The Wedding Favor (7 page)

Ava smiled. “About that, I was thinking that if Mr. O isn’t strong enough to come to the courthouse, I’m sure we can arrange for a justice of the peace to come to your family’s house for a quick ceremony.”

Mateo’s eyebrows rose. “A justice of the peace?”

“Yes,” Ava nodded. “I guess we hadn’t got as far as discussing it, but I assumed you’d want to do this as quickly as possible considering your grandfather’s ill health.”

“You assume correctly, Ava, but it’s not that simple.” He stood. “Let’s go for a walk.”

They walked together in companionable silence for a few moments, which gave Mateo a chance to process what she’d said in the coffee shop. Surely she didn’t think that a simple five minute wedding ceremony was going to satisfy anyone in his family? He needed to remember that she came from a small family and she’d been away from his family for a long time. During that time, the Ortega clan had grown with the addition of new husbands, wives, and plenty of new babies. Family gatherings were getting bigger, not smaller. He glanced down at Ava. How was she going to react when he told her that his idea of a wedding had nothing to do with a quick five minutes in front of the local justice of the peace? He took a sip of coffee. There was only one way to find out.

“Ava,” he said, “I think we’re on different pages here. About the wedding.”

She stopped walking and looked up at him. “What page are you on?”

“Not one with a justice of the peace.” He motioned to a bench near a brick fountain. “Shall we?” Once they were seated he turned to her. “I might not have been clear when I first proposed this whole scenario to you. It’s all happened so quickly.”

Ava glanced down at her ring. “Tell me about it.”

He grinned. “I know, wild ride, right? And I’m more grateful to you than you could possibly imagine for agreeing to-” he broke off, not sure how quite to phrase their agreement.

“Marry you?” Ava supplied. “Or pretend to marry you. I’m not even sure we’ve finished working that out.”

He nodded. “I believe we left off talking about getting a divorce.”

They sat in silence for a long moment listening to the sound of the water splashing into the fountain. He glanced sideways at her. “Are you having second thoughts?”

When she turned to look up at him, Mateo once again marveled at how incredibly blue her eyes were, like the color of the sky on a perfect spring day. He doubted he’d ever grow tired of looking into them, or at her, but time wasn’t on their side.

“No Mateo, no second thoughts,” she said. “But I’ll admit to being confused about what we’re doing.” She took a sip of coffee. “We need to make a list.”

That made him smile. “Like a grocery list?”

She returned his smile. “More like a massive to-do list.” She stood. “Let’s go back to my condo and I’ll make you dinner. We can make a complete list and divvy up the ground work. Oh, unless you have something else to do this evening. I’m sorry, I should have asked.”

Mateo stood and put his hand on the small of her back. “Lead the way. I’m all yours.”

**

Having Mateo in her condo reminded Ava how small her living space was and just how rare it was for her to have visitors. As she tossed a Greek salad she realized that much of her life was going to change when she became an Ortega. Gone would be the quiet evenings and solitary weekends she was used to, at least if Mateo’s cell phone was any indication. From the moment they’d arrived at her place it hadn’t stopped buzzing, ringing or chirping.

“It’s okay, you can answer it,” Ava told him as she set the wooden salad bowl on the table. “I don’t mind.”

“But I do,” Mateo answered. “I’d turn it off but I don’t want to miss a call in case abuelo needs something.”

Ava slipped her hands into the oven mitts and pulled a loaf of sourdough bread from the oven. “You’re so good to your grandfather.”

“He’s been good to me. Anything I can do is a small repayment for a million kindnesses.” Mateo came around to take the bread from her. “Let me.”

Despite his size and the fact he filled up her tiny kitchen, Ava liked having Mateo so near. They finished setting the table and Ava uncorked a bottle of white wine. Once they were settled into chairs opposite each other, she handed him a glass of wine. She lifted her glass. “To Mr. O.”

Mateo gave a sad half smile as they clinked glasses. “To making his last days happy.”

They hadn’t taken more than a few bites of their meal before Ava’s cell phone rang. Intent on ignoring it, she let the call go to voice mail. But the phone rang again. Once she grabbed it from the counter she saw that it was her realtor. And Jessie, Ava knew from experience, was nothing if not persistent.

