Peach sounded somewhat upset when I answered my phone, the shaky tone of her voice overwhelmed me with concern. My reaction was proof enough that my feelings were escalating rapidly. As if I needed any more signs that I was falling for my temporary wife.

“What’s wrong, you sound upset?” I said ready to go to battle for her.

“A little… bad day at work I guess. What were you up to?”

“Not a lot, just getting this place set for tomorrow. Hey, how about I cheer you up? I can pick you up now and give you the tour instead of picking you up tomorrow. It’s fairly quiet here at the moment, folks are out at a dinner.”

Just hearing her voice made me want to be around her, even though it was laced with sadness. It was a gorgeous evening I wanted nothing more than to show her the Dalton estate, walk the grounds, see the sunset over the valley, and most importantly make her smile again. I didn’t stop to think how appropriate it would be, I just couldn’t help myself. Besides she sounded like she needed cheering up if nothing else.

“If you think it’ll be okay, sure. Actually, that sounds really nice. Would take my mind off things. I’ll be back home and ready in say an hour. Thank you, Ethan.”

“Anything for my blushing bride,” I heard myself saying, and knew I meant it. “I’ll see you soon.”

At that point, I’d crossed over the line and there was no way back. No longer was I merely pretending with her, I really did care.

Why wasn’t this real? I wanted to ask her. Why pretend when we could have the real thing?

But I couldn’t say those things out of concern for her. I was a man of my word, I had to fulfill my agreement. Surely that was what was most important to her. Why else would she have agreed to this? She needed the money and I needed a fiancée. God, it had all felt like a good idea at the time. I never envisaged my feelings would get so tangled up, making everything so much more complicated.

Damn, I wanted to smack Nick for putting this idea in my head and pushing for me to deceive my family and the gorgeous, sweet and funny woman I’d met.

It was only going to be one more day, this time tomorrow everything should be settled. There would be some speeches after the party and then everything would be signed for the inheritance and the company would be officially mine to run. I’d been preparing for this all my life, strange now that it was so close and it was far from the most important thing on my mind.

What would it all mean if Peach wasn’t actually going to be by my side? I cursed the situation and the hole filled with pretense that I felt like we were digging.

With the thought of Peach now permanently on my mind, I decided to hurry up and get changed. After helping to move furniture for the past couple of hours it was time to freshen up. I wanted to be presentable to pick up my better half. I smiled at the thought then wiped it from my mind just as fast. I couldn’t be daydreaming right now. Really Ethan, what have you gotten yourself into?

I arrived promptly at Peach’s and watched with delight as she bounded to the car smiling. But there was an undeniable tense moment when she hopped in and greeted me. There was an unspoken and instinctive need to kiss her, but I kept my hands fixed on the wheel. We still hadn’t addressed what happened at the jewelers, and perhaps it was best not to disturb the lid on that Pandora’s box of desires right then. For surely one kiss would never be enough to quench my need for her.

This evening was just going to be a quiet and friendly preparation for tomorrow, that was all. A dress rehearsal, if you will. We didn’t need to get carried away.

“So are you ready to forget your rough day at work? You look gorgeous by the way.” I had not consciously intended to let slip the compliment, but before I finished my sentence it had spilled out. She did of course look gorgeous. But again I had to remind myself not to go down that route, we were supposed to be avoiding that certain emotional twisting path of affection.

“Already forgotten now that you’re here,” she said with a playful, and dare I say it cock-teasing smile.

The journey involved our familiar question and answer game as we once again tested our knowledge of each other. It was all becoming so second nature that the false details of our relationship may as well have been true.

The blue sky dimmed to a chalky grey as we drove west into the valley and arrived at the estate. We passed under tall white arches at the perimeter, then the main buildings of the winery appeared as if out of nowhere from amongst the low hills like a welcoming sanctuary. It sprawled out over the hillside with its large, two-story wings. Beside the main building there were extensive grounds as well as many extraneous structures necessary to make our wine specialties.

“Home sweet home,” I said.

“Holy cow,” exclaimed Peach looking at me. “I guess this is how the other half lives huh?”

I almost said that it was how we, together as a couple, should live, but I had to bite my tongue. We barely met and yet already I was thinking of having her move in. But then a small voice piped up in the back of my mind, reminding me that we were already married, so living together shouldn’t be considered a stretch of the imagination!

One step at a time, I thought urging myself to at least take some things slow.

“Welcome to my humble abode. Come, I’ll give you the tour,” I said and took her hand.