The Sweetheart Sham

by Danielle Ellison

  “I’m sure you’ll get practice being in Culler all summer. You’ll have them all loving you again in no time.”

  “They don’t love me now?”

  She shrugs. “Hard to say. You’ve been gone a long time. A lot’s happened.”

  “Clearly,” I add.

  We’re both silent for a few seconds, and I see her face change. I want to ask what else she’s been up to these last two years. I want to, but I don’t know quite where we are yet. Say you’re sorry. She sighs before I can open my mouth.

  “I gotta get home. Momma and Daddy already left.”

  “Let me walk you.”

  She shakes her head. “I can walk myself, thank you very much.”

  With that she starts off down the driveway, and watching her walk away is almost as good as seeing her up close. She’s not yours. I have to get my head on straight. She’s with Will now; if I play my cards right, I’ll get to be her friend. That is a lot more than I probably deserve. I head back toward the front door.

  “Beau,” Georgia Ann calls. I look over my shoulder. “Welcome home. We missed you.”

  Chapter Six

  Georgie

  Momma lets me sleep in. That’s the first sign of the apocalypse.

  The second is the smell of bacon seeping through the house. Momma only makes bacon on special occasions, and before I’m even all the way downstairs to claim those delicious pork nitrates as my own, I hear her laughing. Then, I hear Mrs. Madison laughing. They eye me as I walk into the kitchen and snatch a piece of extra crispy and my coffee mug. Momma and Mrs. M are staring at me. I can feel their eyes on my back, but I refuse to acknowledge them before I’ve been caffeinated.

  “Are you excited for your date tonight?” Momma asks.

  Ah. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I should’ve seen that one coming.

  “Yes, Momma, I’m excited.” I smile as big as I can.

  Mrs. Madison gasps and reaches out for Momma’s hand. “If they get married—”

  “It’s only our first date!” I say, putting some eggs and more bacon on my plate. There’s biscuits and gravy on the stove, and my mouth is already watering. Momma must be in a really good mood this morning to make all this.

  She nods at me. “I know, but if you did, you’d never have to change your monogram. You can keep all your old stuff and your new stuff because it’d be the same! G.A.M.”

  Momma chuckles and touches her chest. “That is brilliant. Think of all the money you’ll save!”

  I roll my eyes. They can’t be real right now. “Again, it’s our first date.”

  Mrs. M waves me off. “If you two weren’t serious, then you’d never be going on a date. Dates are for getting to know people, and you already know each other.”

  I don’t want anyone to get more wrapped up in this sham than needed. It’s for the summer and that’s it. I have to keep them all as grounded about it as I can. “Not as boyfriend/girlfriend. It may not be the same.”

  Mrs. Madison smiles. “It’s going to be perfect.”

  At that, I take my plate and leave as fast as I can. I don’t really wanna hear any of their plans for my future with Will, one that’s not even a real possibility. Add the fact that Beau is here again, and I can’t get his smile out of my head, and it makes it all feel that much more complicated.

  I find Daddy in the garage. I hear him before I see him; he’s hunkered down under a table, surrounded by a bunch of parts. What in tarnation he does out here I will never know. Will’s dad, my Pappy, Orry, even Drew—they all like to hunt. Birds are Orry’s favorite. Daddy’s not a hunting man and he said he never was; he’s more into books. He likes to travel and work with his hands building whatever he builds. Daddy’s always happiest when he’s tinkering with something.

  “Morning,” he says when he sees me in the door. “Your momma made bacon.”

  I hold out a piece in the air. “I know. It’s on the occasion of my first date with Will.” People shouldn’t need an occasion for bacon, but Momma does.

  Daddy shakes his head and looks down at his workbench. He reaches out for another tool. I wish I understood more of what he did, but robotics and all that is above me. My capacity for math and science are about maxed out at school. I definitely don’t do it for fun.

  He pulls out a tape measure and looks at me over his work glasses. “I know our families are all dreamers about getting together finally—blame eight generations of bad timing, bad luck, and wrong birth order—but it doesn’t have to be you and Will. Don’t feel pressured to date him because they all want it.”

  My daddy is the sweetest man alive. “I don’t, Daddy. I like Will.”

  “You’ve always liked Will. I only want to see you be who you want to be.”

  “It’s just a date.”

  Daddy’s looking around for something, and his eyes find it over by me. He points toward it, so I pick it up for him. When I get over to him, he says, “Give them three more dates and they’ll be picking out your wedding china.”

  I don’t need to repeat what they said about the monograms to know he’s right; I’ve always known how much our families wanted us to be together—but this is for Will. He deserves to be who he is, too, and he may never get to be that in Culler. The least I can do is “date” him for a summer and let him find himself.

  “Let’s hope it’s returnable,” I say with a smile. Daddy kisses my head.

  “You’re a good one, Georgia Girl. I’m not so worried.”

  That makes one of us.

  …

  The third sign of the apocalypse is that my hair is perfect, despite the Southern summer humidity. Lord knows if this was a real date, or anything important, my hair would be up in a ponytail because of its failure to conform. But today, it’s stick straight and shiny. In fact, I feel like I look pretty darn good for a girl going on a fake date. Simple denim jean shorts, brown strappy sandals with a tiny heel, and a lacy pink razorback top. I’m cute and date-like, but won’t totally look out of place all by myself.

  What do I wear? Will texts me.

  I laugh out loud. What are your options?

  Nothing

  Bless his little heart.

  Come help me please!

