Page 63 of Not So Very Sensible

“You got her number?” Rob whistled. “Wow. That’s progress.”

“I got her Instagram. Then I lost my phone and got locked out of my accounts, so now I can’t find her again.”

“Poor Ethan.”

“I’m not really interested in hearing about a blue-haired woman,” Dad said, his expression flinty. “She does not sound like the right kind of woman for you.”

“She is, way more than Lucinda is. At least she’s a Christian.”

Too late, he remembered this was not the way to get any of them on board. If his mum had been here, she would have nodded, but the rest of his family held no faith. No faith in Jesus, anyway.

His dad leaned forward. “Lucinda will make you a fine wife. You should reconsider.”

“Why are you being so pushy about this?”

Then Ethan blinked. Of course. The reason his father was such good friends with Don Steele was because Don was one of his biggest financial contributors. His stomach tightened. So really, none of this had any altruistic reasons to do with Christine. It was all about shoring up Dad’s financial campaign to help him win the next election.

“It’s about money, isn’t it?”

“Money makes the world go round.”

“Yeah, well I’m not gonna play. You’re going to have to find somebody else who is.” He pointed at Rob. “Maybe Rob would be happy to.”

Francine had been bent over her phone, tapping away, and she finally looked up with a smile. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

“What do you mean?”

She smiled. “Because Lucinda has just announced your engagement on Facebook.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

He reached for his phone, then remembered he couldn’t access his Facebook account either. He gestured for hers, and she passed it over, smirking.

He looked at the post and saw that Lucinda had posted two pictures. One of the two of them from years ago, where he’d kissed her cheek. The other of her holding out her hand, on which the fourth finger boasted a diamond ring. “What?”

The words “I said yes!” were emblazoned across in large dark letters, and already the post was scoring likes, hearts, and congratulatory messages. Including—as he read down the comments—one from his sister.

Breath hitched. “You said congratulations?” He scowled at her. “We’re not engaged—and you know that! How could you like that? We’re never getting engaged. What kind of freak show is this?”

“Hey, there’s no need for nasty names,” Rob tut-tutted. “Not very Christian of you, is it?”

Rob could take his ‘not very Christian’ comments and shove them up his—

“She’s insane.” He shoved the phone on the coffee table, feeling like his life, his soul, was tainted. He wiped his fingers on his jeans. “I am not going along with this. I’ll let people know—” Except how could he do so when he couldn’t jump on social media and declare the truth?

“Know what, Son?” Dad studied him. “This is just the sort of good news that my campaign needs right now.”

“Whoa. I thought you wanted me to marry Lucinda because of Christine. Now it’s because of your campaign?”

Dad shrugged. “Needs be.”

Wow. Everyone here was unhinged. He stood. “I’m out. I’m not playing.”

“If you don’t play, then what are you going to do? Find this blue-haired girl and do what?”

“Her name is Elinor. She’s a graphic designer. And she’s smart and funny, and I like her. And I don’t care what weird thing is going on here; I don’t want any part of it.”

“You can’t make a fuss. I can’t afford any scandals, and if you publicly state this isn’t true, then that’s going to cause a scandal. As well as breaking poor Christine’s heart. And you don’t want to break poor Christine’s heart when she’s only got a few months left to live, do you?”