Page 38 of Fake Wife
“Okay. There’s definitely a story with you two. Spill it.”
She waves me off. “It’s nothing, honest. Besides, we didn’t come here to talk about me. We came here to talk about you and Corbin, and what I’m dying to know is when I need to mark my calendar for your wedding.”
She throws outweddingwith air quotes and my martini glass stops at my lips. “What?”
“Oh please. Trey told me all about Grandma Eleanor’s will and the clause about Corbin getting her house. If you think it took us longer than about half a second to figure out exactly why you’re with Corbin, he doesn’t know us nearly as well as we know him.”
Her smile is still kind, yet I’m frozen. I reach for my purse, wanting my cellphone. Corbin’s the one who didn’t want to tell his friends. Yet he’s doing a great job of avoiding me today, or at least that’s what it seems like.
“You can breathe,” Caitlin says, laughing lightly. “I’m not going to skewer you or anything. I’m just curious about the deal. And whether my dress needs to be appropriate for an indoor or outdoor wedding. Afternoon? Black tie? Give me the deets.”
My fingertips are tapping mindlessly on the wooden table top. A lump clogs my throat, making it difficult to talk. Corbin should have known his friends would figure this out. Why he didn’t want to tell them and be up front about it confuses me. Unless he’s unsure he wants to go through with it?
God, and who could blame him? I get white girl wasted and puke all over him and his kitchen floor.
“We’re trying to look out for him, Teagan,” Caitlin says. Her vibrant green eyes have softened and her voice has quieted, as if she’s afraid of scaring me off. Funny that she chose now to be gentle with me. “We love him and we haven’t really seen him deal with Eleanor’s death. Everything happened so fast, and now suddenly you’re here. I like you, don’t get me wrong—”
“But you want to make sure I’m good enough for him. I get it.” I do. I truly do. He has good friends who would protect him like this. I take a hefty swallow of my peartini, the pear vodka burning my throat a bit, and I set it down.
I don’t need to get drunk two days in a row, but I do need to gain her trust.
“I’m not a gold digger, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She blinks rapidly, as if the very idea never occurred to her, and then she throws her head back and laughs. It’s a tinkly laugh, sweet and magical. I stare at her. “You’re great, Teagan. I think I might love you. There’s no way in hell I’d ever think that about you. I’ve been around rich people my entire life, and those seeking to be rich. I can spot a money-grubbing bitch from a mile away, and trust me, you don’t have it in you.”
“I think you should talk to Corbin.”
“I could. But I want the truth, and he’s the king of smooth answers and maneuvers, something he learned from being a Lane. You, on the other hand, have innocence and honesty written all over you.”
I glance around the restaurant but there’s no one close to us to hear anything.
“Okay.” I take a quick sip of my drink and then reach for my water. “But you can’t tell Trey. At least let Corbin have that, and you can’t say anything to him until I tell him I told you. Deal?”
She makes the sign of the cross over her heart and puts her hands together. “Cross my heart.”
I tell her everything. From the morning just over a week ago that now seems like forever ago, to running into Corbin to being whisked away to his mansion at Cannon Bluffs. She peppers me with questions, but mostly allows me time to talk, only pausing when our food and another round of drinks are delivered, which I decline.
A weight I didn’t realize I’ve been carrying releases from my shoulders as I talk, making it easier to breathe again. It feels good to have someone to talk to. Someone who knows Corbin so well, someone who can answer my questions…which she evades as effortlessly as Corbin can.
I’m learning rich people have a slick way of non-answering just about everything.
By the time I’m done, Caitlin’s on drink number three, giggling herself silly, and our appetizer plates have been licked clean.
“And you haven’t heard from him today at all? Not even after last night?”
“No.”
“Then go find him.”
“I don’t know him, Caitlin. It’s not like I know where he hides out.”
“Please.” She rolls her eyes. “You know exactly where he is, and I bet, if you think hard enough, you even know what he’s doing. My suggestion: if you want to get to know Corbin, go find him and figure out who he really is.”
Cannon Bluffs. I know immediately, but why would he go there and not tell me?
“What would he be doing?”
“Not another woman,” she assures me. Although until she says it the thought hasn’t even entered my mind. “You don’t have to worry about that like your ex. Who by the way, if he’s with Missy, is soon going to be paying enough consequences for cheating on you; that girl is certifiably crazy. Spoiled little brat, but I’m not kidding. She’s nutso.”
