Read Not Quite A Bride for Free Online

“That’s true! I’m going to be Mommy! I didn’t even think about that ... she wouldn’t call me Jamie. Maybe I should think of something cooler than Mommy ... or spell it with an ‘ie’?”
    Oh yeah, we also loved spelling regular names with irregular spellings. For example: I remember one doll we fought viciously over named Stefany. Don’t ask me why.
    Jamie and I spend a good part of the afternoon talking about her pregnancy. It really is such an exciting thing. And I’m still jealous, but not as jealous ... especially after she throws up the cookies. By the time I leave, I am excited to be World’s Greatest Aunt ... but I remind myself that I cannot get too caught up in that because I have a lot of planning of my own to attend to.

7
    The Whirlwind Romance Begins
    J ustin and I agreed that we would meet again in a week to devise the game plan for our “relationship.” It’ll be important to bring him to strategically placed events with the proper mixture of family and friends so that the fast engagement seems legitimate and doesn’t come as a complete shock to anyone. Thankfully, there are a few such events coming up.
    A week later I am at the same Starbucks with Justin to finalize the details. Stuff like how affectionate I want him to be, what is the story about how we met, what he does, etc. Also how and when he will be paid. We decide that sticking as close to the truth as possible will make it harder to mess up the lie. So, his name is still Justin Blake. He’s still thirty-three and working as a waiter until his acting career takes off. We had a good laugh about what would happen if we said he was a neurosurgeon and then someone went for dinner at the restaurant where he works.
    Obviously we decided to skip the whole escort and me answering a Village Voice ad thing and say that we met at the Starbucks where we had our first “date.” It’s actually a romantic little story. It’s basically how it happened in real life sans the business side of our meeting. We also agree that he will not escort anyone else during the year because if someone saw him out with another woman (or man) it would be bad ... but he can continue his own dating life as long as he keeps it discreet. I will pay him, in cash, for each event that he attends as my date/boyfriend/fiancé. I will get a slight discount on his usual evening rates since I will be such a good customer, but I also have to give him a sizable “down payment” to make sure that he will not escort any of his other clients for the year.
    He asks about what would happen if I really did meet “the one” during this year, but I assure him that it hasn’t happened in the previous thirty years, so there is no way it will happen in the next 365 days. We even set an engagement date (eight weeks after our first “date”) and our wedding date, June 30, as kind of an inside joke since the whole scheme is kind of my thirtieth birthday present to myself.
    The first order of business is making our “love” known to the world. Brad and Claire’s engagement party is the obvious place to begin. But before I can just show up with him, I need to plant seeds to those around me that he is in my life.
    First, I decide, will be my brother, Logan, who is “finding himself” in Italy. It feels easier to lie on a long distance call, so it seems like the ideal warm-up. Logan is the youngest Harrigan—and the much-anticipated son who will carry on the family name. Really, our dad isn’t as ridiculous as that sounds, but I think he always had dreams of raising a son, and when his first two children were girls he began to fear it would never happen. But the third time’s a charm and he finally got his boy.
    I think Logan has always been a bit of an enigma to Dad, though. I still remember Logan’s nursery—a major league sports theme. There was even a brand-new