Good morning!

Happy Thursday morning where I give you a sneak peek of Tuesdays Like That!

Should I have waited and sent it to you on a Tuesday? Probably, but I'm not that patient. 😜

7 MORE DAYS!!!!!!

Next WEEK. March 31! I can't wait for you to read this accidental marriage romcom.

I'm as bad as my kids waiting to go to Grandma's! (In case you were curious, we're now down from 14 days to 5 days until Grandma's, according to my three year old. Do I regret telling him so far ahead of time? Yes, yes I do. 🤣)

Tuesday 

My grandma’s dying wish is to see me married. That’s kind of hard when my idea of commitment is finishing a TV series.

So I organize a fake wedding to Jordan Boone.

I’ll be the wish grantor and keep my freedom.

Do I know my fake husband? Barely. We played together as children since our grandmothers were best friends, so I’m grateful he’s willing to go along with my wild idea.

Except someone (ahem, Mimi Boone) interferes, and apparently we’ve been married for real. My very real hunk of a husband has grown up to be a fiiiine man.

That still isn’t enough for me to want to be trapped in a marriage. Undoing it should be easy. It will be easy. Just as soon as I get this inheritance mess straightened out…

Jordan 

My fake wife is vivacious, beautiful, and wants to get away from me as fast as possible. I can’t blame her when the feeling is mutual. I don’t like being manipulated.

A quickie divorce would be the obvious answer, but then Tuesday finds out she can’t inherit her grandparents’ farm without me.

What kind of guy would I be if I walked away? 

And when Tuesday moves in with me while I renovate my cousin’s house…playing house together isn’t near as bad as I imagined.

What happens if I’m never ready to let her go?

Note: This is a closed door romance with steamy kisses, mild language, and talks about grief.

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Without further ado....here's a sneak peek chapter for you...

The WEDDING....

I had never imagined my wedding day. 

Growing up, I’d never even thought about getting married.

Was I anti-marriage? No. Definitely not. It was simply something I’d never considered. 

Just like I never questioned why rain is wet, why sharks bite, or why pie tastes better at breakfast. Certain things in life didn’t earn rent in my mind. My future wedding had definitely never found vacancy there.

But if I were to have imagined my wedding (I’m sure eventually I would have gotten around to thinking about it), it wouldn’t have been like the travesty going on around me.

Oh, and it definitely would have been real.

Instead, my wedding was taking place in Grandma Aggie's small farmhouse bedroom with Grandma Aggie lying on her bed. Her dying wish to see me married was being fulfilled.

Her three best friends were here: Josie, her very distant cousin; Alice, her longtime neighbor; and Mimi, her lifelong friend. 

Standing next to me was a man.

His green eyes twinkled with mischief, and he had light-brown hair, scruff, broad shoulders. He stood about four inches taller than my 5’6".

Not overly tall, but he seemed to take over the room. It felt awkward standing next to him. Was it because he was holding my hand? Was it because he was promising to love, honor, and cherish me until death do us part?

Those words made me want to choke. I couldn’t imagine tying myself down—even to someone that looked as good as he did. 

It was all fake. That was what I had to remind myself. This was not real. This was a dying wish of my grandmother’s. She had wanted to see me married to one of her best friend’s grandchildren. 

Mimi had offered up Jordan Boone as an option. He was seven years older than me, but still an acceptable option in my grandmother's eyes. 

I’d met him when I was a child. In my early years, I’d spent time playing with several of Mimi Boone’s grandchildren, though I didn’t necessarily remember who was who. I vaguely remembered Jordan as one of the older ones. At any of the big get-togethers, the kids naturally grouped themselves together by age. Though the older kids were always kind to us younger ones. Page was a Boone that was a few years older than me, but I had fun playing with her and Jenny, Jordan's little sister. I remembered Jordan because he once helped me put the chain back on my bicycle when I was eight, but that was the only memory I had of him. I couldn’t even recall if that had happened at Mimi’s home or at Grandma Aggie’s.

Now, at twenty-one, I was too young to even halfway consider getting married. Yet, here I was, saying my vows in front of Grandma Aggie. Jordan was helping me fix a different type of bicycle this time.

"Do you, Jordan Boone, take Tuesday Appleton to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Mimi asked.

Yes. She was the all-inclusive package. She was Grandma Aggie’s best friend, the grandmother of the hunk of deliciousness standing next to me, and also the one officiating our fake wedding.

The fake wedding that my grandma thought was real. The look of joy on her face was worth the charade. I beamed at her instead of my "husband." At least we could tell everyone we’d been childhood sweethearts. Being around each other as children counted, right? Even if I couldn’t even recall many of those interactions? 

"I do." The deep voice shook the room with certainty. It was a little scary how a person could make two little words sound so ominous.

"Do you, Tuesday Appleton, take Jordan Boone to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Mimi leaned forward, peering into my eyes over the rim of her glasses.

This had been my idea. I wanted Grandma Aggie to see her dream come true, even on her sickbed. Why did I feel like panicking at the thought of saying two simple words that meant nothing?

Mimi’s eyes narrowed. Jordan squeezed my hand gently.

"I do." The words popped out quickly as I saw the smile widen on my grandmother’s face out of the corner of my eye.

"Then, by the power vested in me by the state of Louisiana, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride."

I glared at her. Was that necessary? No. I’d met the adult version of my fake husband fifteen minutes ago. This was not the time to be kissing anybody. Mimi looked at us with a placid smile on her face.

"I’m so happy this is finally happening," Grandma whispered from her bed as she swiped away a tear on her cheek.

Dang. I was going to kiss this sort-of stranger. I turned to face Jordan Boone, my husband, and he gave me a little shrug and a grin, as if to say, What can you do? Then, he leaned down and kissed me square on the mouth. 

