Nuptials for Sale Read Free Page B

‘cause if my mom starts calling, we’ve got bigger problems than explaining this prank.”
    My face fell and I felt awful.  “I’m sorry Josh.  I didn’t mean to be insensitive.” 
    Josh’s mom passed away our freshman year at State.  He’d taken it pretty hard.  For the first few months afterwards, he’d stuck pretty close to me.  Without meaning to, I’d put my foot in my mouth. 
    He gave me a small smile to let me off the hook.
    “No worries,” he held up his beer and I picked up my wine glass, “Here’s to figuring it all out.” 
    We clinked glasses and started dinner. 
    “Any ideas on how to handle this?” I asked between bites.
    “I was thinking,” he started but the house phone rang and he jumped up to get it.  “Hold that thought for me.”
    I took a few more bites while Josh was on the phone in the living room.  I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but sensed something unusual in the tone he was using.  He was using his business voice, the same one he used when his boss called him. 
    I listened half-heartedly as Josh talked to the mystery caller.  He seemed to be using “uh-huh” and “okay” a lot.  Hopefully he wasn’t getting fussed at, or worse, fired.  He was definitely having a serious discussion.  After ten minutes, he hung up the phone.
    “Was that your boss?  Do you have to work this weekend?” I asked him when he came back to the table, phone off, but still in his hand.  His face was white and his eyes were glassy.
    “No.”
    “Was it my dad?” A moment of panic hit me at the thought of my father calling Josh.  Sure, my mom said they liked Josh and were happy for us, but maybe my dad saw it differently and wanted to have a heart-to-heart with his future son-in-law
    “No.”
    “Thank goodness,” I sighed.  “Who was it then?”
    “It was a producer from Wake up America.” 
    “What?  Why would a producer from Wake up America call you?” I laughed at his weak attempt at a joke.  He was usually so much better than that.
    He turned to me with a panicked look. 
    “They want us on the show.  They played the video on the show this morning and someone tracked us down.  They want to fly us out to New York for the show on Monday morning.”
    “Stop joking around, Josh.  Who was really on the phone?” I laughed at him again, but there was definitely something growing in the pit of my stomach. 
    “I’m not joking, Mel.  He said that they played the video because it was such a viral sensation, and that they’ve had several hundred calls about it since it aired this morning.” He reached for his beer and took a long swig.
    I stared at him, trying to will him into bursting with laughter.  Surely he was joking around with me. 
    “He’s going to call me back this weekend with our flight and hotel information.” Josh said after he put his beer down.
    “You told him we’d come on the show?” I asked incredulously.
    He seemed to come alive.  He threw his hands up and stared at me, “I didn’t know what to say.  He caught me by surprise.  I said yes before I had even really processed what he was asking me.”
    “Josh, we can’t go on national television and tell everyone it was just a joke.”  I could feel my heart racing.  A panic attack was building inside me.
    He nodded.
    “We can’t go on national television and pretend to be engaged either!”
    He nodded again.
    “How are we going to get out of this, Josh?”  My body temperature was rising.  I put my fork down and started fanning myself. 
    “I don’t know.”  He shook his head back and forth.  “I don’t think we can.”
    “This is so much worse than having to tell my mom.” 
    “I know.”
    We finished dinner in silence.  After we ate, I loaded the dirty dishes in the dishwasher as Josh headed to the living room.  My panic attack and settled, but the pit in my stomach was still there.  I thought about it the whole time I cleaned up from dinner. 
    When I