Amy Ruttan - Convenient Marriage, Surprise Twins

“Fine.”

“Hey, it’s not a punishment, you know,” he teased.

“What?” she asked as she fell into step beside him.

“Going out to eat breakfast with me. I’m not a monster.”

A smile played on her lips. “I never said you were. Perhaps I’m the monster. I am considered a bit of a...”

“You don’t have to say it. I’ve heard it,” he teased. “What I’m saying is that appearances can be deceiving and you, of all people, should understand that.”

“Sorry,” she said.

“No problem, sweetie.”

Lana wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, don’t call me sweetie.”

“Pookie?”

“Nope.”

“Polkaroo?”

“What?” she asked, confused.

He chuckled at his subtle Canadian joke that he knew that she would never get. “Never mind. You don’t want an endearment nickname?”

“No, thank you. Just Lana is fine by me.”

“Okay.” Then he picked up her hand and she snatched it back as if he were on fire.

“What’re you doing?” she said under her breath.

“There are people watching,” he whispered.

Lana took his hand grudgingly. He’d never really held a woman’s hand before. He wasn’t a touchy-feely guy—well, he was never one for public displays of affection, because public displays of affection meant something more. It meant permanence, romance and he wasn’t a permanent sort of guy. But holding Lana’s hand felt right.

And that made him nervous.

It’s because people are watching. It doesn’t mean anything.

And then tension settled between them. It was completely awkward and no one in their right mind would believe that they were in love and the marriage was for real unless he eased this tension.

“How did surgery go?” He winced because it was a dumb question. He knew how it had gone. Lana was a brilliant surgeon and he knew the patient had pulled through.

There were good odds he was going to make it, although there would be a long road to recovery. Andrew knew firsthand the pain of physical therapy.

“It went well,” Lana said and he could tell by her tone she thought it was a weird question too.

He let go of her hand and opened the passenger side door to his car. When he shut the door he rolled his eyes. Annoyed with himself.

Why had he thought this was going to be easy?

When had anything in life been simple?

Never.

Lana and Jack might be siblings but they were complete opposites. Jack was so warm and open. Lana was closed off and cold. He had heard the term ice queen bounced around about Lana and he got it. There was a social awkwardness there at the very least.

Yet, in her office, talking about the terms of their engagement she’d been warm and funny. Feisty even. And he was sure that was the real her, but she was suppressing it and he didn’t know why.

The drive to the Kahuna Café was laced with quiet tension, but when they pulled into the parking lot a smile crept across her face.

“That’s a lot of Tiki masks,” she teased.

Andrew chuckled. The place was a bit kitschy and totally catered to tourists, but he loved it. The food was simple and good. It reminded him of the small diner outside the east gate of Algonquin Park in the town he’d grown up in.

He hadn’t been back to north-eastern Ontario in several years. There was nothing for him there, but there were moments when he missed things and the Kahuna Café, a world away from Whitney, Ontario, brought back just a piece of home.

And when he thought about home, he thought about his sister, Meghan, which made his heart hurt. God, he missed her. And it had been a while since he’d really thought about her.

“You killed her! It’s all your fault, Andrew! You killed your sister. How could you be so reckless?”

“This is why I’ve never been here,” Lana teased, interrupting the memory of that horrible night from his mind.

“Why? Because of the Tiki masks?”

“My dad would never come here.”

“Well, your dad isn’t here, so what do you think?” he asked.

She bit her lip in concentration as she slid out of the car. “I’ll let you know after I taste the food.”

Andrew grinned and opened the door to the café and they walked in to an almost empty diner. There were a few people, farmers and tourists alike, but the diner was mostly empty. Another reason he liked this place so much.

They slid into a booth and the waitress brought them coffee.

“Mahalo.” Lana thanked the waitress, who nodded. “So what would you like to talk about?”

“Well, our wedding for starters,” he said.

“I don’t think we really have to discuss much with respect to plans.”

“Oh?” Andrew asked.

“My stepmother loves to plan parties. She’ll take care of everything. She is the top wedding planner in Waikiki.”

“How over-the-top is this thing going to be?” he asked suddenly, dreading a crazy fiasco.

Lana grinned. “Over. Way over.”

Andrew groaned. “Well, at least it will be convincing.”

“They don’t know that...” Lana trailed off. “It’s real as far as they’re concerned.”

“True. Okay, but what about after?” It was hard for him to talk about after. He never had relationships, just flings. There was never an after. It was weird to talk about after when this wasn’t a real marriage.

“After?” she asked.

“Living arrangements. I remember that you suggested my moving in with you, but we didn’t actually decide, did we?”

* * *

Lana tried not to choke on her coffee.

Living arrangements?

The waitress came over. “Are you ready to order?”

“Just some toast,” Lana said because she didn’t really feel like eating all of a sudden.

“Nothing for me,” Andrew said. “Coffee is fine.”

The waitress left and Lana found the words that were struggling to come out. The reality of ‘married’ life was becoming all too clear.

“To sell our marriage to Immigration, we will have to live under the same roof. For at least a year.”

He sounded just as freaked out as she was.

Andrew was right, but the thought of sharing her home with him, a man who simultaneously drove her bonkers and who she was wildly attracted to, was scary.

How could she live under the same roof as him?

“It does make sense if you move in with me.” She looked reluctant, though. “I mean, I don’t even know exactly where your apartment is.”

He grinned, that sly mischievous grin which caused a dimple to appear in his cheek.

Dang, his teeth were so white and perfect.

“That’s pretty bad that you don’t even know where your husband lives.”

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “You’re not my husband yet.”

Andrew laughed, and she liked it when he laughed. She wasn’t used to this. Usually he was so serious around her. She’d watched him be charming to others from afar.

But he was never this way with her.

She liked this.

Don’t get carried away. This isn’t real.

“So, your place, then?” he asked.

“Well, my house is near the hospital and the beach. I have three bedrooms and a pool.”

Andrew raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”

“Now who doesn’t know where the other lives?” she teased.

“Since I’m in a bachelor apartment I guess I’ll move in with you.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” she said. “I’m sure it’s not a hardship.”

“Oh, but it is.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not moving in with you.” The waitress set down the toast and poured more coffee.

“My bachelor pad is nice. Sparse but nice.”

“Sparse but nice?” she teased. “I don’t do sparse. I like neat and organized, but sparse? That’s just sad.”

They laughed together and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed like this. She’d never laughed like this with David. Not even with her father.