Book 13: A Small Town Wedding
Love in Harmony Valley Series
On this page, you’ll find the story blurb, an excerpt, the story behind the story, and bonus content.
He needs a fake girlfriend.
Although they dated for only a month, Harley O’Hannigan agreed to be Vince Torino's plus-one at his brother’s Harmony Valley wedding. Big mistake, given her feelings for the tall, dark, unavailable bachelor.
But things quickly get complicated.
Vince never told her about his prickly relationship with his brothers or his bad boy past. Not that Harley has been forthcoming about her submarined career either. But secrets have a way of coming to light when you’re sharing a tiny room with twin beds, making Harley wonder if they’re both due for a fresh start…together?
Fans of fake relationship romance and movies like Can’t Buy Me Love and The Wedding Date will love this fun, heartwarming, clean romance with a happily ever after.
Excerpt:
“You’re coming home, Vince. Deal with it.”
Vince Torino considered himself a survivor.
He didn’t think he’d survive his little brother’s wedding back home in Harmony Valley. And that’s what this conference phone call with his two brothers was all about.
“So much for you calling it a wedding invitation.” The Texas summer sun beat down on Vince where he stood leaning against his truck, nearly as unbearable as his bittersweet memories of home.
“You’re going to come to my wedding and stand on the altar with me.” Younger brother Joe wasn’t asking. “And you’re going to bring that girlfriend of yours. It’s long past time we met her.”
Ah, the girlfriend.
His brothers pestered him less when they thought he was in a relationship. Hence his make-believe girlfriend, the latest of which hadn’t been make-believe a few weeks ago.
Footsteps nearby drew Vince’s gaze.
He was part of a crew working on a huge remodel in a fancy neighborhood outside of Houston. And the blonde working the tile saw in the driveway… Harley O’Hannigan wasn’t likely to go out with Vince again, much less go away with him. But she was just the kind of woman who could hold her own against his siblings.
“Yeah…Uh… My girlfriend isn’t sure she can get off work,” Vince hedged.
“What’s her name?” His older brother Gabe was nearly silenced by the whir of Harley’s tile saw and the punch-punch-punch of a nail gun inside the house. “And what’s that noise? Where are you?”
“They’re remodeling my local Starbucks.” Lying, Vince pulled his focus away from Harley. He hadn’t told his brothers he no longer worked on an oil rig. “And, no, I won’t tell you her name. The last time I introduced you to my girlfriend, you stole her, Gabe.”
“That was high school,” Gabe scoffed. “There is no girlfriend, Vince. Admit it. And that’s the reason you need to come home so we can straighten out your life.”
Vince’s life was fine as long as his brothers stayed out of it. Not that he didn’t love them. He just didn’t want to answer for every decision he’d made, every confidence he’d kept, every path he took in life.
“The fake girlfriend is your tell.” Joe sounded disappointed. “The last time you bluffed about one, you’d been clipped by a stray bullet in a bar fight.”
“I wasn’t actually in the bar fight.” Vince had been collateral damage, which seemed to be the story of his life. He set his jaw. “I’m not bluffing. There’s a girl.”
Correction. A woman. Wearing worn blue jeans, a burgundy T-shirt with the construction company’s logo and scuffed work boots. She wiped a tile dry with a towel, examining the cut she’d made in the white marble.
“Send us a picture,” Joe prodded. “We’ll compare her to Sarah Whitfield. Did I tell you she was back in town? And still single?”
“Guys...” Vince squeezed the tail end of his patience, hanging on tight.
“There is no girlfriend.” Gabe pounced once more. “Which means you’re in trouble. Do you need me to spot you some cash?”
“No!” Money was the last thing Vince was worried about.
Harley spared Vince a glance. She was what Texans called a tall drink of water. Long, elegant lines, delicate bone structure, straight blond hair that she kept in a long braid down her back. Everything about her appearance was at odds with her being a construction worker. That contradiction was the reason he’d asked her out. Her gentle humor and sly wit had kept him asking.
“If it’s not money, how’s that truck of yours running?” Joe jumped in on Gabe’s fun. “I could re-bore those heads again and you’d get another fifty thousand miles.”
Vince drove their father’s red-and-white 1976 pickup truck. It had a weak air conditioner, cloth seats and unreliable headlights. Dad had been a mechanic who’d struggled with mental illness, made harder on the family when Mom had left them. Despite challenges, Dad had taught his three boys his trade. Only Joe had followed in Dad’s footsteps. Gabe was a lifer in the military, currently on leave for Joe’s wedding. And Vince—
“Torino! Break time’s over.”
Vince’s boss rounded the far corner of the house they were remodeling. Jerry wore a frown and a sunburn from a weekend spent bass fishing. “That deck’s got to be finished today.”
Vince held up a hand, acknowledging the older man. “I’m fine,” Vince said into the phone. “The truck is fine. My bank account is fine. Harley is fine.” This last came out like a backfire through a rust-ridden muffler.
His brothers crowed over his slip.
“Retire Dad’s truck,” Gabe said when he stopped laughing. “I’ll reserve you a room at the Lambridge Bed & Breakfast where I’m staying.”
“Bring me some of that oil you dredge up on that rig of yours,” Joe said, gasping for breath. “Gas in California is expensive. And a girlfriend? Sarah is going to be so disappointed.”
Vince wasn’t working on an oil rig, hadn’t been for over a year since it’d exploded.
He wasn’t retiring Dad’s truck. Other than the faulty headlight wiring, it ran like a champ.
He wasn’t dating Harley, not since she’d broken up with him.
And he had no idea if he was going to go to his brother’s wedding.
The Story Behind the Story
There is nothing more fun for me to write than a fake date/ relationship. I love all the complications and opportunities for humor. And then there are all the family secrets that plague the Torino family. Color me happy!
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