Chapter 16

 

Devin

 

I couldn’t have asked for a better person to help me with everything that was going on with Ashley and Izzy. Lilli was so willing to go above and beyond. I really had to thank her the best way I knew how.

She made me promise to get her a used car with lots of miles on it. But that left a lot for interpretation, and I had Jacob go get a car from the dealership that I’d purchased my Infinity from. Luckily, he wasn’t busy that evening, and as we landed back in Chicago, a text message came through from him saying he’d purchased the car and drove it over to my house and parked it in my driveway. He put the keys under the front mat of my house.

I was bursting with excitement as we drove home from the airport. I couldn’t wait to give Lilli her car. She was going to be mad, but I also thought she might enjoy the car too. Jacob sent a picture of the car, and I glanced at it quickly and then put my phone away.

“Why are you smiling?” Lilli asked.

“No reason.”

“I don’t believe you. You’re up to something.”

I just smiled as I drove up to my house and pulled next to the white Infinity G60 convertible that Jacob had brought over. It was two years old, so it qualified as a used car. But it looked pristine and shone brightly against the sun’s rays.

“What is that?” Lilli asked as she frowned at me.

“It’s your used car,” I said as I tried to hold back my smile.

“Um, I clearly said used, with lots of miles and dents in it,” she said as she crossed her arms. “You spent too much on that. I won’t accept it.”

“It has thirty thousand miles on it. That seemed like lots of miles to me,” I argued. “And it clearly is used since it’s two years old.”

“Devin!”

“Oh, but it doesn’t have dents. Just a second.”

I popped the trunk of my car and went around and grabbed the crowbar from it. I walked back toward the convertible and took a minute to admire just how pretty it was before I swung the tire iron up and then banged it against the back fender.

“What are you doing?” Lilli said as she jumped out of the car and stopped me from hitting the convertible again.

“I’m denting it for you,” I said.

“You can’t just hit it. My goodness, Devin, this is so pretty,” she said as her hand glided along the vehicle and up toward the driver’s seat.

“So you don’t want me to dent it more?” I teased.

“No,” she shook her head as she opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.

I hurried over to get the keys from under the front mat and climbed into the passenger seat. The black leather was warm from sitting in the sun, and that was the only downside I could see to the car. It was in the perfect condition, and as Lilli started it up, the engine purred like it was meant to be with Lilli.

“How will I ever explain this to my parents?” she said as she rolled her eyes at me.

“The all-American loan?”

“Oh my gosh, they aren’t going to believe that someone gave me a loan for this. Plus, I can’t lie to them. I’m going to tell them I won it.” She laughed.

“That’s a better lie.”

“Maybe I could get a loan for a car like this. How much was it?”

“I’m not telling you,” I insisted. “But you could get a loan. You’d just have a big car payment. They give car loans to everyone. They can always come and take the car back if you don’t make your payments.”

“I don’t want my car repossessed,” Lilli insisted as if we weren’t totally making up this scenario.

“You won’t. You’re a responsible young lady.”

“Fine, I’ll have to go with it. But I’m telling them I went on a date with you too. It will balance out the lying.”

“Of course, but don’t tell them about our wedding on Wednesday.” I laughed as I got out of the car. “Maybe you should drive around in this for a little bit before you go home?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Her eyes lit up as she put her seatbelt on and backed out of the driveway. “I’ll see you Wednesday. Don’t forget to put your card on at the wedding salon.”

She waved as she pulled away, and I couldn’t stop smiling. Lilli looked so good in that damn car. I was really happy she had agreed to accept it. She deserved to have a reliable vehicle to get to work in. No matter what was going on between the two of us, I owed her big time for giving up her last two weekends to help me get custody of Izzy. It was a huge deal for me, and I couldn’t thank Lilli enough. The car was a small thank you and certainly the perfect fit for her.

 

***

 

The next few days flew by as I tried to cram a whole week worth of work into just a couple days. I made sure to stop by the local bridal salon that was just down the block and gave them my credit card and said that Lilli would be coming in to purchase a dress.

The ladies seemed surprised that I was willing to let her spend any amount and even tried to convince me I should put some sort of budget on Lilli because it would make it easier for her to make a decision. But I honestly didn’t care how much she spent on her dress. I was already asking so much of her just by asking her to take the photos, so the least I could do was let her wear something that made her feel wonderful.

“What’s the most expensive dress that you have here?” I asked.

“Well, we have dresses that are nearly fifty thousand dollars,” the woman said as she pointed to a special area with sparkling diamonds on the dresses.

“Okay, my budget is fifty thousand,” I said as I signed the necessary paperwork and left the salon.

I couldn’t help smiling as the women’s jaws dropped open. They should have realized that money wasn’t a problem when I gave them my black American Express card. But it was still fun to see their excitement, and as I drove away, I saw them all talking about me and getting excited. I hoped that meant when Lilli showed up to try on dresses, they were going to be extra nice to her.

