Fooled Around and Fell in Love (A New Beginning Book 2) (2 page)

Tom gave his mom a hug. “Happy birthday.”

“I see you convinced Colleen to come with you.”  She smiled and turned to Colleen. “Hi honey!  How are you?”

“I’m great, Jan.  Happy birthday. Thanks for letting me crash your party.”  Colleen handed her a card and then gave her a quick hug. 

“Oh you hush.  You know you’re always welcome.”

They both exchanged pleasantries with Tom’s dad, Thomas, as well as Jason, Sarah and their four kids.  Everyone was clearly happy to be together, celebrating Jan’s birthday, and no doubt waiting to see what type of joke she pulled on them that year.

Jan smiled. “We all just got here too.”

Colleen watched Jan turn to her grand kids.  “Come and give gran a hug for her birthday!” 

The kids each stood up and gave their grandmother a hug, saying happy birthday to her.  Their ages ranged from 8 – 12, with the middle two being 10-year old twins and completely identical.

Jason, Tom’s brother, was quite a bit older than Tom, who was only 27. 

Tom looked around the group. “Who’s up for chicken wings?”

After placing their order for the must-have appetizer, Jan went up to get pull tabs and brought a whole stack back for the table to open.

Colleen watched Jan closely as she talked to the running the pull tab booth.  She even watched the woman count out the pull tabs, just to be sure no sneaky business went on.

When she got back to the table, Thomas was shaking his head with a look of exasperation on his face. “Jan, are you nuts?  Why do you spend money on those things when we always lose?”

“Oh hush.  You know I like trying one time.  It’s my birthday after all and I can do what I want.” 

Colleen shook her head.  Sometimes she acted like a toddler. It made her wonder how she’d take the prank they were about to play on her.

Jan handed each person five pull tabs, and they each took turns opening them. 

Jason opened one gave a whoop.  “I pulled a winner!  It’s $500.00!” 

Sarah then opened one and her mouth fell open.  “I did too.  It’s $250.00.”

Around the table, there were five large winners.  The group couldn’t believe their luck.

Colleen would have thought something was up if she hadn’t watched his mom like a hawk when she got them.

Jan glanced over at Tom.  “You go on up and get them cashed in.  Don’t forget your license.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

Tom walked up with the winning tickets and handed them to the lady at the pull tab booth.

Colleen looked at her suspiciously when Jan started laughing silently.

All of a sudden there was a commotion up at the pull tab box and then entire table looked up to see Tom waving the tickets in the air and the woman shaking her head no, pointing to the boxes.  Colleen had a sinking feeling that they had just been the victims of Jan’s latest prank. It made her extremely satisfied that they had one of their own to play on her later that evening.

Forget the guilt. 

Game on! 

Tom finally gave up and Colleen saw him walk back to the table with a scowl on his face.  

“She says they aren’t real.” 

Tom glared at his mom. 

Jan laughed so hard she snorted.  “April fool’s!”

Jason chuckled. “That’s cruel, mom, cruel.”

Colleen laughed along with the rest of the table and then finally met Tom’s eye.  She nodded slightly to him and he gave her a grin that just about stopped her heart. 

I must be crazy.

After everyone stopped laughing, the group had a very nice dinner. 

Once dinner finished, Thomas pulled out a cake box that Colleen instantly recognized from her best friend’s bakery, Dessert First.  The cake turned out to be layered lemon and cream cheese and already had the 65 candles on top, ready to be lit.  She had to remember to tell Abby how amazing her cake had been.

As Tom’s mom was finishing opening her gifts, Peter stopped by their table.

“Hello, folks.  What brings you here tonight?”

Jan smiled at Peter, who was wearing a tux and top hat.  He was a bit eccentric and loved his nights as the bar’s magician.

“It’s my birthday.”

“Well, then, here’s a flower for the lovely young lady.” 

Peter made a red rose magically appear out of thin air. 

“Pick a card, any card.” 

He fanned out the cards in front of him and Jan chose a card. 

“Now write your name on the card.”  Peter handed her a red Sharpie.

Jan wrote her name on the card. 

Peter actually made the card Jan had chosen disappear and then show up in a stack of cards that he hadn’t even touched.  Colleen had seen the trick several times before and was still impressed.

When everyone had recovered from their astonishment, Peter took out three coins, and made the three coins turn into one.  That one was new for her, but wasn’t any less impressive.

Tom’s nieces and nephews were grinning and laughing at the tricks.

Peter walked around the table, and stopped in front of Colleen.  He took out three cups from his red velvet bag of tricks, along with a small ball.  He set them up in front of Colleen, putting the small white ball under the middle red cup.  She looked up at Peter in surprise.

“Your turn.  It’s a new one for you.”

She smiled and said, “Alright.”

“The white ball is in the middle cup, correct?”  Peter directed his question towards Colleen.

“Yes.”

“Now keep your eye on the cup with the ball.  I want you to tell me which cup it’s under.  I’ll move it slowly,” Peter told her, as moved the cups around. 

It was pretty easy for Colleen to keep track of the ball, or so she thought.  She was positive she knew where the ball was when he finally stopped moving the cups.

“Well, which cup has the white ball?”

Colleen answered quickly, pointing to the cup on the right. “That one.”

Peter lifted it up and the ball was not under the cup.  Colleen’s mouth dropped. 

What the hell?

He proceeded to try it again, moving the cups a little faster.

Again, she attempted to keep track of the ball and guessed when he quit moving the cups, and again she guessed wrong.

