Ten Days To Say I Do

Chapter 3

Jay was already waiting outside her building when Elena came down at six-thirty. He was leaning on a taxi with his hands in his pockets, like he'd been there a while.

Elena had changed her clothes three times. In the end she went with the blue dress, the only nice one she owned that wasn't black. She still felt like she was going to a job interview.

"You look good," Jay said.

"Thanks. You too." She said it too fast. "I mean, you look like a real fiancé. That's good."

He took a small box out of his jacket. "Here."

It was a ring. A thin gold band with a tiny green stone in the middle. Nothing flashy, the kind of ring an old lady wears for fifty years without taking it off.

"Where did you get this?"

"Secondhand shop on Fifth Street. It didn't cost much."

"How much is not much?"

"Elena. Just put it on."

"I'll pay you back."

"It goes in the three thousand. Done."

She put it on. It was a bit loose, but it stayed. She kept looking at it in the taxi, and every time she did, her stomach did something weird, which she decided was hunger.

"You're doing it again," Jay said.

"Doing what?"

"Wringing your hands. Like a wet towel."

She sat on them for the rest of the ride.

Aunt Diane lived in a big house on the good side of town. Pink curtains, way too many cushions, and a small white dog called Duchess who started barking the second Jay walked in. She barked the whole time he was taking off his coat.

"She doesn't like men," Diane said. "Don't take it personally."

"She's a good judge of character," said Victor, who was already at the table with a glass of wine.

Nobody laughed.

Diane's roast was the one good thing about coming here, and for the first twenty minutes things were okay. Diane cooed over the ring. Jay said the potatoes were the best he'd had in years, which made Diane go pink. Elena kept her eyes on her plate and said as little as she could.

Then Diane put down her fork and leaned in. "Now tell me everything. How did he propose?"

Elena's fork stopped halfway to her mouth. They hadn't decided that part. They'd argued about it for ten minutes at the shop and got nowhere.

"After closing," Jay said.

She looked up.

"Nobody was in the shop. Elena was up on the ladder, putting books away at the back, and she didn't know I'd come in. I stood at the bottom and said her name. She looked down and I just asked her."

"From the bottom of a ladder," Victor said.

"She wasn't coming down."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Diane said.

"It's a safety issue," Victor said.

"She said yes before I even finished," Jay said. "Then she nearly fell off."

Elena laughed. She hadn't planned to. It was so silly, and the worst part was she could actually picture it, herself wobbling on the top step with a book in each hand. He'd made the whole thing up on the spot.

Victor wasn't laughing. "You came in for a book, right? What book?"

"A cookbook."

"You cook?"

"Badly. She told me I was hopeless."

"And what did you say?"

"That I'd keep coming back till I got better."

Diane sighed like she was watching a movie. Even the dog went quiet.

Victor turned his glass around on the tablecloth. "What about your family, Jay? Where are they?"

"Around." Jay reached for the bread. "I moved a lot as a kid. We're not close."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Don't be."

He said it lightly enough. Elena still noticed how Victor watched him say it.

By dessert she was almost starting to relax. Diane was already talking about flowers and whether June was too soon. Jay nodded along like he'd been waiting his whole life for someone to ask him about flowers. Elena picked up a few dirty plates and took them to the kitchen, mostly to get away for a minute and breathe.

She was scraping food into the bin when the door closed behind her.

Victor was leaning against it with his wine glass. He wasn't smiling anymore, and without the smile he looked like a different person.

"Consultant," he said.

"What?"

"Your fiancé. The consultant." He took a sip. "I made some calls this afternoon. I know people at most of the firms in this city, and nobody's ever heard of him."

"He works for himself."

"Sure. I asked him his last name three times tonight. Three. Every time, 'just Jay.' What grown man says that with a straight face?"

"One who doesn't like being questioned at dinner."

"Or one with something to hide."

Her hands had gone cold. She put the plates down slowly so he wouldn't see them shaking. "You're being paranoid. Grandpa left me the shop and you can't stand it."

"Grandpa gave you a chance," Victor said. "That's different."

He came a step closer and dropped his voice.

"Ten days is a long time, cousin. Nobody keeps a lie like this going for ten days. Whoever he is, I'll find out. And when I do, you can kiss the Lantern goodbye."

Then he opened the door and went out, and the noise of the dining room came flooding back in. Diane laughing at something. Under it, Jay's voice, low and calm.

Elena walked back to the table on legs that felt borrowed. Jay looked up when she sat down. Under the tablecloth, he found her hand and held it.

It was warm. She let him, which was the problem.

Because Victor was right about one thing. Jay was hiding something. She'd known it since the bus stop, and tonight had only made it worse.

And what if it was a lot bigger than a last name?