Early Wednesday morning, I looked out to see if Lilli was up, but her curtains were still closed. I sent her a text, but I knew she wouldn’t answer if she were sleeping so I just waited. I’d scheduled the photographer for one o’clock at the waterfront downtown. It was a recommended location, and the photographer was excited to bring us there. The bonus I’d offered her for squeezing us in on short notice probably helped with her excitement.

By ten o’clock, I was getting really nervous because I hadn’t heard from Lilli yet. I looked toward her bedroom one more time anxious to see if there was any movement, but then I looked down at the driveway and noticed her car wasn’t there. She was either already gone, or she hadn’t come home the night before.

My stomach turned at the idea she might not have come home. I obviously had no right to ask her anything about her personal life, though. It wasn’t like we were actually getting married, and we had basically only been on one real date and a couple trips. She was her own woman, but man, I didn’t like the feeling I had as I dialed her number.

“Hey, are we still on for pictures today?” I asked as casually as I could.

“Of course, I’m just getting my hair and makeup done right now. I’ll meet you down at the waterfront.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”

“No silly. I want to surprise you.”

She seemed happy and a little excited about the whole thing. I tried to push my trepidation out of my mind and instead matched her excitement a little bit.

“I can’t wait to see which dress you picked. Was it the fifty thousand dollar one? That was amazingly blingy.”

“No way. Who would spend that kind of money on a dress? That’s like a down payment for a really big house.”

“You could have bought it if you liked it,” I assured her.

“Well, I didn’t. I found the perfect dress for me. Okay, I’ve got to go. She can’t do my makeup when there’s a phone up to my face. I’ll see you at one.”

“Okay, I can’t wait.”

I finished a couple of hours of work and then got dressed in the tuxedo I had in my closet. Even though I didn’t go to many fancy events, it was nice to have my own tuxedo just in case something came up. So far since owning the outfit, I’d only attended about a dozen charity events, though.

By noon, I was in my car and on my way into the city. It was going to take some time to find a decent parking spot and connect with the photographer. I also wanted to talk to her a little bit before Lilli arrived if that was at all possible.

I drove past the waterfront and saw the photographer already there and setting her things up. She had two assistants with her and enough equipment for a magazine photo shoot. It was impressive, but I knew the ten thousand dollar bonus was part of her motivation.

After parking in a nearby lot, I walked along the waterfront to where the women were all set up.

“Nancy?” I asked.

“Yes, Devin? It’s so nice to meet you. Is your bride on her way?”

“Yes, she should be here shortly. I know this is a little unconventional, but we wanted to get some beautiful photos before our wedding and have them set up at the reception. We are a quirky couple, I guess.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I totally understand. I’ll have some small prints for you to look at by Friday, and then you can order larger ones of whichever ones you’d like.”

“So your fiancé is okay with you seeing her in her dress?” One of the assistants asked.

“She’s not the superstitious type.”

It was nearly one o’clock when I got a call from Lilli.

“Are you close?” I asked.

“I’m just down the street. Turn around so you don’t see me until I get closer.”

“Okay. See you soon.”

I hung up, walked over to the railing of the water and looked out. I was getting excited to see Lilli and the dress she had picked out. It was funny that I even cared, but I knew she was excited, so it made me eager as well.

“Is she coming?” Nancy asked.

“Yep, she asked me to turn around so I couldn’t see her.”

“Oh, there she is,” Nancy said as she started directing her crew. “Grab that camera and run up and get some photos as she walks closer. You grab that light dial, and let’s stand over here so we can see his face as he turns around.”

I smiled at all the commotion going on behind me. For a brief moment, it felt like a real wedding photo shoot. The energy was real. The excitement from the photographer was obviously real. I clenched the side rail as I waited for them to say it was okay to turn around.

“Wow, this is some production,” I heard Lilli say. “I think you can turn around if you’d like.”

“Go slowly,” Nancy ordered me.

I did as I was told and slowly turned around to see Lilli standing a few feet away from me. She looked like a vision, a goddess who had just landed on this earth especially for me. My eyes welled up with excitement as I took in her beautiful figure.

Her makeup was done flawlessly, just as it would have been on a wedding day. Her hair was up with rings of curls cascading down around her, but the dress was by far the focal point of her look.

She had on a delicate white slip dress with spaghetti straps. The simplicity of it was awe inspiring as I took in every inch of her; I couldn’t look away. She was gorgeous. The dress fit every curve of her body and made her feel beautiful, I could tell by how she was standing so confidently.

“Wow, Lilli, so beautiful,” I said as I grabbed her hand and brought it up to my mouth to kiss her.

“Perfect, stay there for a minute,” Nancy said.

I’d totally forgotten the photographer was even there and had been totally lost in Lilli. She was a vision as I pulled her close and went to kiss her, but she pushed me away playfully.

