea where this was going. “They want us to fall in love and get married.”
“So we pretend to fall in love,” Adam said.
“What?”
“It’s not so strange.”
“Pretend lovers. Those plots don’t work in books, let alone with two people who don’t know each other.”
“That’s what makes it perfect. We can spend the time getting to know each other. At least, that’s what we’ll tell them.”
“And how do we get out of this, when my mother starts making appointments for the church, the cake and asking me for the wedding gown design?”
“It won’t go that far. We’ll keep it up until Christmas. Then we’ll tell them it didn’t work out and we’ll be free of each other.”
Teddy stared at him. “Free of each other,” she repeated.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. We’ll have satisfied our parents for the time being. Mine will usually not bother me for a year after a breakup.”
“And with the new year,” Teddy said. “They’ll be too busy to bother us for several more months. By then, maybe we can convince them that their meddling produced disastrous results and we’re in command of our own love lives.”
“Giving each of us time to find our own partners, if that’s our intention.”
Teddy shook her head, indicating that was not her intention.
“We’ll call it the Marriage Pact,” Adam suggested.
Teddy glanced up at him skeptically. “You know, you’re way too into this.”
He smiled, showing his even, white teeth.
“Shouldn’t it be the Pretend We’re Falling in Love Pact? After all there will be no wedding planning.”
“Too many words.” He frowned as if he was seriously considering it. “Are you in?”
“I’m not sure...” She hesitated. “I hate to deceive my mother.” She paused a moment. “Although...”
“Although what?”
“Although she’d deceived me a number of times.” Teddy remembered when her mother threatened to send out wedding invitations with “Groom: TBA” on them if Teddy didn’t find her own date.
“Well?” he prompted.
“I think we should think this through more. For example, we don’t know much about each other.”
“We’ll go on a few dates and come up with our story.”
“How are we going to handle the holidays? You said this would be over by Christmas. A lot of planning goes into the family holidays.”
“We’ll have everything in order,” he told her.
“All right,” she said on a sigh. “Conditions.” Teddy wasn’t convinced this would work, but she’d give it a try if it had the possibility of giving her a few free months from her mother’s relentless pestering.
“What conditions?”
“We go on these dates and we talk about the implications of this approach. We think this through.”
“Agreed,” he said.
Teddy believed he wasn’t really thinking it through. “I mean, with the same consideration you give to your investments, you give to this plan.”
He took a moment to consider it. Then he nodded and said, “Will do.”
“Here it is,” Mr. Restonson said.
Teddy turned. The gallery owner was a few feet behind her. She’d nearly forgotten about him in light of Adam’s plan. She wondered if he’d heard them.
Moving across the floor, Teddy met him in the middle of the room. “It’s huge,” she said when she saw him carrying a package longer than her arms. The painting had been wrapped and she couldn’t tell what the picture was, but she could see its size. No way could she take that on the train back to Princeton.
And her mother knew it.
Chapter 3 (#ulink_77498b42-b9c6-5ce2-93fb-fa0149fa696d)
Adam wrestled the painting into the back of the SUV as Teddy watched. Several times she jerked her hand to help catch the falling canvas. “I apologize,” she told him when they’d managed to get it in without a mishap. “Mom said it was a small painting.”
“Relative term,” he replied. “Compared with the murals at Times Square...” He left the sentence open, but Teddy knew what he meant. The advertisements in that area of Manhattan were described by the number of stories they covered. The smallest one she could think of was about ten-stories high.
There was that dry humor again. Teddy didn’t mind it. In fact, she found it likable. They climbed into the plush cabin and Adam started the engine. He pulled into the afternoon traffic. Teddy thought about the suggestion Adam had brought up in the brightness of the gallery.
“Thinking about my proposal?” Adam broke into her thoughts.
“It isn’t a proposal, not by my definition. But it is on my mind,” Teddy said. She lapsed into silence. She knew he was waiting for her to continue by the way he glanced at her.
“Afraid pulling it off might be an issue?”
“Aren’t you? After all, these are our parents. And what about girlfriends? I can’t imagine you don’t already have one.” He had met her for a blind date. That should indicate that he was unattached, but Teddy didn’t want to assume. She noticed him stiffen. Hands that had been relaxed now gripped the steering wheel harder.
“I did,” he said quietly. “We broke up six months ago.”
Teddy intentionally kept her voice low. “Is it over or do you think you’ll reconcile?”
“No reconciliation.” The note in his voice was final, even if it was a little higher pitched than she remembered. Teddy knew that wasn’t the end of it, but she didn’t know him well enough to continue questioning.
“What about you? Beautiful, confident, business owner. There must be a man in the wings.”
“Several,” Teddy said.
“Anyone in particular?”
“They’re all particular.”
He took his eyes from the road to stare at her with raised eyebrows. “How many is ‘all’?”
“Not a relevant question, or one I’ll answer,” she told him.
“So the Marriage Pact won’t work for you?”
“I didn’t say that,” Teddy said, a teasing smile curving her lips.
