“Are you expecting someone?” She stared up at me, but all I could do was shake my head.
I pulled the door open, and my heart dropped like a star out of the sky.
As I stared at the woman I hadn’t seen in years—the woman who’d given birth to me—who now stood in front of me, embarrassment and frustration heated my face. I glanced at Laney, whose eyes asked silent questions. Questions I wasn’t about to answer.
I took Laney’s arm and ushered her out the door instead, nodding at my birth mother to go inside the house. Before Laney could object, I stepped back inside and closed and locked the door behind her.
“What are you doing here?” I could have been kinder in addressing her. But I’d learned my lesson a long time ago about this woman.
Her slim frame trembled slightly as her navy eyes met mine. Her dark hair had grown more wispy than I remembered it, and she looked like a strong gust of coastal wind could snap her in two. Strands of hair escaped the ponytail at the base of her neck and framed her lined face. Every year she’d lived seemed etched into her features, and I wondered when she’d gotten so old. Her dress was tattered and dirty. She looked like a drifter.
I struggled not to care, even though it cut me to the bone to see her like this. I had to remind myself that I couldn’t help her. I’d tried. I’d tried my hardest and she’d fought me every step of the way. I’d sworn I wouldn’t try again.
“Why are you here?” I repeated, a wary sense of unease prickling at the back of my neck. I couldn’t let my guard down.
“Cole?” She whispered the word, her voice so thin I could barely hear it.
I stared at her, waiting for her to come out and just say it. It was only a matter of time before she got to the reason she’d come here. Or had she gone completely senile?
“Cole! It is you!” Her face creased into a bright smile and she opened her arms, moving toward me like she was going to embrace me. I stepped back a bit and she slowed, her expression falling.
Was she just going to pretend like we hadn’t played this out before? Was it all an act to catch me off guard? Because it was kind of working. I was confused. I wondered if she was struggling with dementia or something similar. But she’d come back here to my house, so clearly, she remembered.
I pinched the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb, hoping to relieve the sudden ache behind my eyes. Then I remembered it was not a good idea to take my eyes off her and dropped my hand to my side. “You can stop the act now. Just tell me why you’re here.”
With my words, her shoulders dropped and the act did too. “Cole, it’s important.” She wrung her hands together.
I stifled my impatience. “I told you not to come back.”
“But Cole—” Her voice broke and I noticed her hands were shaking. “They said they’d kill me if I don’t pay them.” Tears filled my mother’s eyes and my heart stopped beating.
Laney
I walked down Cole’s driveway toward the beach and my car. I hadn’t wanted to leave. I’d really wanted to stay, until he got upset that I was leaving. The only reason I’d stood my ground rather than give in was because I had to get back to work Monday, but his frustration rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe he wasn’t the man I thought he was.
And I couldn’t help but wonder who the older woman was who showed up at his door. I didn’t recognize her as someone from the area, so maybe she was from out of town? But the sudden shame and fear in Cole’s eyes had me wondering if I should have stayed after all, for moral support, even though I was mad at him.
But he’d been pretty adamant I leave. He’d practically pushed me out the door.
I wasn’t mad at him as much as I was disappointed. Hurt. I’d started to like him a lot, but now, after the way he’d turned cold as a chunk of ice and kicked me out, I kind of hated him.
And to think, I’d been close to telling him I wanted us to actually be boyfriend and girlfriend, not just pretend to be. Now I was glad I hadn’t.
Wrenching open my car door, I pulled out my phone to find I had no messages. The beach was clear, everyone had gone home. All the decorations were gone; likely thrown in the back of Dad’s truck. The bar had been packed up and only the footprints in the sand and a few crushed flowers proved there’d been a wedding at all.
I dropped into my seat in the stifling hot car. The day hadn’t played out quite like I’d thought it would. Instead of the tense wedding I’d expected, it had been mayhem. Still, I’d gotten my parents’ approval. My sister had been put in her place. I was sorry that her wedding had been ruined and she’d found out Dev had his own motives for being with her—I liked Dev, so that double sucked. Still, I smiled, remembering my father apologizing to Cole.
Cole. Who was freaking loaded. Not that it mattered. I’d not have traded a minute and would have gone to bed with him anyway.
I shook my head, wondering again what had transpired that I’d missed in his foyer. All in all, it had been a crazy day.
Planting both hands on the steering wheel, I sighed and leaned forward. The rubber grip was uncomfortably warm on my forehead as I rested on it. An ocean breeze kicked up and helped cool off the inside of the hot car.
I wondered what else could possibly happen to make things crazier. Any other time, I would have winced and chastised myself at that thought, but I had a feeling things between Cole and I weren’t over. And while we were great together when things were good between us, when they weren’t, we seemed to batter each other like the sea did the coast in a storm.
Looking back at the house that jutted out over the cliffside of the beach, I had a feeling he held a secret, one that had something to do with the woman who had turned his cold exterior to solid stone.
Slipping the key into the ignition, my heart ached a little. Some foolish, girly part of me hoped Cole would come racing down the hill after me like a hero in a Disney movie.
Maybe I would tell him off.
But I had a feeling I’d throw myself into his arms.
I slanted my gaze up the hill. He hadn’t followed me. I was alone. My engine roared to life and I took one last look up his drive before pulling out onto the road toward my apartment in Reedsport.
Thank you so much for reading Faking For Her! Their story continues in Her Fake Fiancé, which is coming out on 17th of October.
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