Even Jan looked astonished. “How are you doing that?” 

“It’s magic,” Peter replied, his blank face showing no emotion.

Tom’s eyes widened.  “That’s amazing,”

“Okay, one more time, Colleen.  This time, try to actually keep track of the ball.”

Colleen giggled. “I’m trying!” 

Peter again moved the cups, this time even faster.  He finally stopped moving them.  “Well, which one is it under this time?”

Colleen looked at the cups, and guessed the one in the middle.

This time, Peter decided to show them the cups Colleen hadn’t guessed.  He picked up the left cup, and it was empty. 

“Nice.  Now, let’s check the right cup.”  He picked up the right cup, and again, the ball wasn’t there.  “Looks like you got it this time.”

After a few seconds, Peter lifted the final cup and she was expecting the little white ball to be underneath.  

It wasn’t clear if the gasps around the table were due to the magician’s amazing talent or the fact that in its place was Tom’s great-grandmother’s beautiful diamond ring.

Perfectly timed with the cup being lifted, Tom had gotten on one knee in front of Colleen.  He looked directly into Colleen’s bright blue eyes and said, “You’re my best friend and the love of my life.  Colleen Toogood, will you marry me?”

Colleen sat there with a shocked look on her face, while Jan yelped in joy and the others around the table had their mouths wide open in surprise.  Colleen hadn’t expected the fake proposal to feel so real or that he was going to say it in a way to absolutely melt her heart. 

Her eyes stung.

As Colleen looked at Tom, kneeling before her, her heart sank into her chest, knowing this was fake.

But she agreed to it, so she forced a smile on her face.

“I love you, too.  Yes, I’ll marry you.” 

His smile lit his face as he slipped the ring on her finger. 

Colleen’s eyes filled with tears.  His smile faltered, so she quickly smiled. 

She should get actress of the year for this performance.

“Kiss her, Tom!”

Jan was grinning wide and clapping her hands loudly as Peter slowly backed away.

She hadn’t thought of him having to kiss her! 

She looked at Tom, who seemed to be silently asking for her permission. 

Oh, what the hell.  My heart is already shattered.

She gave him a slight nod.

Tom grabbed her with both hands and pulled her in close for their first kiss. 

How awkward for it to be in front of his family and how sad for it to be fake. 

She didn’t intend to allow it to be more than a peck, but the kiss began, she couldn’t seem to pull away. 

Tom’s lips were pressed softly against hers, but then he tilted his head and the kiss deepened. 

She tried to push against his chest but he held on and she wound up instead putting her arms around his neck. 

She felt that kiss all the way to her little toe.

Tom finally pulled back and looked into Colleen’s eyes.  She stared back. 

He seemed almost as affected by their kiss as she did, and had a look of surprise on his face.

Their stare was interrupted by Tom’s dad, saying, “It’s about time, son.” 

He turned to Colleen and said, “You’ve always been part of our family.  Now it’s just official.”

Colleen was swirling with so many emotions – shock, desire, guilt and fear – and the questions were buzzing through her mind.

How could Tom kiss me that way as a joke? 

She knew she loved him, but the electricity between them was still flowing as they continued to stare at each other.  The guilt and regret flashed through her mind.

How would they tell Tom’s parents this was all just the ultimate April fool’s joke? 

What would happen to their relationship?

Could he possibly feel more than just friendship for her?

Nah, I’m letting emotion get in the way of reality.

Colleen blinked a few times and tried to look away from Tom, but his eyes were still glued to hers.  She picked up her wine and took a huge gulp, staring back.

“You two didn’t tell us you were actually dating.  Although, I’m not exactly surprised.”  Jan was still smiling widely.

Colleen couldn’t speak, so she just shrugged her shoulders and looked over at Tom, willing him silently to be the one to explain.

“Yeah, we didn’t really tell anyone.” Tom answered for them.  “We wanted to see where it would go first.”

“Well, it’s about time!”  Jan directed that towards Tom, and then she turned to Colleen.  “Call your mom and dad to tell them the great news!”

Colleen almost spit out the drink she had taken, and choked it down instead.  “Um, I think I’ll call her later.” 

She gulped down more wine. 

What the hell am I doing?
 

“What?  Why?” Jan was shaking her head.  “Of course they’d want to know.”

“I want to be able to tell her all about it privately.”  Colleen thought fast.  “It’s too loud in here.”

Jan narrowed her eyes. “I insist.” 

“Mom, leave her be.  She’ll call later on tonight when she isn’t in a loud bar, okay?”

“Okay, but if I was her, I’d want to know immediately.”

Colleen gave a small smile
but inside she was starting to panic. 

What have we done? 

To get back at her was one thing but this was going a little too far. 

Colleen felt Tom put his hand under her chin and he gently lifted her face to him, a questioning look on his face.  She smiled at him, hopefully to give him reassurance that she was fine, all the while she felt like her heart would pound out of her chest. 

Congratulations went around the entire bar once everyone heard what had happened and the restaurant owner, who they were friends with, brought over champagne on the house.  There were even a few of their friends in the bar, all of whom were congratulating them. 

No one even seem all that surprised, which was a little unexpected to Colleen. 

Through her guilt, Colleen continued to play along and act happy since she didn’t know what in the hell else to do. She certainly wasn’t going to break the news that it was just a joke.

**********

Tom was toast. 

One kiss and he knew the feelings he had for Colleen were the real deal. 

He always knew it but the kiss sealed the deal for him. 

He hadn’t wanted to let her go, but he ended the kiss before people told them to get a room.