The drive to Atlanta lasted an hour. Angie always wanted to see a production at the legendary Fox Theatre. When they arrived, she didn’t count on the huge crowd of people waiting to get inside. “Looks like we’re going to be waiting in line.”

Max pulled into a section for valet parking. Angie observed a valet race to the car. “We’ve been expecting you, Mr. Kelly. Go right in.”

He handed him the keys. “Ready, Angie?”

He escorted her past the line at the ticket counter. Local celebrities and well-to-do people in suits and cocktail dresses walked through the main entrance. Photographers stood ready to snap their pictures. Angie thought Max intended to use one of the other doors to get inside. Instead, he led her right to the flash-happy paparazzi. She blinked as cameras went off in rapid succession.

“Max Kelly, who are you taking to see Hamilton?” A female anchor from an Atlanta news station stepped out from the throng.

His hand landed on the small of her back. She couldn’t tell if he was supporting her or preventing her from running away. “She’s Angie Franklin, my fiancée.”

He made the declaration in front of so many people. She compared it to a searing spotlight burning a hole through her head. She channeled her focus the way she used to do when she took drama class in high school.

The anchor shoved a cell phone in Angie’s face. The recording app was on. “Miss Franklin, tell us about yourself. Are you a local?”

“Georgia-born and raised, but I’m actually from the town of Harper.”

Max put his arm around her waist and pulled her aside. “We have to go. The show’s about to start. Thanks.” He gave a friendly wave to the anchor, who still asked questions even as they entered the crowded theatre lobby.

Angie rubbed her arm. “I hate to think how many pictures they took of us. Do you know who those photographers work for?”

He straightened his suit jacket. “Could be anyone. Local news, an editor for those high society magazines.”

“Swell.”

“Why so upset? It’s just a photo. There’s nothing wrong with how you look.”

“It’s not my appearance I’m worried about. Somebody could be uploading those photos to social media right now.”

Max lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “And?”

She lowered her voice, hoping he either had very good hearing or could read her lips. “I thought you wanted the engagement to be low key since, you know, it happened yesterday.”

“Two days ago, to be exact, and I never said that. The more people see us engaged and enjoying life, the more Steve and Charley will want to do business with me.” He signaled to a worker at the concession stand. Like magic, someone raced over to them with two bottled waters. He handed one to her. “Remember, we’re a young and ambitious couple.”

“A pretend couple.”

He raised his water bottle to hers in a toast. Max then looked over her head. “I see Steve, Charley, and their wives now. Let’s start heading over.”

Angie unscrewed the cap on her water bottle and took a swig for her dry mouth.

The rest of the evening went well. She enjoyed the musical. On the way out, she talked to the Prestons and the Landers about her time as part of the stage crew in Harper High’s production of Phantom of the Opera. “I dropped the chandelier too early during the ‘Masquerade’ number. They made me apologize on stage.”

Her little memory got a chuckle from the two couples. Phyllis told her goodbye. “We enjoyed meeting you this weekend. Don’t forget to tell us when you set a wedding date.”

The men shook Max’s hand. “We’ll contact you in the next couple weeks,” said Steve.

Max acted friendly to them, but Angie could tell from his constrained expression that he didn’t want to have to wait another two or three weeks to talk to them about buying the land for the hospital. On the drive home, she asked, “What are you going to do while you wait to hear from Steve and Charley again?”

“I have a business to run in Atlanta. I’ll leave Harper on Monday after meeting with the town council. They’re also interested in the project.”

He came to Angie’s house. She saw the cars were gone and one light was still on in the living room. Grandma was still up. “I better get inside.”

Max drove away as soon as she got out. With no deed and no one to perform for at the moment, she guessed he was ready to zip out of town. She stepped inside the house and continued into the living room.

“Hi, Grandma. What are you watching?”

“The old Star Trek show I used to watch when your daddy was little. The sitter you hired for Raymond taught me how to, what did she say, stream it on Netflix.”

Angie made the Live Long and Prosper sign. “Have fun binge-watching. I’m going to bed.”

“Wait a minute. Is that the black dress I told you to buy two years ago?”

“It is.”

Grandma gave her a knowing look. “You look too nice to only be hanging out with friends tonight.”

Angie clenched her toes in her shoes. “It was premiere night at Fox Theatre. I couldn’t go in jeans and sneakers.”

“Sure you could. Folks do it all the time these days.”

“You always say to be presentable, so I took your advice.”

“Mm-hmm. Who were you presentable for?”

Grandma’s expression made her laugh. She got to the stairs. “Goodnight.” She hurried to check on Raymond before her grandmother could ask more questions.

Max got a call from Rob on his way into the town council meeting on Monday morning. “I’m about to meet with the Harper Town Council. Let me call you back in an hour.”

“It can’t wait. Your picture from last night made it on the theatre’s website.”

He stopped in the hallway of the town hall building. “So? It’s a good thing, right?”

“You introduced Angie as your fiancée, but she’s not wearing a ring.”

“I didn’t get one for her yet.”

He could practically hear Rob grating his teeth on the other end. “You need to do it ASAP. Her naked ring finger makes you look cheap and not committed to the engagement. I’m surprised Landers and Preston haven’t said anything.”

Was that why they were stalling on the next meeting? Max attempted to adjust his tie with one hand. “We told them we recently got engaged, but I get it. Angie will have her ring today. I hate to look cheap.”

“If you want the land deed, you can’t afford to.”

