by Hazel Parker
It was a noble desire, sure, but not one that Brett needed. He was fine doing what he was doing, happy in the life he had. He was living the dream—partying at the hottest nightclubs every weekend and taking home a different bombshell whenever he wanted to, which was most of the time. He never had to deal with the sticky, difficult parts of relationships, but he reaped all the benefits. He never had to worry about money and never needed to grow up.
“I am on track,” he fabricated. “I’ve got a job.”
“How long have you worked there?”
Brett knew that he’d find out if he lied too drastically. “Not long,” he admitted, “but it’s going well.”
Eustice shook his head disapprovingly. “It always goes well for the first few weeks, but then you get bored and you quit, or you get lazy and get fired. That’s not reassuring enough for me to consider writing you back into the will. I’m sorry.”
“This time is different,” Brett fought. “If I don’t keep this job, my girlfriend will kill me.” At the sound of that lie, Eustice perked up a bit even though Brett regretted saying it as soon as the words were out.
“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”
“You didn’t ask,” Brett pointed out, earning a scolding glare. “We’ve only been dating a few months, but it’s going well. She’s very down to earth. Doesn’t let me stay out late partying or come home drunk. She’ll keep me out of trouble.” Every word he made up was being lapped up by his grandfather as if it were water and he’d been stranded in the desert.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” he said, sounding genuinely relieved. It made Brett wonder how much of his time he’d spent worrying over him. “I’d like to meet her.”
Brett blanched. “I—I’m not sure she’s ready to meet the family yet,” he stalled. He should have seen this coming, but he hadn’t even really had time to think all the way through the original lie, so how was he supposed to be able to plan this far ahead?
“Not everyone, of course,” he shook his head, “just me. I won’t ask her any tough questions or pressure you to marry; nothing like that. I just want to make sure she’s good for you.” He wanted to make sure that Brett wasn’t lying, probably, or that he hadn’t just started dating some girl he’d met at a club and slept with enough times that it felt appropriate to call it a relationship. God knows that had been the heart of most of his previous relationships. “It would make me feel better. I’d be happy if you found a way to make it work.”
He sighed, unable to deny him something so simple. He and his grandfather had always been close, especially when he was a child, though Brett had made less and less of an effort to see him in more recent years. His grandfather had been the person he’d called when he was fifteen and took his brother’s car out without permission or a license and crashed it, since he’d been too afraid of what his parents would say. He’d spent every holiday growing up with his grandparents, and they’d always been there for him no matter what. He owed this to his grandfather.
“I’ll bring her by this week,” he promised. “You’re going to love her, don’t worry.”
Eustice smiled. “If you like her, I’m sure she’s lovely,” he said. Now that anxiety wasn’t keeping him alert, he was clearly beginning to fall asleep, fighting to keep his eyes open as his head rest against the pillow.
“I think you should rest. I’ll come to see you soon, okay?” Brett asked. He leaned down to kiss him on the cheek when he nodded, then turned to leave the room. Eustice’s snoring filled the room, only lessening in volume when he closed the door behind him and began to head back to his car feeling dejected.
How was he going to get out of this lie? If he told him that they broke up, then he’d be back at square one, written out of the will and making his dying grandfather worry about him until his last breath. On the other hand, there was no way he’d be able to find a girlfriend in just a few days. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good-looking—objectively, he knew that he was. He worked out a few times a week and kept his stylish black hair styled up in a short pompadour. Not to mention, he had the money to keep up with the latest trends, his wardrobe and car both to be admired. However, while that might be enough to get a girl to come home with him from a bar, it wasn’t enough to build a relationship. Most of his female friends were younger than him and not looking to get into relationships, too—the sort of crowd that typically hung around the clubs he frequented were usually still college students.
“Is everything okay?” Anna’s voice called, concerned and soft, snapping him from his thoughts. Her body language said that she would rather be anywhere else, but she was forcing herself to talk to him even though she didn’t exactly have to, so that was something. She was too nice for her own good.
“I’m fine,” he reassured her, not wanting to get into the whole story. It would make him sound like an asshole, anyway. “Thanks, Anna.”
Always too empathetic, she saw through him. “It’s hard when a loved one checks into a place that we know they’re not checking out of,” she began. “If you try to keep it all inside, it’ll swallow you. You can talk to your brother and sister about this, right?”
He laughed humorlessly. “My sister doesn’t like me,” he admitted, “and my brother isn’t exactly the ‘talking’ type.” He wasn’t sure why he was opening up about that; it wasn’t something he’d normally talk about. She was approachable; there was just something about her.
“If you need to talk, I’ll listen,” she offered, smiling politely.
