I STARED at the suitcases strewn across my bed. Half of the clothes in my closet had been pulled out and were either draped over my bed frame, on the chair in the corner of my room, or they were hanging from the open drawers of my dresser.
It wasn’t until this very moment that I doubted my choice in fashion. Everything I owned seemed too fancy for Harmony—which meant I was going to stick out. There was a part of me that thought that wasn’t a bad thing. I needed my old hometown to know I’d been successful—even though I was currently unemployed.
But I couldn’t let them know that. Not when everyone had seemed so sure that little Shelby Sorenson would never amount to anything.
Growing up, I had been all the statistics. Dating the town’s bad boy? Check. Pregnant senior year? Check. Drunken accident that changed the course of my life? Double check.
I can still remember the town busybodies sitting on the black iron patio furniture at the Sunny Side Up Diner, sipping on their iced tea and saying things—without actually saying things—as I passed by.
“Look. Look, look.” “Honey, I see her.” “Did you hear?”
“Yeah, I heard. Bless her soul.” “And so young.”
“Mmhmm.”
“I was going to bring her a Bible last week. Darn shame I didn’t. It may have helped.”
“Aww, you’re such a sweetie. And it would have helped. I know it.” “Mmhmm.”
The weight in my stomach spread throughout my entire body, making me feel weak. I pushed aside the clothes on my chair and collapsed on the plush velvet cushions.
When I woke up this morning, the events of yesterday seemed like an awful dream. I even got ready for work. But then I emptied my purse to put my lunch in it and found all of my desk belongings.
That’s when the memory of what had happened washed over me. I was heading to Harmony Island for the reading of Gran’s will. And I was jobless.
I spent a good portion of the morning crying in the bathtub while eating ice cream and surrounding myself with bubbles, until I forced myself to get dressed and start packing. I was planning on leaving tomorrow morning, and there was no way I could walk into the minefield of what Gran was going to ask me to do unprepared.
I needed to look successful, high-powered, and determined—even if it was all a lie.
It was the only way I was going to keep my sanity.
“I’m an idiot,” I whispered as I covered my eyes with my arm and allowed the darkness to seep into my soul.
The sound of my doorbell ringing caused me to drop my arm and stare up at the ceiling. I wasn’t in the mood for visitors, and it wasn’t like I had many friends. I wasn’t rich enough to run with the socialites, and everyone around me was hustling like I was. With the cost of rent here, work was all any of us did.
Whoever was pressing the doorbell picked up speed. Realizing they weren’t going to stop, I pushed off the chair and made my way out to the hallway.
“I’m coming. I’m coming,” I said as I unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Charity, my cousin, was standing in the dimly lit hallway. Her cheeks were pink, and she was in her running clothes. Her ponytail was windblown, and her blue eyes were bright as she stared at me.
“Took you long enough,” she said as she pushed past me into my living room.
I sighed. My cousin was the only person I knew when I moved here. She was from my dad’s side, which was why I reached out to her when I packed up my lone suitcase and drove my twenty-year-old car from Harmony to New York City. We roomed together until she got married. But that relationship only lasted a few months, and by the time she kicked him to the curb, I had found my own place.
That didn’t stop her from unexpectedly dropping in every now and then.
Most times, if she was visiting, she needed something.
“Come on in,” I said, shutting the door and turning to see her slip her shoes off and head for the kitchen. “Did you run here?” I asked as I followed her.
She opened the fridge as I rounded the corner, and I watched her take a quick scan of the inventory—which was meager at best. “No bottles?” she asked, flicking her gaze up to meet mine.
We were in different tax brackets. Even though I was hustling to climb the income ladder, she preferred to date her way up. The last thing I’d heard, she was dating some Duke I’d never heard of.
“Tap water is just fine,” I said, to which she wrinkled her nose.
“This is why your life isn’t doing better.” She wiggled her finger in the air as if to indicate that she was talking about my entire body.
“My life needs me to drink incredibly expensive bottled water to thrive?”
She sighed and brought her newly manicured fingernails to her temples. “No, no.” Then she breathed out while muttering under her breath, “The things I have to teach.” Her smile widened as she glanced over at me. “What you wear, drink, buy.” She waved at my apartment. “Where you live…it matters.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Why would it matter? I’m good at what I do. And I’m pretty sure that Cosmo wouldn’t write an article about New York’s rising wedding planner if they cared about that kind of stuff.”
Charity looked confused before recognition passed through her gaze. “That photo of your boss where you were in the background?”
Heat burned my cheeks. Sure, the article was about Patricia, but I was in the photo. My face was in a magazine that was in every American home. That had to count for something.
Charity snorted as she pulled out her phone from the tiny pocket of her yoga pants. “You haven’t seen the story, then,” she said as she swiped her finger on the screen a few times and held it up for me to see.
“See what?” I asked, but then I saw the title of the article, “New York’s First Daughter, Willow Parks, to Take Job at Elite Wedding Planner Inc.” My stomach sank. “What?” I asked, grabbing her phone and staring at the words just to make sure I hadn’t read it wrong.