“So do we have a deal?” Jessie blurted out before Ava finished saying hello. “I’ve been waiting to hear from you Ava, but you haven’t been in touch. What’s going on? How was your dinner with the mystery man?”

Ava looked across the table at Mateo. The mystery man. “Actually, we’re engaged.”

Jessie’s shriek was loud enough for Mateo to hear. He grinned. Which made Ava smile. Again. She hadn’t smiled this much in forever. It felt good to be happy and it made it easy to pretend not to hear the little warning bells in her mind that wanted to remind her that all of this was temporary. Pretend. Not real.

She turned her attention back to her realtor. “I’m actually not kidding, Jessie. But it’s a long story and I’ll fill you in tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Like heck I’m going to wait. I’m coming over there now.”

“Wait, Jessie, we’ll talk tomorrow.” The last thing Ava needed was for an overzealous Jessie to show up and grill Mateo. “I promise.” After uttering a few more mollifying comments, Ava ended the call and then powered down her cell.

She met Mateo’s amused gaze. “What?”

He shrugged. “You handled that so well I have no worries about how you’ll handle my mother once she arrives home.”

Wine glass halfway to her lips, Ava paused. “Your parents.” She set the glass down and sat back in her chair. “Have you told them?”

Mateo set his plate to the side and leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table as if he was shooting the breeze with an old friend rather than discussing his mother’s reaction to his faux engagement. Ava envied his cool sense of calm.

“Told them that I’m engaged? Yes.”

“And?” Ava prompted when he didn’t elaborate.

“And what?” Mateo asked, a teasing gleam in his eye. “You want to know how my mother received the news that we’re getting married?”

Ava nodded. Nothing in Mateo’s manner indicated that he was upset or concerned about his parents’ response but then again, she reminded herself, there was still much she didn’t know about Mateo Ortega. “Tell me, please.”

“My parents were incredibly surprised, caught off guard is probably the most accurate way to describe it.” He drank the rest of his wine and waved a hand in refusal when Ava held up the bottle. “But I think both of them understand that time is of the essence if we want abuelo to be well enough to enjoy the wedding.” He stood and pushed in his chair. “More than anything, I think they’re just upset they won’t be back in time.”

Ava watched wordlessly for a moment while Mateo gathered up the dishes and took them into the kitchen. None of what he’d just said made any sense.

“How can your parents know they won’t be back in time if we don’t have a date set?” she asked.

“We’re going to set the date right now,” Mateo answered. He slipped his cell phone into his pocket and took out his keys. “I was hoping you could arrange a few days off of work.”

Ava felt as if she were a passenger on a runaway train. “Starting when?”

“Tomorrow.”

Mateo reached down and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. His touch was incredibly gentle. She shivered.

“Tomorrow?” she repeated in surprise. “For how long?”

“Here’s what I’m thinking. Tomorrow we pick out your dress and spend the day making plans. The day after tomorrow we have the wedding rehearsal and get our marriage license, and the day after that we get married.”

“You make it all sound so easy.” Ava hardly knew where to begin to object to the three day whirlwind he’d proposed. “We can’t possibly arrange a wedding that quickly.”

Mateo leaned down and kissed her cheek. “We can and we will, trust me. You just arrange for a few days off of work and I’ll take care of the rest. I’ll pick you up at your office at ten o’clock tomorrow morning if that’s okay with you.”

Ava nodded. “So that’s it? You really think we can pull everything together so quickly?”

Mateo grinned as he slipped through the front door. “After that, we just take a short honeymoon. Which I’m sure will be the easy part. Goodnight, Ava.”

The easy part? Ava leaned her head against the door once Mateo was gone and closed her eyes. No. Nothing about any of this was easy and she wondered if she just hadn’t made the biggest mistake of her life.

Chapter Eight

It took Ava less time than she anticipated to clear her work schedule, which just reinforced her belief that a good administrative assistant was worth her weight in gold. “Thank you, Marti. You made that look easy.” She leaned back in her chair and smiled across the desk at the other woman. “In fact, it’s almost unnerving how well things appear to function while I’m away.”

Marti laughed. “Don’t kid yourself. You just hit a lull in the storm and got lucky that there were no major events scheduled in the next few weeks.” She stopped and thought for a moment. “You know, Ava, it’s not like you to take any time off at all. So why don’t we schedule you a proper vacation for later in the year while we’ve got our calendars open. Then we can just plan around it as we line up events for the rest of the year.”