“My lipstick,” she said as she gently touched her lips to mine. “That’s it for now.”

“You two look so much in love,” Nancy said as she continued taking pictures. “I’m going to get the Ferris wheel in the background. Then I think we should move over so we just have the water.”

“Okay,” Lilli said as she smiled for the camera. “Is this good?”

“Everything you do is perfect. Try not to worry too much about it. You two just cuddle and talk to each other. I’ll move you around when I need to. Enjoy your moment.”

Obviously, the photographer didn’t know that we were faking our wedding photos. So I decided to go full force and enjoy the time with Lilli. I got a bright idea to sweep her off her feet and quickly wrapped my arms under her legs and lifted her up as I kissed her cheek. Of course, I didn’t want to mess up her makeup.

“Devin, oh my gosh,” she squealed as I caught her off guard.

“I couldn’t resist. You really do look like a goddess. This dress is so perfect for you,” I whispered in her ear.

“Thank you. You look pretty damn handsome too.”

“Nothing compared to you.”

“Okay, let’s move down here,” Nancy directed as I followed her. “Don’t put her down yet.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I held onto Lilli. “Sorry, Nancy says I can’t put you down yet.”

She scrunched up her nose at me but went along as I carried her about twenty feet to the end of the area we were at. The photographer sent her assistants up next to us with these reflective disks as she moved to a better angle and continued taking photos.

“Look at her. You love her. You can’t take your eyes off of her,” Nancy said.

“You love me. You can’t take your eyes off me,” Lilli said mockingly.

“I really can’t take my eyes off of you. And I don’t want to.”

Lilli laughed and threw her head back a little as she giggled. Her smile was infectious, and soon I was also laughing with her. Nancy continued taking her photos, and we just kept talking to each other.

“I’m going to put you down now. Do you think Nancy will get mad?”

“No, I’ll wrap my arms around you, and you can twirl me around. That will make a good photo.”

“Good idea.”

We continued with another hour of random positions and photos. I was positive we had enough photos after the first five minutes, but Lilli looked so pretty that I didn’t want to stop taking pictures with her. She was glowing, and her smile was so big that I wanted to continue in that moment for as long as possible.

Nancy probably would have stayed out there all day long taking our photos, but at three o’clock, I finally said I thought we had enough. My arms were sore from picking Lilli up and setting her back down. I was getting extremely sweaty from the heat of the day, and Lilli’s smile had faded away.

“Thank you again for coming out on such short notice. I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime. Here’s my card if you end up needing some baby photos in the future.”

“Oh wow.” Lilli laughed as she turned away.

“Thank you so much, Nancy,” I said with a straight face.

We shook hands, and she and her assistants walked off toward the parking garage. I waited until they were out of sight and then turned around and tickled Lilli.

“You laughed at the baby dream? What? I’m totally borrowing a baby and calling her in a year to have her take more photos of us.”

“Oh, you think I’m sticking around that long?”

I pressed her up against the side railing as I moved in to kiss her. I wasn’t sure if she’d be around in a year or not, but the idea was an interesting one to me. I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually made plans a year out with a woman. Probably hadn’t happened since Ashley and I were together.

Finally, I pressed my lips against hers, and she let me have the kiss I’d been wanting for the last two hours. It was different than before, and I wanted her for more than just that moment. Feelings were brewing between us, and it wasn’t just the sexual desire I had for Lilli.

“Race you home?” Lilli asked as she started walking back toward the parking garage.

“How about I give you a ride, and you tell your parents you’re at Anna’s tonight?” I said when I caught up to her.

“Hmm, a slumber party?” she said playfully.

“Yep, I want to have a slumber party with you all night long.”

“Well, I guess I could say I was having a slumber party at Anna’s house. But will you have unlimited ice cream like she does?”

“I’ll get anything you want to make your slumber party perfect.”

“Whipped cream and chocolate sauce?” she asked, and I didn’t think she was talking about an ice cream sundae anymore.

“I think we can make that happen.”

“Mmmm because I’d really like to put some whipped cream on the hard ice cream and then suck it off,” she said playfully as she slipped her finger into her mouth and tortured me right there in public.

“Oh, I’m getting some damn whipped cream, that’s a guarantee,” I replied as we found my car in the parking garage.

Lilli was giggling as we got in and drove home. She was so happy. Her face was still glowing when I pulled into the driveway, and we got out of the car. I don’t think I’d ever seen her as happy as she was in those moments.

“What about the whipped cream?” Lilli said with a big pouty lip.

I pulled my phone out and clicked on the grocery store app. I scrolled through and found a few things to order and had my order complete before we had made it out of the garage.

“It should be here within thirty minutes,” I said as I opened the garage door and was about to walk in. “Oh, wait. I have to carry you through the threshold.”