“Yep,” Charity said.
The whole world spun around me. That’s why Patricia fired me. It was all so she could hire Willow. My face must have paled, because suddenly, Charity had both hands on my upper arms and was guiding me to the only kitchen chair I had.
“Sit down and let me get you some water,” she said. Or at least, I think that’s what she said. My ears were ringing and my head felt cloudy.
When she returned, she uncurled my fingers from her phone and set the cold glass in my palm. When I didn’t move my fingers to hold it, she did it for me.
“Anything you want to tell me?” she asked as she started doing some yoga stretches in the middle of my kitchen floor.
I sighed and set the glass down before I leaned forward and collapsed on my forearm. “My life is in the crapper,” I whispered.
“So, you got fired.”
I moaned and nodded but didn’t move to face her. Charity clicked her tongue. “That witch.”
I sighed, lifting my shoulders as I drew in my breath. “This sucks.”
Charity was quiet for a moment before suddenly standing up and punching me.
It startled me enough to make me sit up and grip my arm where she’d hit me. “What the—”
“Stop it.” She was a foot in front of me, looking down at me with a meaningful stare.
“You hit me,” I said as I drew my eyebrows together.
“Your aura is messed up enough as it is. All this negative energy you’re putting out there, it needs to stop.” She took a step back and began to stretch again.
I stayed upright, rubbing my arm as I continued to glare at her.
“Your face will freeze like that,” she said without looking over at me.
I pumped my eyebrows up and down a few times to release the tension. It didn’t help. I was stressed. Not only about this, but also about Harmony Island.
I threw my hands up and let my arms fall to my side. “What do you suggest I do?”
Charity stood, crossed her arms, and rested her hip against the counter. She studied me for a moment and then clicked her tongue. “Go out with Titan.”
I blinked. Was she speaking another language? “What?”
She had her phone in her hands and was already typing away with her thumbs. “Titan Strom. He’s the linebacker I dated last month. He’s single, and I’m sure he’s up for something fun.”
I held up my hand as if that was going to stop her—it didn’t. Her fingers kept flying, so I took a step toward her. “Charity, hold up.”
She shook her head. “If you don’t get out in front of this, it could kill any chance you have for a future business here. If you don’t make a mark— even if it’s fake—then you’ll be forgotten. You need to stay relevant in the eyes of every bride and future bride in New York.” I placed my hand on the screen, but her fingers had already stopped. “I sent it.”
I blinked. My brain still playing catch up. “You what?” “I asked him if he wanted in.”
“In on what?”
She nodded toward me. “You.”
The floodgates opened. I stammered for a few seconds before I found my way to the kitchen chair and sat down again so I could rest my head in my hands. “I can’t date Titan. I can’t date anyone. I’m heading to Harmony tomorrow for the reading of Gran’s will.”
“Oh.”
I took in a deep breath as I tried to silence the anxiety rushing through my mind. A ping from Charity’s phone caused me to look over at her. She was staring down at the screen with her eyes wide.
“What did he say?” I asked before I could stop myself.
She shook her head and slipped her phone into her pocket. “It’s not a big deal. You said no.”
Even though I wasn’t ready to process what all of this meant, I knew it would be foolish to leave for Harmony without at least something to come back to.
“Did he say yes?” I asked, forcing my confidence to the surface. She pursed her lips and nodded. “He said he’s game.”
I furrowed my brow as I let her plan stew in my mind. It wasn’t going to be real, but it would appear real enough for the next week or so. And that was all I needed. A little time to process Charlotte’s death and figure out a plan to stay relevant in New York’s wedding world.
If I was in Charity’s place and she was faced with this seemingly impossible situation, I would suggest this temporary plan as well. So why was I saying no?
I drummed my fingers on the table. I narrowed my eyes. “Can he meet me at Java House in two hours?”
Charity shrugged. “I can ask him.”
I nodded, grateful for the distraction. I already knew what outfit I was going to wear and how I was going to style my makeup. If I was going to portray that we were dating and that I had found the man I wanted the world to know I loved, I needed to look the part.
“Perfect. Tell him to meet me there at eleven, if he’s in.” I stood and was across the room before Charity called out to me.
“What about the will reading?”
I waved her question away. “I’ll be heading to Harmony tomorrow. And you’re right, it’s better to have something fake in the works than nothing at all.” I turned and gave her a wide smile. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
She let out a psssh and shrugged. “I’ve got your back.”
I smiled and nodded. “While I’m gone, you have free rein with my apartment. Make it look…” I waved my hand in her direction. “Social media ready.”
She laughed and nodded. “Will do. It’ll be a fun makeover.”
I winced, worried what my credit card bill would be once she was done, but I pushed it from my mind. It was all for the cause. Not only did I need to prove myself to New York society, but I wanted to prove to the women on Harmony Island that I did make something of myself. That I didn’t need their pity.
I was Shelby-freaking-Sorenson and that meant something.
