Page 23 of Gin and Bear It

“We aren’t planning on having a wedding. We’re going to the courthouse next week and getting it done. But you know Mrs. Stryker. She’ll probably plan a party.” I swallow. “And yeah, I’ll have to fake it with them.”

“Kennie’s not going to believe you, either.”

“She has to.” I sigh. “You can help me sell it, right? Please. I’m going to tell Dad at dinner. We’re going with the story that we were dating and the inheritance just moved up our timeline.”

“I guess I have to, because since when have I ever been able to pull your attention away when you’re locked in?”

“Thank you.” I blow out a breath. Not that I ever thought Jeremiah would be against me, but still. He didn’t even try to convince me otherwise because he knows me that well. “I swear, it’s for the greater good.”

“I know. We just have to keep it up. And you and Ash need to figure out how to look like a couple because Danika is going to be pissed when she hears you’re getting married, too.”

“She can stay pissed because I’m not letting her get her hands on the hotel. And I’m not saying a word or posting about it online until the ink is dried on our marriage license.”

“I know, which is the main reason I’m going along with this nonsense,” he says. “And tell Ash I’ll kick his ass if he tries anything sketchy.”

“Noted.”

“I gotta run. See you in a bit.”

“See ya.”

I hang up and toss my phone across the couch. Pip doesn’t even jump.

“Pip, I’m in deep shit. I’m getting married and it’s all a lie,” I say. Pip blinks and gives me two short squeaks. “I appreciate that, but it’s not helping me.”

I spend the next hour or so puttering around, being busy but unproductive, before heading to my dad’s house for dinner.

Our monthly dinners are just now starting up again. Before my grandparents passed, they were every second weekend of the month like clockwork. Dad liked the break in the middle of the month for us all to reconnect.

Dad’s house isn’t far from my apartment. It’s the house we grew up in—modest and older but kept up well. He owns a few properties, including the apartment building I live in, but this is the house he bought with my mom when they were newlyweds. He’ll never let it go or move out of it. Usually going home is nothing but comforting, but my stomach is in my throat when I park.

Thankfully Jeremiah is already here. I let myself in and hear Dad and Jeremiah laughing at something in the living room. The older Jeremiah gets, the more he sounds like Dad.

They look similar, too, but there’s enough of Mom in Jeremiah that they don’t look like clones of each other—her smile, which I only clearly remember from photos, and the deep brown of her skin.

“Hey, JJ.” Dad smiles and pulls me into a hug. “You alright?”

Of course, Dad copped my mood immediately. I’m grateful I have a family that notices moods and gives a shit, but damn. Can I ever have secrets?

“Yes but…” I lock eyes with Jeremiah over Dad’s shoulder and he shrugs. “I have something to tell you.”

Dad’s eyebrows go up and he adjusts his wire-rimmed glasses on his nose.

“I’m getting married. On Monday.”

“You’re what?” His eyes widen almost comically. “Sit down.”

I sit in my usual spot on the couch, adjacent from where Dad’s Shih Tzu mix, Ms. Beulah, always sits. She’s roughly a million years old, so she just thumps her tail a few times when she sees me.

“Jada June, what do you mean?” Dad asks, more bewildered than anything.

“You know Waylon’s brother Ash?” I ask.

“The one you were always looking at growing up?” Dad frowns.

Jeremiah snorts and I glare at him.

“Uh, yeah. It’s him. We’ve been seeing each other long-distance for the past six months and it’s been serious. We were already talking about marriage, but with the inheritance we decided to go ahead and do it. Monday.”