“No, you don’t have to do that …” Lilli started to say, but I swept her up into my arms before she could finish.

I gingerly carried her into the living room and then playfully dropped her onto the couch. I collapsed next to her as we both sat back and enjoyed the moment of relaxation while we waited for the food to arrive.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” I asked trying to fill the time.

“No, I’m perfectly fine just sitting here.”

“I’m going to grab some ice water. Do you want anything?”

“I’ll take some water too.”

It was funny how things started to get a little awkward when we were back in my house. There we were in our wedding outfits and sitting around trying to figure out what to talk about. But our situation was a little out of the ordinary; there was no doubt about that.

I made up some ice waters and found a spot next to Lilli on the couch. It had been such a beautiful day taking pictures together, and I was happy to just sit there in silence with her if that was what she wanted to do.

“Did you tear up when you turned around? You’ve got some serious acting skills. You even had me believing those tears.”

I didn’t have the nerve to tell her the tears had been one hundred percent real. Her beauty had literally overcome me at that moment.

“Hey, it should make for a good photo.”

“Hell, yeah. Those photos are going to be so convincing that Ashley will sign the papers for you right away.”

“I hope so.”

I reached for her hand and held onto it for a minute before she pulled away to drink from her cup. The passion and connection between us were still there, but Lilli was pushing it away. She didn’t even look at me as she sipped her drink, and we waited for the groceries. In fact, Lilli didn’t seem to be there with me at all. Instead, she was far away in her thoughts.

When the grocery store delivery person knocked on the door, it was a relief to have something to do. I jumped up, opened the door, thanked him for the delivery and handed him a tip before bringing the bags into the kitchen.

“They actually deliver ice cream? How do they get it here without it melting?”

“Just like we do when we buy it at the store, they hurry.”

I pulled the vanilla ice cream out and set all the extra toppings along the counter. I had literally clicked every single thing they had in their ice cream section. We had chocolate syrup, caramel, cherries, sprinkles, whipped cream and some sort of chocolate shell that got hard after you poured it on. It was a better ice cream bar than any fast food joint I’d ever seen.

“Oh wow, I’m taking this dress off and eating it all. Do you have something I can wear?”

“I’ve got some T-shirts up in my room. You’re welcome to wear any of them.”

Lilli hurried up the stairs and must have slid out of her dress in record time because she was back downstairs in less than five minutes. She had on a white T-shirt of mine and a pair of my sweatpants that were barely staying on her.

“Nice pants.” I laughed as she tried to pull the string as tight as possible. “Let me help.”

I pulled the string tight and then rolled the waist of her pants down twice so it was a little bulkier and would stay up. My hands lingered on her hips, and I waited for her to look up at me so I could kiss her, but she was strategically avoiding my eye contact and even started to load her ice cream into a bowl.

“This looks so delicious. I can’t wait.”

“Me either. It’s been ages since I’ve had ice cream.”

“Not me. It’s basically one of my food groups.”

We each loaded up a bowl and added our favorite toppings before returning to the couch. I pulled off my tuxedo coat and shirt and just sat in my undershirt while we ate. At least Lilli was turned toward me this time, but there was clearly something going on.

I wrestled with whether I should ask her or not. Finally, I decided that I didn’t want to ruin our day by asking if there was anything wrong. She would tell me when she was ready.

When we had both finished our ice cream, I took our bowls to the sink, and Lilli followed me. Her happy glow was gone as she stood on the other side of the kitchen.

“So you won’t be needing me to come with you to Jacksonville anymore, right?”

“Is that why you look so sad? Hell, you can come with me to Jacksonville anytime you want. I just didn’t want you to feel obliged to keep helping me. You’ve done so much already.”

“Well, once you show Ashley the pictures, she will agree to let you have Izzy. We can break up, and you can go back to your normal life.”

“Is that what you want?” I asked as I moved over and stood next to her.

“Um, if it’s what you want.”

“I’d like to see you again. Outside of this crazy arranged marriage,” I joked.

“You would.”

“Yes. I wanted to date you long before this whole mess. Lilli, you’re a great girl. I really can’t imagine any other woman being willing to put up with this mess.”

“Yeah, they probably would have told you that you were crazy.”

She was right. No other woman I’d ever dated would have pulled this whole thing off as well as Lilli had. There was no fighting. She hadn’t caused any big commotion, except the fun little soda incident. But then again, Lilli didn’t strike me as the sort of woman who thrived on commotion.

“I’m sorry if I made you feel like I didn’t want to keep seeing you.”

“No, you didn’t. I’m sure I was just getting too much into my own head. I’m glad we straightened it all out, though. ”

Lilli reached for the whipped cream and opened her mouth as she squirted a dollop onto her tongue. My body instantly reacted to the sexual way she licked her lips and swallowed the rich cream. Now, this was the Lilli I’d grown to know.