That’s when it hit him.
“Could I buy you a drink when you’re off work?” he asked, knowing that she was too nice to decline the invitation. She cared about everyone, wanted to solve everyone’s problems. He could tell her that Eustice wanted to see him in a relationship before he passed away, frame it sympathetically. So long as he left out all the parts about the money and self-interest, he was confident that she’d indulge him in his quest to make sure his grandfather got his dying wish. It would only be a few weeks, maximum, Brett thought darkly. The thought of Eustice dying didn’t bring him any joy, and he genuinely wished that it wasn’t happening, but he’d come to terms with it, just as Eustice had. If there was no way around it, he might as well make it as painless as possible for everyone involved.
“I’m off at three,” she replied. He smiled broadly, and she returned the expression.
“I’ll pick you up then,” he promised. He had a few hours to get a story together and make sure that he didn’t say something that would give away the whole scheme, but he couldn’t help but think that Anna was the perfect woman to pick for this kind of job. She always said the right things, and Eustice would believe that she’d keep him on the straight and narrow since she was a nurse and clearly had her life together in some capacity. Maybe she’d even help him find a job, just for the duration of the rouse. All he had to do was get her to say yes, and all his problems would be solved.
Chapter Three: Anna
The rest of Anna’s shift passed without incident. She made her rounds as usual, spending some time with each patient to make sure they were all feeling alright both physically and emotionally, and brought everyone lunch before taking her meal break. She’d brought leftovers from last night’s dinner of chicken parmesan, but she found that she wasn’t feeling particularly hungry anymore and opted to just nibble at her side salad and throw back another cup of coffee. The thought of having drinks with Brett wouldn’t leave her mind, and it was stressing her out a little more than she wanted to admit. Apparently, her thoughts were obvious, because as soon as Josh and another coworker, an older woman named Jackie, entered the break room to join her for lunch, they noticed.
“What’s got you in such a sour mood?” Jackie asked. She’d been working in hospice for probably twenty-five years, and it showed in everything that she did. A person couldn’t be surrounded by that much death and hopelessness without developing a coping mechanism, and she’d chosen a callous personality and grim sense o
f humor.
“Nothing,” Anna denied. It would sound stupid, after all, to say aloud that she’d run into an old friend, if she could call Brett that, and it had shaken her.
“Bullshit,” Jackie rolled her eyes, picking an olive off the top of Anna’s salad and popping it into her mouth as she took the seat next to her. “Tell me.”
Josh nodded, sitting across from her with the now-hot frozen meatloaf that made her turn her nose up. Jackie shared her revulsion.
“God, Josh, honey, you’ve got to get a girlfriend. Either that or a private chef. If you keep eating like this, you’re going to die before you reach thirty.” Josh cast a look of dismay down at his food and muttered something sarcastic under his breath but didn’t argue with her—likely because she was right.
“I thought we were focusing on Anna,” he argued, dashing her hopes that the conversation had been derailed. She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands, careful not to smear her mascara with her fingers.
“It’s really not a big deal,” she swore. “It’s just…you know that new patient that checked in today, Eustice?” They nodded. “I used to be, like, in love with his grandson when I was in college. And now he’s going to be hanging around Sunny Villa.”
“And I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” Josh asked, earning himself two synchronized eye-rolls.
“No, they got married and lived happily ever after,” Jackie quipped, then turned her attention back to Anna. “So, what are you going to do to get back at him? Flaunt your career success in his face? Do you want to borrow my husband’s sports car?” Anna laughed.
“I’m actually…meeting him after work today.”
Josh smiled deviously. “Ooh, revenge sex? Not a move I’d expect from you, Diaz.”
“That’s not what we’re doing!” she exclaimed, smacking his arm in mock outrage. “I think he just needs someone to talk to.”
“You don’t have to be there for everyone,” Jackie pointed out. “Take care of yourself first, kid. Otherwise, you’re going to burn out here in a heartbeat.”
Anna nodded. She didn’t think that burnout was really a risk for her—she loved what she did, after all, and nothing was going to change that, least of all a guy who wouldn’t even be in her life for more than a few weeks. The way she saw it, it’d cause her a lot more grief to feel guilty about not going than to just go, so she finished up her lunch and tried not to think about it for the remainder of her shift.
At three on the dot, much more punctually than he’d been in arriving to see his grandfather, Brett walked through the doors of Sunny Villa wearing jeans and a black button-up that he’d left open to the second button down. He’d probably had to change because the rain had soaked his clothes from earlier, but it still made Anna feel a little underdressed in her scrubs.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, watching her as she took her raincoat from the back of a chair at the nurse’s station after leaning over to clock out in the system.
