“Double shit,” I mutter again.
“Plus, she’s planning on a destination wedding.” By now I had a feeling Jasmin hates me and wanted to ruin my infant career. “India.”
“Triple . . .”
“Stop it with the shits.” Jo kept Pinocchio back on the table.
I think hard for ten long seconds and shake my head. “No can do.” Jo opened his mouth to say something but I don’t let him. “Jasmin will have to find someone else at such short notice. We’re booked up anyway.” I sit back down and continue scrolling through my emails.
“You think I don’t know that.” He said standing up and started pacing slowly around the office. “Jake insisted that Jasmin approach the Gold Finesse Events to plan her wedding.” Ah, GFE, the only company I had my sights on. I had sworn that I’d take V&V to the heights of GFE one day. They were known globally and had hundreds of branches spread worldwide. V&V was a toddler in comparison. “But Jasmin didn’t want to. That girl can be so damn stubborn when she wants something. She was impressed by our work in Jacob Swanson’s wedding so she’s being difficult.” He stopped in front of me. “She made puppy eyes at me. You know how I can’t say no when she does that.”
I nodded in sympathy. He was a sucker for puppy eyes. I predict one day, it’s going to be his downfall. “But Jo, we really can’t. It’s too last minute. We take no less than three months advance notice before accepting any contracts. We cannot . . .”
Jo doesn’t let me finish. “Yes, we can.” He leaned against the table. “We can and we will. We have to. It’s Jasmin we’re talking about here, Emma. My baby sister. And I don’t want to give Jake a reason to question my choice of profession.” He said quietly. Like I mentioned earlier, Jake was rich, which by relation made Jo and Jasmin billionaires too. But Jo wasn’t interested in working in the construction field. He liked the event business, he thrived on it just like I did. Just because his parents left them fully loaded didn’t make Jo want to work any less. And after Jake kept poking Jo to do something worthwhile with his life is what prompted Jo to start V&V with me.
“I understand, Jo, but . . .” He puts his index finger on my lips to shut me up. Damn, there he goes ruining my gloss.
“No buts.” He paused. “That’s not a sentence I thought I’d ever say.” He grinned at that and I roll my eyes swatting his hand away. “Look, we’ll hand things over to Nancy and Sean. They’ve been with us for more than a year now and have proven themselves. Let them handle the current project so we can focus on Jasmin.”
I looked away and thought more than ten seconds this time before picking up the receiver to dial Nancy’s intercom calling her and Sean to my office. Nancy was more than happy to take the responsibility and be in charge in my absence and Sean promised he’d help with anything he could. I had good luck when choosing people to work with. I liked Nancy because she was energetic and lively and there was a spark in her. She reminded me a lot of myself. Though I doubted her mother had threatened to kick her out of the house.
We spent the whole afternoon and a good part of the evening in the meeting room discussing the updates with the do’s and don’t’s of the project we were handling. Thankfully it was just one at the moment. Ms. Bethany Brown’s wedding. I gave them the checklist along with the timeline to get things done before dismissing them for the day. Then asked Jo to set up a meeting with Jasmin to discuss things further. Though she was his family, this was still business for me. And I was nothing if not professional. Apart from wolfing down and becoming the chocolate chip cookie monster on scene. Don’t judge me, they were delicious.
While near my car, Jo asked me yet again, “So, how about it? Will you be my fake girlfriend?”
Chapter Two
“What is wrong with you, Jo?” I asked. “Why are you so insistent for me to become your fake girlfriend?” I take a sip of my caramel latte as he drove us to our meeting with Jasmin to the Vandervaal Mansion. “Can’t you just get yourself a real one?”
“I don’t want a real one.” He said, taking a sharp right turn. “I mean I do but it needs to be Sarah.”
“Then just fix things with her you dumbo, instead of playing this charade,” I tell him. “What are you, fifteen? You’ve been together since middle school, I’m sure she’ll give in once you try to persuade her.”
“I have to do this, okay.” Jo insisted. “Sarah is convinced that we’re done and I need to unconvince her. We will never be done. We belong together!” He finished dramatically. He could be such a drama queen sometimes.
“I don’t think unconvince is a word.” I squint and tilt my head. “Is it?”
“Not the point.”
“Fine, how do I come into this picture?” I ask, sipping away at the bittersweet taste of my coffee.
“Sarah is the jealous type.”
“Look who’s talking,” I mumble.
Jo ignores my comment. “She hated seeing me with another female specimen even back in college. And since she’s Jasmin’s best friend, she’s bound to be around a lot during the time of the wedding. I haven’t even seen her in six days, nine hours, and seventeen minutes.” He looked devastated.
“I’m still waiting for my part in there,” I said quietly so he doesn’t have a mental breakdown in the middle of the damn road while driving my car. The blame would be on me if he crashed since I had asked him to ride. All because I wanted to enjoy my latte. Coffee would be the death of me someday. But would you regret it, Emma? Would you really? No, strange voice in my head, I won't.
“You, Em, pretending to be my girlfriend will piss her off and she’ll realize that I’m only meant to be with her and she’ll let go of this stupid anger and confess her undying love to me.”
“And what if she thinks she’s better off without you? Someone who within a week of their break up is dating someone else already.” I turned to face him.
Jo frowned as if this hadn’t crossed his mind. “Don’t rain on my parade. She’s not better off without me. This plan will work. I know it. And we didn't break up.”
“And what if I find someone I like during this wedding? If I’m supposed to be dating you, doesn’t that ruin my chances of finding my one true love?” I cringe internally at how cliché and sickeningly sweet that sounded.
Jo barked out a laugh. “You crack me up sometimes.” I hit him hard on the shoulder. “Seriously, Em, you in a relationship, please. We both know you haven’t dated anyone since freshman year, especially after Josh Williams declared to the whole school that he’ll be marrying you.”
“That guy was obsessed with me on a psycho stalker level, okay? I wouldn’t even have said yes to him if he hadn’t started crying on Valentine’s Day when he asked me out.” No one had been gladder than me to hear Josh had moved to New Zealand with his family after graduation. And there was a reason I hadn’t dated anyone since freshman year. I’ll come to that.
“If that makes you sleep at night.” I punch his arm harder and he hit the brakes to slow down. “Ouch! Do you want us to die?”