Elizabeth Harbison - Plain Jane Marries The Boss

“I hope the lady agrees,” Terrence said, with a questioning lift of his brow.

“Yes.” With some effort, she straightened and took a bracing sip of the wine. “Ever since I met Trey, I’ve had the feeling he was the one,” she said, more honestly than Trey would ever know.

The older man beamed delightedly. “So when’s the date?”

There was a brief, awkward silence, then Jane said the only thing that came to mind. “February fourteenth. Valentine’s Day,” she added unnecessarily.

“Of next year,” Trey put in quickly. Then, with a shrug to his father, added, “Jane prefers a long engagement.”

Terrence looked at her. “Really, why is that?”

She felt the heat creep into her cheeks. “Why?” Her mind raced frantically. “Because…” She looked at Trey, whose face was curiously blank. “Because statistics show that people who are engaged a year or more typically have more successful marriages.” She thought she had read that, or something like that, somewhere. Sometime.

Beside her, Trey added an enthusiastic, “Yes.”

Terrence scratched his chin. “I didn’t know that.”

“Oh yes.” Trey picked up the reins. “Lots of studies have been done on the subject. The longer the engagement, the better the marriage.”

The waiter appeared then to take their orders, and Jane took the opportunity to breathe and collect herself. She wasn’t feeling as shy as she normally did in social situations. That was good. But she didn’t feel certain about her acting skills. That was bad.

When it was Trey’s turn, he hesitated over whether to get the chicken or the filet and Jane leaned in to whisper to him that the chicken dish was heavy on an herb he didn’t like. “Remember? At Chez Guis-line you said the tarragon tasted like soap leaves to you.”

After a long, questioning moment of looking at her, he ordered the beef.

“That’s what I like to see,” Terrence said, apparently oblivious to Trey’s silent query. “A woman looking out for her man. Call me old-fashioned, but it does my heart good.”

“Jane is old-fashioned too,” Trey interjected. “I just knew you two would hit it off.”

They both looked at him.

“In what ways am I old-fashioned?” she asked.

“Loyalty,” Trey said, letting his gaze linger on her for an extra moment.

“That’s an important quality in a wife,” Terrence agreed.

“That’s an important quality in anyone,” Jane said, just as Trey began to say the same thing. They exchanged glances.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he said, eyeing her steadily.

Suddenly there was an exclamation of surprise and Jane, who was lifting her water glass to her lips, was knocked soundly by an older woman passing by. The water spilled across her lap and onto the floor.

“Oh! I’m so terribly sorry!” the woman exclaimed.

Jane took her napkin and started blotting the water up. “It’s okay. It’s just water.”

“I just feel terrible,” the woman said, reaching down with a handkerchief she had taken from her purse and blotting at Jane’s skirt. “Just terrible.” She bumped her hand soundly against Jane’s, and the heavy diamond cut into her skin.

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