Truth or Dare: A Sweet Romantic Comedy Collection by Laura Burton (free ebook reader for ipad txt) 📗

disappointment nips at my stomach as I take the ring and put it on. “Perfect fit.”

Ryder grins, and it’s the first sign of emotion he’s given me since we entered the room.

“You do know this is all fake, right?” I say, just making sure. Ryder’s face falls but he covers it with a cough as he clambers to his feet. “Of course, I do.”

Another blast of wind rattles the windows and I frown at them.

“Don’t worry,” Ryder says lightly, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I had a strong word with Storm Sally and she’s promised me she won’t stir up any drama for the wedding.”

His words prompt me to laugh. Is that a joke? Did the serious, brooding Ryder come back from college with a degree in comedy?

My phone pings, I glance down, and my stomach knots at Debbie’s message.

Dad is asking questions. Come down NOW.

“There she is!” Debbie exclaims, jumping up from the table to join me with arms open wide. Ryder and I walk into the restaurant. It's full of my relatives, and if I didn’t have Ryder’s arm to hold onto, I’m sure I'd have fallen into a heap on the floor by now. My legs are like spaghetti. But the delighted look on Debbie’s face gives me courage. She turns back to everyone and raises a glass.

 “Everyone, I have a special announcement to make.”

The chatter falls quiet and I scan the room for my friends. Mark’s whole family is at a single table and they look just as overwhelmed by all the chatting Italians in the room. Cameron, Holly, Jonah, and Michelle look at me with identical Cheshire cat grins. My sight lands on my parents just as they look up at me, and my heart softens. They moved back to Italy to retire last year; it feels like a decade has passed since I last saw them. I resist the urge to run across the room and throw my arms around them both, pulling them into a giant hug.

“Mark and I are thrilled to see so many of you have made the effort to be here for our wedding. I can announce, with permission and great delight, that I am not the only one getting married.”

Debbie glances at me with an evil glint in her eye and for a moment I wonder if she's about to announce that Ryder and I are also getting married this weekend. What an evil plot twist that would be and yet totally something Debbie would do to me.

I hold my breath and force a smile, waiting for the gauntlet to fall. But Debbie, as if knowing where my thoughts are taking me, turns back to everyone and says, “My sister just got engaged to her high school sweetheart, Ryder Black.”

 The room explodes into shocked gasps. Some people even manage to clap. Jonah and Michelle hoot from the corner and I squeeze Ryder’s arm as if my life depends on it.

My dad, however, jumps to his feet with such force that he knocks into the table. His glass falls over and bubbling champagne soaks into the white table linen.

He stares at Ryder with such intensity, I fear laser beams will shoot out of his eyes and nothing will be left of my fake fiancé but a pile of ashes. There's a heavy silence as Ryder stares back at my father like a deer in headlights. I see a pool of sweat collect above his upper lip.

Nobody seems to have noticed the spilled drink that is now dripping onto the carpeted floor. All eyes are swiveling from Ryder to my dad and back again, as if watching an intense tennis match.

The last thing Debbie needs the night before her wedding is for my dad to beat my fiancé into a pulp, so I do what every dutiful daughter does in these situations. I square my shoulders, raise my head and say the first thing that springs to mind.

“I dooooo!”

Granted, my reaction is a little over the top. My ring hand is up the air and I’m waving it like a white flag. But the effect is exactly what I was aiming for. My dad breaks his steely glare and turns to me instead. His eyes flit to my ring. The diamond is glinting so hard in the light; it’s probably blinding everyone in the room.

My dad's dark mustache twitches and I give him a reassuring nod to seal the deal. Now satisfied that I haven't been bribed or coerced into this situation––which of course is totally what has happened––he breaks into a huge beaming smile, marches around the table, and takes long strides across the room to pull Ryder in for a gigantic hug.

 “You came to your senses. Wonderful, wonderful,” he says. Then he turns to the rest of the room, with his chest puffed out. “Both of my baby girls are getting married!”

The announcement provokes rousing applause. And even though this is all an elaborate lie, I beam too.

“Come, come. Eat,” My dad kisses us on both cheeks and hurries us to our seats––next to my mom. She dabs her eyes with the corner of a napkin, and we exchange kisses.

The chatter in the room picks up again as everyone takes up their knives and forks and continues with their meal. Meanwhile, Ryder and I sit next to my parents, slightly stunned.

I thought I could get my dad to cool off. But I never expected him to react like that. Like, he’s over the moon his daughter got back together with her ex.

What about the endless rants I had to endure on every phone call? I never wanted to bring Ryder up in conversation, but my dad never failed to. He hated him. Or so I thought.

Now he can't stop grinning. His eyes are twinkling like two diamond rings. He grabs my mother’s hand and presses it to his lips.

“Isn’t this marvelous, dear?” he says, looking adoringly at my mom. She shoots me an inquisitive look and for a second, I