It was a quick kiss. If you are going to pretend to marry someone, it’s usually best to pick a polite kisser. He was considerate enough to keep his tongue tucked in where it belonged and didn’t linger beyond what was appropriate for two strangers kissing at a wedding. But it was enough to make all four women sigh—five, including me.

"Quick! We’ll all throw rice as you leave the room!" Josie darted to the door and opened it, humming a happy tune as we walked hand in hand out of the bedroom, a handful of rice cascading over us. A few grains caught between our loosely laced fingers. Did they know what a pain it was to comb through thick hair? I would be finding rice for weeks.

Jordan held my hand until we slipped into the kitchen. It was an old-style kitchen that was an entire room to itself. A door closed it off from the rest of the living space, muting the chatter of Grandma and her friends.

My hand felt cold without his holding it.

Jordan leaned back against the kitchen counter and folded his arms across his very nice chest.

The silence was stifling. "Thank you."

He let out a bark of laughter. "Thank my grandma. She made it happen. I’ll be honest; I didn’t know what was going on until we pulled into the driveway."

I gasped. "You’re not serious."

He nodded. "I thought I was here to move some furniture. A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if I could come help her sick friend with something. I have to admit, this was not what I expected."

I ducked my head to hide my smile. Mimi had always been a little conniving from what I knew of her. "You made my grandma a happy woman. She and Mimi have always dreamed of their grandchildren marrying each other, so you’ve helped grant that dream, and I can’t thank you enough. That means a lot."

"It doesn’t bother you that it’s fake?" There was no censure in his voice, only curiosity.

"I want her to be happy. And one of her dreams is to see me married to one of Mimi’s grandchildren. I know it might seem silly to you—heck, it feels silly to me—but Grandma means a lot to me. Giving her this…this is something I can do. Even if it’s fake."

Jordan rested the heels of his hands on the counter. "I’m glad I could do it for her, then. And I wanted to apologize if I made you uncomfortable in there kissing you. I kind of panicked, not sure what I was supposed to do since we hadn’t talked about it."

"No! You don’t have to apologize. Thank you for going so far to do a favor like that for me. I know it was probably hard and uncomfortable, but it means a lot to me that you would go through with the charade for my grandma."

Jordan laughed loudly. "You think it was a hardship for me to kiss you?"

"Well…"

He shook his head. "I’ll buy you a mirror as a wedding present. That way, you can see what I see."

And now he was making me blush. Not only good looking, but charming as well.

"If there’s ever a way I can repay the favor, please let me know." And I meant it.

"I’m always up for another kiss, if that’s what you mean…" He waggled his eyebrows and grinned, letting me know he was teasing.

"Gah! Quit that!" I laughed as he puckered his lips up. 

He remained where he was, relaxed and leaning back against the kitchen counter. His mannerisms and teasing put me at ease. So often I turned into an awkward turtle around attractive people. I forgot what words were. But Jordan was different; he was approachable. 

"You know, it’s the first time I’ve married anyone, even if it was fake. What am I going to tell my future girlfriends when they ask about my past relationships?" 

I pretended to think about it. "I can be the girl that you used to know."

"Perfect. Am I heartbroken?"

"Devastated. And you have a thing for redheads now."

"Hmm, that might not be far from the truth."

Dang, he was good at making me blush.

"Is she expecting you to take a honeymoon?" He deftly turned the conversation back to Grandma.

"No. I told her I’d get married, but that I wouldn’t leave her side. It, uh, won’t—" I cleared my throat. Someone must have chopped a lot of onions in here recently because my eyes were stinging. "It won’t be long, according to the nurse."

"And she believed your reasoning?"

"Yes. She doesn’t want to be alone at the end any more than I want to leave her." And no matter how much we had expected this, I still wasn’t ready for it. I chewed my bottom lip as I studied the giant crack in the ceiling. It was one that Grandpa had intended to fix before he passed away. Grandma had left it these last two years, telling us all over and over again that it wouldn’t be long before she was in Heaven with Hubert. She was getting her wish. My throat felt raw and swollen, but at least I wasn’t crying.

I looked down and met Jordan’s green eyes. He had the kindest, most sympathetic look on his face. My chin wobbled.

Jordan leaned forward and surprised me by holding his arms out wide. "Come here. I’m pretty much a professional hugger."

It was so absurd, yet sweet, that I did step into those arms.

And I proceeded to sob like a baby.

Dang if he wasn’t a professional hugger. My shaky breaths slowed, and my shoulders relaxed.

"You know, when Mimi asked me to do a favor for her, I was wary. When she told me what the favor was, I told her she’d lost her mind. Especially when she told me it was you. I still pictured you as a little kid."

I let out a cracked laugh.

"Little Tuesday’s all grown up and taking care of everyone else now."

Those soft words gave me the courage to stand up and face what was coming.

"I can’t thank you enough for today." I stepped back and swiped at my eyes with my sleeve. Now I probably looked like a sad little raccoon. "I’m sorry it was such a surprise for you."

"Let me know if you need me for anything. I’ll be a phone call away." He cleared his throat and looked around the kitchen, probably wondering where the closest exit was so he could escape this madhouse.

"I will. And I want you to know something," I told him. He turned back to face me with a quizzical look on his face. "You’re the best husband I’ve ever had."

A grin spread across his face.

"And you’re the best wife I’ve ever had."

With a gentle shoulder squeeze, where I felt every press of his fingers, he stepped outside, and I watched the retreating form of my "husband" that I would never see again. I’d always have a fond spot in my memories of the kind man who granted a woman her dying wish. 

To see her oldest granddaughter married to a Boone.

Tuesdays Like That

Lots of love and awkward hugs,

Carina Taylor

P.S. I ordered yellow nail polish that should be here tomorrow, that way I can match the cover of Tuesdays Like That!