I hadn’t planned on spending the afternoon at a bowling alley with my oldest friends, but a group chat that started with “are you in town?” quickly escalated to “meet us now.” Nate, Lucas, Ian, and even Crystal and Tatiana, all in Toronto for some investor meet-ups, had decided to claim one of my few free afternoons.
We hadn’t changed much. Same trash talk, same dumb bets and same old banter. Except me, I wasn’t the same.
“You said your skills got better,” I snapped at Lucas as I watched the scoreboard flash his abysmal numbers.
He flopped dramatically onto the couch beside me. “I never said that. You just assumed.”
“Lucas has never improved. He doesn’t even own a bowling ball,” Crystal added, sipping her milkshake.
“I should’ve known better,” I muttered.
“You suck,” I added with a groan, checking the scoreboard again.
“The bet still on?” Nate asked.
“Of course,” Lucas answered before I could say no. I rolled my eyes. Before I could protest, my phone buzzed. It’s my grandfather again. I didn’t want to answer. I already knew it would be something about wedding prep, timelines, or venues.
Still, I picked it up. “Hello?”
“Where are you?”
“With my friends. Why?”
“Please tell me you’re with Catherine.” I paused. Shit.
“She said she wanted to meet a friend, so I dropped her off at the mall.”
My grandfather let out an exasperated string of curses. “Don’t be late for dinner.” Then he hung up leaving me confused. I stared at my screen for a moment before deciding to call Catherine.
She answered after the second ring. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I was going to call you to ask you the same thing.”
“You’re done meeting your friend?”
“Yeah, I’ll go to your place. Are you busy?”
I glanced at the guys. “I’ll send you the address.”
“Okay,” she replied, then hung up. I fired off a quick location pin and set my phone down. Tatiana was already watching me.
“What?”
“That’s the girl?”
“Yeah.”
“One more round?” Nate asked.
“Yeah,” I said, grabbing my ball. “Let’s do it.” We started another game, and twenty minutes later, Catherine walked in. She hesitated at the entrance, eyes searching for me. When they found me, I couldn’t help but smile. She looked… shy. That was new.
I walked to her and gestured her over, “I’m Catherine,” she said, offering a soft smile to the group.
“My fiancée,” I added, watching them all blink in surprise.
“Hi, Catherine. I’m Tatiana,” she said warmly, extending a hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Catherine replied. The others introduced themselves one by one. I saw the flicker of tension in Catherine’s shoulders melt a little with every handshake.
“Want to play a game with us? Girls only,” Tatiana asked.
“Sure!” Catherine said, and they walked off together toward the counter to get her bowling shoes.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Nate leaned in. “She’s hot.”
“You’re wild when Joan’s not around,” Ian muttered.
Lucas turned to me. “So… marriage planning?”
“It’s okay,” I replied, eyes flicking to Catherine as she laughed at something Crystal said. I was glad she could blend in with them. It meant something. I wasn’t ready to admit what.
“She used to be your secretary, right?” Nate asked. “You had no idea she was a billionaire?”
“Why would I care?” I shrugged. “She was just my secretary.”
“Still,” Lucas said, “I always background-check employees. Just in case I hire a serial killer.”
“I don’t have time for that,” I said, waving it off.
“You’re busy. We know,” Ian said sarcastically.
“Did you ever sleep with her?” Nate asked bluntly. I turned to him with a glare that could flatten a building.
“Guess that’s a no,” he muttered, turning back to his drink.
“I mean,” Lucas added, “she doesn’t even act like a secretary. She's so polished. Straight posture, diplomatic tone, knows how to command a room.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “It’s like flipping a switch. Dakota was calm, quiet, efficient. Catherine is fire. I still don’t know which version is real.”
“You’ve known her for five years, right?” Ian asked.
“Yeah. I still don’t know why she stayed so long working under me.”
“She probably liked being invisible,” Nate said. “When you’re hiding, anonymity is a shield.”
“I liked her old personality,” I confessed. “She was easier to control. Precise. Kind. This version… I don’t know yet.”
“Maybe she’s back to being herself,” Nate offered. “Because now she has to face reality again.” That thought landed hard. Reality. I’d been living in denial. Calling it a performance, a charade, but there was something real bleeding through the cracks.
“So… you won’t back out of the marriage?” Ian asked.
I sighed. “I don’t know. Right now I’m playing along for my grandfather’s sake.”
“Marriage is serious,” Lucas said. “It’s not a phase.”
“It’s supposed to be fun, even if it’s hard,” Nate added. “Joan and I had fights. Still do. But it’s worth it.”
I leaned forward. “Catherine told me we could just divorce later.”
Ian shook his head. “Divorce isn’t clean. It’s not just about money. It’s emotional. Ripping apart something that felt real—whether it started that way or not.”
“My wife filed for divorce,” Nate said. “Over something small. It scared the hell out of me.”
“It’ll surprise you,” Ian added. “You don’t realize how deep it goes until it breaks.” I sat there in silence. Catherine was laughing across the room, rolling a ball down the lane. Her arms flew up in victory as she got a strike, and the girls clapped around her.
She turned to me, catching my eye, and gave me a bright, genuine smile. I smiled back automatically. I wasn’t pretending and that scared the hell out of me.
“Thanks for the advice,” I said quietly. “I’ll think about it.” And for the first time since this whole thing started I really need a rational advice from my friends who already married, because this is my first time being in this complicate relationship. I don’t know how to deal with my feelings and the risk of it.