The aroma of hot coffee lured Joy from a fitful sleep filled with scary dreams of being chased by Madison Malone, and then much nicer dreams where Jason was kissing her again. She snuggled deeper under the covers, trying to avoid reality for a bit longer. The buzz of her phone brought her wide awake. Joy glanced at her phone on her nightstand before falling back against the pillows again with a groan. There were over five hundred missed calls. She couldn’t bring herself to look at how many text messages were waiting for her.
Jason hovered in the doorway with a worried look. “Is everything okay?”
She threw her arm over her eyes with one arm and pointed at her phone with the other. “I don’t even know how I’m going to go through all these messages.”
The edge of the bed dipped, and Jason’s warm, calloused hand gently pried her arm away from her eyes.
“Hey, we’re in this together. You don’t have to handle this on your own. My PR people are going to be calling soon, and we’re going to come up with a strategy.”
How do you strategize crazy fans blowing up her phone? Joy felt trapped. A big reason she stopped doing pageants was because she didn’t want to have to be on all the time. She didn’t want a life filled with rhinestones and fake smiles. Her engagement with Jason was temporary, but it felt like she was going back to a lifestyle that she’d worked so hard to put in her past. Joy noticed the lines bracketing Jason’s mouth and realized he was as tense and worried as she was. She’d never had stage fright, but this must be what it feels like.
“How can I help?” he asked.
“I have no idea. How am I supposed to know what to do when I’ve never been in a situation like this before? This may surprise you, but this is my first fake engagement. Is there a handbook or a YouTube tutorial I can watch?” she snapped. Joy softened her tone. “I didn’t mean to be so harsh.”
Jason gave her a sad smile. “It’s okay. You’re stressed, and it’s my fault.”
Joy sat up. “Let’s start by having you stop blaming yourself for the situation we’re in. Let’s both agree it’s Madison Malone’s fault.”
Jason’s lips quirked. “That’s fair, I can do that.”
“Next, coffee. I’m not good at anything before I have coffee, and that includes not snapping at people.”
“Got it,” Jason said getting up. “I’ve already got a pot going. Let me get you a cup. How do you like it?”
“With a little milk please.” Joy reached for her phone and propped herself against the headboard. “I need to call the hospital and see if I can rearrange my schedule.”
“I talked to Holly this morning. She said she’ll explain what’s going on to the head of your department and not to worry,” Jason called out as he headed back to the kitchen.
Joy pulled the covers around her chest, feeling a little… adrift, like the rug had been pulled out from under her.
Jason came back and handed her a mug filled with coffee. She inhaled and took a big sip.
“Better?”
She nodded and took another fortifying sip. “Yeah, this helps.”
“It’s going to be a busy morning. I’ll let you get ready.”
Joy downed the rest of her cup and threw back the covers. As tempting as it was, she couldn’t spend the day in bed. As soon as she closed the bathroom door, she eyed herself in the mirror with a grimace. Last night left her with dark circles under her eyes. “What are you doing?” she asked her reflection. She thought about the post she made with Jason the night before, and the reality of what she had done started to sink in. “The whole world thinks you’re Jason Anderson’s fiancée.”
But what did that mean? She stepped under the hot spray of her shower. They were going to have to go out and be seen together, and what would happen if Madison showed up again? She ran through a hundred different scenarios while she finished her morning routine.
When she came out of her room, Joy found Jason standing over a cluster of pictures displayed on a bookshelf in the living room. He picked up a framed image of Joy standing next to a trophy taller than she was, surrounded by a group of little girls, all of them with hair swept up in elaborate ringlets. He pointed to the picture he held in his hand.
“Baton twirling? That was your pageant talent?”
“One of them,” she said, coming over to pluck the picture out of his hands, returning it to its spot on the shelf. Embarrassment heated her cheeks. “It’s dumb, I know.”
“It’s not dumb. Did you ever get to use those ones you light on fire?”
“I was seven, so I don’t think that would have been a good idea.”
“I supposed you’re right. Did you have any other talents? Tap dancing?” He snapped his fingers and started to laugh. “I saw on one of those shows where someone’s talent was ventriloquism.”
Joy scowled. “I’m more than my talent. For a lot of kids, doing pageants builds self-esteem. It’s a lot of hard work, and yes, some parents push their kids too much, but some of us really liked competing. When I said I didn’t want to do pageants anymore, my dad didn’t try to push me. Yes, he was disappointed, but I was never forced to do anything I didn’t want to do. People make a lot of assumptions about what it’s like to do pageants because they’ve watched too many episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras. I’m not reality show pageant queen.”
Jason’s smile fell while she was talking. When she finished, Joy took a deep, shuddering breath and turned away, marching into the kitchen, where she started pouring herself another cup of coffee with shaking hands. Jason followed her and gently turned her to face him.
Jason cupped her cheek. “I don’t know anything about pageants, but I know you, or at least I’m getting to know you, and I think baton twirling is really cool. I know you’re more than a baton-twirling pageant kid.”
“I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. It’s knowing there are pictures from my pageant days all over social media now, and I—I’ve worked so hard to not be that person anymore. Everything I’ve tried to change about myself—” Her voice broke. “I feel like all of my past mistakes are staring me in the face.”
