Free Foolish Games by Tracy Solheim

heels.
    She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I just want you to have a chance at a relationship. A real marriage. It’s too late for me, but I’d hoped for something better for you.”
    Will placed a finger beneath his mother’s chin, lifting it so they were eye to eye. “Hey, who says it’s too late for you? You could have a relationship. A marriage, too. You just need to get out of that stupid town and live a little.”
    It was a familiar argument. Thanks to the outrageous salary Will earned to play a game, his mother could finally afford not to work and to enjoy life. Instead, she continued to dig into her hometown, choosing to live there and manage her grandmother’s antiques store. Maintaining the weathered hundred-year-old building that housed the store cost more than his mother brought in each year, but she refused to give it up. Her unwillingness to venture out of Chances Inlet frustrated Will.
    His mother shook her head. “I know you don’t believe it, but I’m happy. My life is comfortable and familiar. I’m too set in my ways to want to start over somewhere else, much less
with
someone else. Besides, I’m not going anywhere while my grandson is in town.”
    Will kissed her on the forehead. “We’ll both be able to forge a relationship with Owen. It’s not just the two of us anymore.”
    “And his mother? How does she fit into our new family dynamic?”
    His gut clenched at the thought of Julianne. He’d been avoiding her these past few days, catching glimpses of her at the hospital when he visited Owen. The conflicting emotions that rolled through his body every time he saw her made him nuts. On the one hand, he wanted to hate her for attempting to shut him out of Owen’s life, but whatever attraction that hummed between them still pulled at him every time he laid eyes on her. He only hoped he hadn’t made a mistake by insisting they spend the next three months in close quarters. For once, he was grateful his mother had remained in Chances Inlet; she’d be effective at running interference.
    “Julianne will always be a part of Owen’s life,” he said. “We all need to try to get along, for his sake. Beyond that, she isn’t a part of this family.”
    “In a few minutes, she will be.”
    “That’s just a legal technicality, Mom.” He stood, gently tugging his mother to her feet beside him. “It’s only temporary.”
    Her eyes were still sad as she adjusted his tie. “Not exactly what one wants to hear from the groom on his wedding day, but under the circumstances it’ll have to do. I guess I raised us both right, didn’t I?”
    Will smiled down at his mother as she uttered one of her favorite sayings. She’d been a child herself when he was born, living with her grandmother. Both he and his mother had grown up together. “Yeah, Mom. You did.”
     • • • 
    Just like that, Julianne was married. No wedding Mass. No wedding gown. She hadn’t even worn a dress. Not because Will had made the comment about her not wearing one—he was about to find out she was not giving in to him on everything—but because if she dressed like a bride, then this whole mess would seem genuine. The less she thought of their marriage as being real, the more apt she was to get through the next few months. So she’d donned a Calvin Klein silk blouse and pants, both cream colored; her mother’s pearls; and a pair of pearl earrings borrowed from Carly. Her sister-in-law, Faith, wanted to put flowers in Julianne’s hair, but she’d worn it long instead. The simpler the better.
    What she hadn’t counted on was a wedding ring. That little detail was causing her to hyperventilate. When Will slid it onto her finger during the ceremony, she nearly fainted. But no ring was presented for her to place on his finger. And that made her angry.
    “So let me get this straight, Will asked you to pick out a wedding band for me and you said nothing to me about it?” She paced the long kitchen in Hank’s house