a matter of a few weeks or a couple of months at most, Cara would no longer be Neil’s employee. He wouldn’t have daily contact with her. For a while she’d keep in touch, dropping by the store occasionally or calling him on the phone. Then she’d get caught up in her world that didn’t include him any more.
The whole chain of events he foresaw was so damned depressing. And yet Neil couldn’t let Cara suspect how her absence from his life would affect him. Not for anything would he cause her guilt on his behalf.
Xavier might as well snatch the sun right out of the sky as deprive Neil of Cara’s sunny presence.
In the kitchen, Neil opened the refrigerator and closed it. He wasn’t hungry, and the effort to fix himself even the simplest meal didn’t seem worth the trouble.
Chapter Three
Cara stuck her head in the door of the stockroom, where Neil was training a new stockboy. “Neil, I’m going to the post office now. Can I run any errands for you while I’m out and about?”
“Hmm, seems like there was some errand,” he replied, scratching his head. “I’ll walk out with you. Maybe it’ll come to me.” Mainly Neil was seizing the opportunity to talk to Cara one-on-one.
Three days had gone by since she’d come to his house. She’d been awfully subdued for someone usually so outgoing and carefree. He hadn’t questioned her about the status of her relationship with Xavier out of respect for her privacy, instead waiting for her to come to him. But so far she hadn’t, and Neil was concerned about her.
“Is everything okay?” he asked when they’d emerged from the store, both of them pausing to carry on conversation. “Did you patch things up with Xavier?”
Cara sighed. “Yes, but it’s not going to work out. I’ve decided to break up with him.”
“I noticed he hasn’t been around.”
“He’s making a big deal about not coming here to the store in order to avoid you. But there are more issues than my job. Roy’s turned out to be a domineering type. I would never be happy married to him.” She mustered a smile. “Your instincts were right on target, not surprisingly.”
“Better to find out now,” he said, his voice gruff with sympathy.
“If only I hadn’t talked myself into saying yes to him. You don’t know how I dread breaking the news to my family that there isn’t going to be a wedding. I’ll never live this down.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “What a mess. Nonna and my mother and sisters didn’t waste a minute going shopping for their outfits to wear. They all spent a fortune.”
“They haven’t worn the outfits. Can’t they be returned?”
“That’s not the point. It’s just going to be such a big letdown for the whole family.” Cara shook her head slowly, her pretty face haunted. “Especially Nonna. It was so cruel of me to give her a false sense of happiness. Last night I lay awake half the night, trying to think of some solution. I even considered begging Roy to go through with the wedding with the agreement that we’d only stay married while Nonna was alive. Then we’d get a divorce. But I know he wouldn’t do it.”
“That’s a crazy idea. You poor kid. I wish there was something I could do to help you out.” Neil wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, not really caring that cars were passing by on the street behind the store parking lot.
Cara leaned into him, burrowing her cheek against his shoulder. “What I need is a bridegroom and temporary husband. It wouldn’t be a bad deal for a man who liked Italian food,” she said with a brave attempt at humor. “You’ve eaten my lasagne.”
“I sure have, and you’re tempting me to volunteer.”
“I wish.” She kissed him on the cheek and stepped away, glancing out toward the street. “There goes Agnes Tanner in that green car, talking on her trusty cell phone. The whole town will be abuzz with her description of us in a clench outside the store.”
“Then our romance following your breakup up with Xavier won’t come as any great surprise,” Neil said lightly, wanting to make her smile at his ridiculous statement.
Cara gazed at him searchingly. “You wouldn’t really consider a fake romance, would you, Neil?”
“No, because you’re not serious about a fake marriage,” he chided her.
“I could be serious if you were willing. It wouldn’t be at all unpleasant sharing a house with you for six months or a year. We get along great. You wouldn’t invade my space and I wouldn’t invade yours. But, I realize that would be asking far too much.” She turned to leave and then stopped. “Was there an errand?”
“Yes, but I still don’t remember what it was.” He waved her on and went back inside, no less worried about her well-being than he’d been before she’d filled him in. She’d gotten herself into a no-win situation with the best of intentions. Neil was afraid she would cave in to all the pressures bearing on her and end up going through with marrying Xavier rather than cancel the wedding and disappoint her family.
Damn it, he wouldn’t stand by and let her do something that desperate. If nothing else, he would agree to participate in her far-fetched scheme to fake a marriage.
Why not? He wasn’t dating anyone, didn’t foresee wanting to date anyone, ever. Cara was wrong. It wouldn’t be asking too much of him. Not too much at all.
The talk with Neil hadn’t erased Cara’s dilemma, but, as always, she felt better after confiding in him, more positive that things would be okay. Somehow. Some way.
It surprised—and intrigued—her that he hadn’t been more emphatic in his refusal when she’d asked, You wouldn’t really consider a fake romance?
Cara couldn’t help wondering whether she could actually persuade Neil to agree to a temporary marriage. Whether or not he would go that far to help her out, she would never know because she wouldn’t ask that big a favor of him.
And yet…
The idea was crazy. Not to mention the dishonesty involved in speaking marriage vows with the intention of not staying married. But wouldn’t the good outweigh the bad? Wouldn’t God understand? How could it be wrong to grant Nonna’s wish to attend Cara’s wedding before she died?
However, Cara wouldn’t have to wrestle with the morality of a temporary marriage. She wouldn’t bring the subject up again with Neil, and he was her only candidate for a temporary husband.
Cara couldn’t imagine entering into such an arrangement and living for a period of time with any other man she knew. Not even Roy. Odd how easily she could imagine moving into Neil’s house and becoming his housemate.
The imaginary scenario occupied her mind while she drove to and from the post office. On her return to the store, she gave herself a stern lecture. It’s not going to happen, Cara, so let’s get back on track and focus on reality. Okay?
“Okay,” she said aloud glumly.
True to her word, she put aside the whole train of thought, though unwillingly.
“Cara,