Ava bit her lip but didn’t answer. Agreeing to marry Mateo had turned her whole world upside down. Planning, something on which she used to thrive, now seemed virtually impossible when every day felt like a whirlwind. Eventually she was going to have to tell Marti the truth about her engagement to Mateo. Or if not the entire truth, at least she had to share the fact she was getting married. “I’m not sure about my plans-”

Marti held up a hand. “Don’t give me the same old excuse that you don’t want to go away alone again, boss.”

“It’s not that,” Ava protested.

“Then your next objection is going to be that you don’t think we can handle things around here.”

“Not what I was going to say, and for the record, I know you all can hold down the fort.”

Marti smiled. “Good, then there’s not a single reason that I shouldn’t book you on a singles cruise to the Caribbean.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “A singles cruise? Marti!”

Her assistant rolled her eyes in mock frustration. “Yes, a cruise. You know, sun, sea, relaxation.”

They both looked up at the sound of a knock on Ava’s office door. “A cruise? You’re planning the honeymoon already and I’ve only just heard about your engagement.” It was Jessie. “Can we back this train up so I can get on board? Because I’m lost.”

Ava greeted her realtor and waved her in. “We haven’t quite gotten to the honeymoon planning phase yet.”

Marti held up a hand. “Whoa, a honeymoon? For Ava?” She turned to Jessie. “Since you’re so much further ahead than I am, please fill me in. I haven’t heard a single word about any of this. Is this for real?” She looked at Ava’s left hand and her eyes widened. “Oh, wait, your ring. Oh, my God, Ava, how could you hold out on me like that?”

Ava opened her mouth but Jessie spoke first. “I actually don’t think Ava’s been holding out on us, Marti. I think,” she snuck a quick glance at Ava, “that she’s been swept off her feet by a mystery man and is rushing to the altar.”

Marti glanced back and forth between the two women before settling her gaze on her boss. “Is she serious, Ava? That’s so not you. You barely even date. You hardly ever-”

It was Ava’s turn to interrupt. “Okay, if you two will let me get a word in edgewise, I’ll tell you what’s been going on.” At least some of it, she wasn’t about to tell them that her engagement to Mateo was nothing more than a favor to him. “First things first, Mateo is not a stranger. I’ve known him for years.”

“Known him how?” Marti asked.

Jessie laughed.

“I grew up next to Mateo’s grandparents’ house. I’ve known the entire Ortega family forever.” She glanced down at her engagement ring and smiled at the memory of Beatriz Ortega’s kind smile and warm hugs. “So Mateo and I have known each other practically forever.”

“But you haven’t been dating for a long time, have you?” Marti asked. “So how and when did you two reconnect?”

Jessie spoke before Ava had a chance. “Mateo put an offer in on the house Ava recently listed,” she explained to Marti. She turned back to look at Ava. “So I assume you two are going to live there now? We should pull the listing then.”

“Wait, I’m not sure what we’re doing.” Ava twisted the ring on her finger.

Jessie and Marti exchanged puzzled glances.

“About what?” Marti asked. “The house or the wedding?”

All of it. But that was more than Ava wanted to share. “You two have to realize how fast this has all happened. I’m not holding out, there’s just plenty that Mateo and I haven’t worked out yet.” Heaven knew that was the truth.

“But you’re happy, right boss?”

Ava hesitated only a second before nodding. “I can barely put it into words.” Was this going to be a new talent of hers? Saying just enough to be truthful and misleading at the same time? If she wasn’t careful she was going to end up running for political office. “Mateo is a wonderful man. He’s kind and thoughtful, gentle.”

“And handsome?” Marti grinned.

Ava smiled. “And handsome.”

“Well that’s something a man likes to hear this early in the day.” Mateo stood in the doorway, a teasing smile on his face. “Hello ladies, I hope you don’t mind the interruption. No one was at the front desk.”

Ava returned his smile. It was impossible not to. There was just something so alive, so kind, so real about it. About him. “Of course you’re welcome, come in.” She quickly introduced Marti and Jessie to him. “We were just talking about you.”

“So I heard.” He crossed over to the desk, leaned down and brushed a kiss across her lips. “Don’t let me interrupt.”