He put the phone away. He thought for a second, and then took it out to send Angie a text. We’re having lunch. Pick you up at noon.

He didn’t wait to see her reply. He was running late to his meeting.

Angie received Max’s text after leaving a successful job interview with an auto parts store and garage. He wanted to have lunch with her. She thought he was heading to Atlanta after his morning meeting. What made his plans change?

She bit her tongue as she replied OK to his text. She didn’t like being summoned, and it seemed like Max was planning out her day without asking if she had other priorities. Then again, maybe this was what life was like with him. He was a billionaire. He made the terms. She signed the contract. Therefore, she didn’t get to make the decisions.

She hoped that wasn’t his attitude.

She went home to pick up her grandmother for a doctor’s appointment, which lasted an hour, and then to physical therapy at eleven. “How long is your session today, Grandma?” She wondered how she was going to take her home and be ready to go to lunch with Max on time.

“Two hours.” Grandma squinted in a show of fatigue. “If you have somewhere to be, I’ll get a ride home on the van.”

Angie disliked putting her grandmother in a tight spot. “I don’t think so. Let me text and say I’ll be late for lunch.”

“Go to your lunch. If it’s for a job interview or lunch date, I want to hear all about it when I get home.”

“I’ll see you this afternoon.” Looks like today was the day she was going to spill the beans about her engagement to Max. For the past couple days, Angie considered how she would tell her family, particularly Raymond.

She drove home to change into a pair of nice dark wash jeans. She kept on the green blouse she reserved for job interviews. The blouse had a classic look to it. She figured it would be presentable for any of the restaurants in Harper, unless Max was taking her to the restaurant at the Kleghorn again. She reached for a pair of earrings in case.

The doorbell rang. She opened it to greet Max. He wore a polo shirt and chinos. Good. She wasn’t underdressed. “Where to for lunch?”

“We need to make a stop on the way.” He all but jogged to his car. The engine was still running.

“I thought you were leaving for Atlanta.” She shut the car door one millisecond before he drove away from the house.

“I am, after our little lunch date. What’s your favorite cut of diamond?”

“Huh?”

He headed for Main Street and continued driving up the road. “Don’t look surprised, Angie. You need a ring if you’re going to be my fiancée.”

She looked at her ring finger. A tiny scar resided under the lower knuckle from a minor work accident. “Can’t we just swing by a dollar store and get a costume ring?”

“Sure, if you want to make it obvious the engagement isn’t real.”

He took her to a jeweler on the north side of Harper, where most of the town’s affluent lived. Angie felt out of place as they walked inside and were greeted by an old-fashioned gentleman with a white mustache and a three-piece suit.

“Mr. Kelly, what a pleasure to see you in Harper again. I heard you were at the town hall today.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Swanson. This is my lovely fiancée Angie. We’re here to look at your fine selection of engagement rings.”

Boy, Max was laying it on thick. But it worked. Mr. Swanson’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “Congratulations. Your father purchased your mother’s jewelry here. Let me show you our diamond selection.”

The jeweler led them to a glass counter. He unlocked it to pull out a velvet case containing gold, silver, and platinum diamond rings. “What do you wear most often, Miss, gold or silver?”

Angie decided not to share that she hardly wore any jewelry on a regular basis. It was a safety risk in the auto shops. Instead she pointed to the ring with the smallest diamond. “I like that one.”

Both Max and Mr. Swanson gave the ring doubtful looks. “Gold complements your skintone, Angie.” Max pointed to a band with a solitaire diamond. “May we see this one?”

The jeweler removed the ring and handed it to Max. Before Angie could protest, he took her left hand and placed the ring on her fourth finger. The diamond sparkled as it caught the light. “Do you like it?” he asked.

“It’s pretty,” she admitted.

“We’ll take it, Mr. Swanson. The wedding band, too, if there’s a set.”

“Excellent.” The jeweler beamed almost as bright as the diamond. “Step over here to the other counter, and I’ll have everything taken care of.”

Angie turned her hand over again. The ring was more than pretty. It was gorgeous, but she didn’t see the point of spending so much money on a real diamond for a fake engagement.

Ten minutes later, she and Max left the jeweler’s and headed downtown. “Why did you buy the wedding band?”

Max put on his Ray-Bans. “Everything has to look legit. I can’t think of too many traditional couples who’d buy just an engagement ring.”

“We’re not exactly traditional. You’re a businessman. I’m a mechanic. We come from completely different backgrounds.”

“Opposites attract, but we grew up together in a small town and share the same values.”

“We do?” She wanted to raise her eyebrow.

“We’re promoting a nostalgic ideal of love.” He steered the Jag into the parking lot of Sweet Emma’s Diner. “Ideals never match reality. It doesn’t mean they can’t be useful.”

She frowned. Max was arrogant in high school, but exactly when did he become so cold and calculating? “I believe love and good people exist in the world. It doesn’t make me naive or an idiot.”

“Who said you were either of those things?” Max reached over and put his shades in the glove compartment. “We’re here. Looks like the rest of the lunch crowd is, too.” He got out of the convertible.

Angie saw the people standing inside the diner, waiting to be seated, and groaned. There was a reason she avoided Sweet Emma’s on weekday afternoons. Almost every adult employee made it their lunchtime hangout spot. She supposed it was why Max wanted to bring her here. Another photo op.

“Before I open the door to go in, I need you to do something for me.” He sounded so cryptic.

“What?” She asked.

“Let me kiss you.”