“I am,” she agreed. “Where are we going?” She didn’t love the devious smile that he flashed her. He’d said “drinks,” which to her, given the time of day, might mean mimosas or wine at a bar and grill or, if she were feeling rowdy, a single margarita at a Mexican restaurant. However, when she’d known Brett, he was notorious for being able to drink anyone under the table and not caring what time it was. Silently hoping that he’d grown out of that phase, she let him keep his secret as she followed him to his car and climbed into the passenger seat.
As it turns out, by “drinks,” he’d meant milkshakes at a local diner. She counted her blessings as she sat down across from him in the booth and ordered a strawberry shake and a slice of pie.
“So,” she began after they’d placed their orders, “was there anything specific you wanted to talk about? Or did you just want to talk?”
He flashed a dazzling, patient smile. “We’ll get to that,” he said. She guessed that it might be a little difficult for him to open up so quickly, so perhaps it’d be better to do some small talk, first. “I want to catch up a little. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”
She nodded. “Four years,” she agreed. “What have you been up to since then?”
Brett shrugged noncommittally. “Oh, you know. Still living in the same apartment complex, pretty much the usual.”
“That’s nice,” she said, unable to think of much else. “What do you do for work?” Brett hesitated uncomfortably.
“I’m kind of…between jobs right now,” he admitted, making her immediately regret asking. “It’s something that’s bothering my gramps, so I’m trying to find some work as soon as possible.” She nodded, taking a sip of her milkshake as soon as the waiter set it on the table to buy herself a little more time without having to speak. Perhaps he had changed a bit, she thought. The Brett Riggs that she knew had no intentions of getting a job so long as his parents filled his bank account each month. Or had that changed?
“I have a friend that’s a hotel manager and one of her bellhops just left. She’s pretty desperate to replace him. I’m not sure what you’re looking to do, but if you’re interested, I could put in a good word for you. It’s pretty easy work for a strong guy like you, and they want to hire someone as soon as possible, so you could probably have a job by the end of the week.” Brett’s face lit up in that way that had always charmed her, one which made her cheeks flush as pink as the milkshake she was drinking.
“That’d be great,” he said, “thank you. If only that could solve the other problem I’m having…”
“What’s that?”
He took a deep breath, almost hesitant to disclose the information. “Well, my gramps is afraid of me being…well, single. My brother’s married and my sister is engaged, but I’m still not seeing anyone. I kind of told him that I was dating just to put his mind at ease, but now he wants to meet her.”
Anna couldn’t help but feel her heartstrings tugged at. The man was dying, after all…and everyone deserved a little peace. It was her job to do everything she could to give them that.
“Do you…need someone to play your girlfriend?”
Brett looked up, shocked, like the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
Despite really not wanting to, she shook her head. “It’d be no trouble,” she dismissed. “And besides, it’s only for a little while—oh, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come out—”
“No, I know what you meant,” he chuckled sympathetically. “I mean, I’m not going to force you into this. I know that it might be weird, especially since we know each other. But if you wanted to…I mean, I’d play a pretty good boyfriend. We’d have to make it convincing, so I’ll spoil you a little. Bring you lunch, talk sweet to you. You know, the works.”
Anna had to admit that didn’t sound half bad. How much of an inconvenience would it be, really? She could get a few free meals out of it, and it wasn’t like she had any other guys lining up to sweet talk her.
“Let’s do it,” she offered, extending her hand to shake. With a bright smile, Brett accepted it. Sensing that they were done here, she reached for the tab, but her hand collided with his when she tried to take her diner receipt.
“This is on me,” he said sincerely, a sort of unspoken “thank you” that made her remember just why she’d crushed so hard on him in college. Well, she was a grown-up now, and she could control her feelings. She wasn’t going to go falling for the wrong guys like she had as a student. It wouldn’t be a problem this time.
Chapter Four: Brett
The next day, Brett decided that there was no point in wasting time in delaying introducing Anna as his girlfriend, so he woke up at his usual time—just after noon—and immediately hopped into the shower to get ready. After the shower, he donned a slick button-down shirt to wear to the hospice center, one that wouldn’t seem like he’d dressed up too much (he was trying to convince Eustice that he’d been dating Anna for a while, after all, so just going to see her
after work would be a fairly casual occasion), and a pair of dark jeans. By the time he finished getting ready, stopping to enjoy a quick cup of coffee on the way, he showed up just before her shift ended.
Anna wasn’t at the front desk like he’d expected her to be, and he kicked himself for not taking her phone number to text her to ask if she was even working today. He must’ve looked confused because a young man probably around his own age tapped him on the shoulder as he looked around for her.