“It’s not fair, I know—”
For some reason, Jason’s compassion grated on her nerves. She didn’t want to be vulnerable with him. She wanted to be—what? Confident, assured, the kind of woman Jason would want to… date. Oh no. She wasn’t going to fall into this trap again. How could she have slipped back into her old pattern so quickly?
Joy backed away, waving him off. “It’s fine. I’m a little unpleasant before coffee.”
Jason still had a worried expression on his face, but the corner of his mouth tipped up. “Is that a nice way of saying you’re cranky?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Joy said with a teary laugh. “I’m guess I’m feeling a little—”
“Overwhelmed? Yeah, me too.”
Hearing Jason’s confession eased some of her anxiety. They were on the same footing, both of them unprepared for the situation they were in. Joy took a deep breath. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one feeling overwhelmed.”
“Definitely not just you. We’re a team, and we’re going to get through this together. If I say or do something that upsets you, let me know. I want us to still be friends when this is all over.”
“Friends. Yup, that would be nice.”
Joy was looking up at him, her eyes wide with a hint of uncertainty, a slight tremor on her lips that enticed Jason to kiss away any of her doubts. He didn’t have any reason to other than want and need. When was the last time he’d kissed someone and totally lost himself in the moment? In the softness of her lips, her smell, and the little noise she made at the back of her throat when she pressed herself closer. The reason he hadn’t felt like that for so long was because he hadn’t been kissing Joy.
Jason didn’t realize he’d moved close enough to snake his arm around Joy’s waist until he heard Joy’s breath hitch and saw the flash of want in her eyes.
A knock on the door interrupted the moment. He rested his forehead against Joy’s for a moment before he reluctantly moved away. Joy started toward the door.
Jason grabbed her arm, stopping her. “Hold on. Let me get it.”
Her face paled. “You don’t think it’s some crazy fan, do you?”
He shook his head while his heart thundered in his chest. That was exactly what Jason worried it could be, but he didn’t want to stress Joy out any more than she already was.
“I’m sure it’s fine, but let me answer this time, okay?”
She swallowed and nodded, moving slightly behind him as he answered. He opened the door to a couple standing on Joy’s doorstep, Jason instantly knew that the petite woman glaring at him with dark brown eyes was Joy’s friend Poornima.
When she saw Joy, she pushed past Jason, pulling her into a fierce hug. “Are you okay? I can’t believe it. My cousin called from Mumbai, asking me about your engagement, and then I went to look and…” She frowned. “The things they are saying about you…”
“I’m okay.” Joy pulled out of Poornima’s embrace and gave Jason a reassuring smile.
“Jason, this is Poornima and Rajeev Sankar, my landlords and neighbors.”
“And friends,” Rajeev said, shaking Jason’s hand. “I work with Joy at the hospital.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Poornima looked Jason up and down. “I’m not sure about that. Look at what you’ve gotten my friend into.”
“Sweetheart—” Rajeev started.
“No.” Jason held his hand up. “It’s okay. Your wife is right. I didn’t expect to announce our engagement like this or what the reaction would be. I’m glad you’re here. Even though your house has a gated driveway, I’ve arranged for a security service to do regular checks.”
Rajeev frowned. “Do you really think that’s necessary?”
“I’d rather not take any chances,” Jason said.
Poornima kept a protective arm around Joy and said, “I can’t believe we’re going to lose you.”
“What do you mean?” Joy asked.
“Well, I assume you’ll move to Nashville when you get married,” Poornima said.
“Oh.” Joy blushed. “We… um, we haven’t figured out any of that stuff yet.”
Poornima narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on here?”
“Uh oh,” Rajeev said. “When she gets that look, you’d better watch out. That’s the same look her mother uses when she suspects someone is telling a lie.”
Joy looked at him and mouthed, “sorry” with a sheepish smile.
Jason ran his hands through his hair and sighed. This whole fake engagement thing had been a dumb idea. He didn’t want to put Joy in the position of having to lie to her family and friends. Joy was right. It wouldn’t work to break off the engagement a day after announcing it.
He looked at Poornima, who was eyeing him in a way that made him feel like he was being dissected. It was obvious the Sankars cared about Joy, and his instincts told him he could trust them.
“We’ve got a fresh pot of coffee. Why don’t you join us and I’ll try to explain?” Jason offered.
Once he finished explaining what had happened, both Rajeev and Poornima were looking at the two of them with skepticism.
Jason reached for Joy’s hand under the table. She gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“I know this is an unusual situation, but our engagement will only last through Thanksgiving, and then it will be over.” Joy smiled at Jason. “You know, Jason has all the same great qualities his brother has. He’s kind and caring. Jason has bent over backward to make sure I’ve been taken care of since last night.”
Jason sat up straighter, looking at Joy with pride for her defense of him, but he couldn’t help feeling like he didn’t deserve it.
Poornima sat back with a frown. “I am very disappointed.”
Rajeev sighed. “Poornima, you are not Joy’s auntie.”
“I’m disappointed because I need one of my friends to get engaged for real.” She shook her head with a dramatic sigh looking at Joy. “Noelle, Holly, and now you. When is someone going to get married?” Poornima exclaimed, slapping the table.
There was a beat of silence, and then Rajeev, Joy, and Jason all burst out laughing. He liked the Sankars. Joy had a community of friends Jason envied.