  K be there in a few

  Because sure, I can totally think of a way to explain why I’m helping Will pick out clothes for our date.

  I grab my purse and tiptoe down the steps so they don’t make a single sound. I hope I can get out of here without Momma noticing. Two steps from the bottom, and I hear her voice from the kitchen talking to Daddy. I leap down and make a mad dash to the door, but she calls my name. The woman has some weird Spidey sense.

  “Time for your date?”

  “Yeah, I’m gonna go meet Will over at his house.”

  Momma nods, eyeing me slowly up and down. Here we go. “That’s what you’re wearing?”

  She would disapprove. To Momma a date night is not complete without pearls, at the very least. “We’re not doing anything fancy, plus it’s about 104 out there.”

  “It’s a date. A Belle always knows she should put her best foot forward. If you want him to see you as more than his friend, as an attractive young lady, you should try a little harder.” Momma is already fidgeting with my clothes.

  I sigh. “Momma, it’s too late now. Next time.”

  She starts to protest but Daddy calls her name, stepping into the foyer. I love that precious man. “Jessa, let her be. She’s off to have fun. You recall what that’s like, right honey?”

  Momma softens at his words and nods. “I always have fun, Samuel. Tomorrow Georgie and I will have a lot of fun catching up on wedding plans.” To me she says, “And I think I’m gonna put you in charge of all things groomsmen. How do you feel about that?”

  I swallow a little harder. I don’t quite know. That will mean seeing a lot of Beau, all the time.

  “It will let you have more time with Will,” she adds.

  Right. More time to pretend we’re sm
itten and totally legit together. Will and I are going to have to be on our A game.

  “Sounds good to me, Momma,” I say.

  Momma smiles. “Great. Have fun with Will!”

  …

  The fourth sign of the apocalypse is Beau Montgomery. He’s the one who answers the door, and seeing him there, answering it as if he’s always been there, looking the way he does, well. I about near forget what I’m doing here in the first place.

  “What’d you say?” I ask.

  Beau smirks a little. “I said, Will’s upstairs.”

  I nod and push past him toward the stairs.

  “You got big plans today?” he asks.

  “It’s not my job to make the plans.”

  “Right,” Beau says, holding out the “I,” and with that little bit of sexy twang, it’s hard to think clearly. “A Belle doesn’t plan the dates; that’s the gentleman’s job.”

  “Exactly,” I say, looking at him for a little bit too long. Get your head on straight, Georgia Ann. I shake Beau out of my head and start up the stairs. It’s three steps and then he’s following me.

  “It’s still hard to wrap my head around you being a Belle.”

  “Well, I am,” I say. I straighten one of the photos on the wall as I walk.

  I intentionally keep my eyes forward. That’s one thing Momma taught me—keep focus and you will not falter. Right now I need to not let him or his hot, ignorant, annoying face get to me.

  “Nothing wrong with it; it’s so proper is all. You were always more of a ‘make your own rules and jump in the mud’ type and not so much a ‘pretty dresses and white gloves’ girl.”

  I turn to face him. “There’s more to being a Belle than that,” I say. I don’t know why I’m defending it; I only do it because of Momma. She asked me when she was sick and I couldn’t say no. Then, I was already in it. But something about him attacking it, trying to assume he knows me in some way more than he does, that makes it a whole ’nother issue.

  He raises an eyebrow. Even though I’m standing on a higher step than him, he’s still far too much taller than me. “I’m not trying to start anything, just trying to understand this version of you is all.”

  “There’s only one version of me, Beau, and she’s the one in front of you. A girl can be all those things and also be a Belle. I’m more than a label.”

  Beau’s face is serious. “I know you are. I’m trying to see the whole picture.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugs. “That’s what I’ve always wanted, especially with you.”

  We stand there staring at each other, and my heart is racing like a rat on a wheel, but I have to ignore that. Beau is not in the cards for me, not right now and not ever again. He’s only here for the summer and then he goes back home. Tempting as it is, I have Will to think about; we made a commitment to each other, and I won’t go back on that. Plus, I already had my heart broken by Beau once, and I’m not much feeling like I want to do it again.

  “So that’s why you left without a word,” I say, breaking the spell. That fact will never change. He left me standing out there, and he didn’t even text me back for three days. That’s how unimportant we were to him.

  “Georgia Ann…”

  “I should go get Will.” Beau doesn’t follow me up the rest of the stairs, and I’m thanking the good Lord for that.

  …

  Will and I park his car in Charleston an hour and a half later. I dressed him in his blue short sleeve striped button-down with a pair of khaki shorts and Sperry’s. He’s the epitome of a Southern summer, including the sweating.

  “It’s cute that you’re nervous.”

  He looks so defeated. “I’m sweating.”

  “It is the South,” I say. “What are you going to do for your date with Mystery Boy?”

  Will smiles. “Movie, arcade, dinner.”

  I flash my best smile. “Sounds fun.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  I hadn’t really figured all that out yet, but I give him the best run-down I can. “Coffee shop, maybe a movie, and since you’re paying for me, the most expensive dinner I can find.” I wiggle my eyebrows.

  “I’m sure Granddad wouldn’t mind if it’s for you,” he says. His phone dings, and this little swell of jealousy pops up in my chest as we get out of the car. I’m not jealous of Mystery Boy; I’m more jealous that Will gets to have someone in his life to nervously sweat over.

  He stops behind the car. “How do I look? Last check.”

  I eye him, fix his collar just for something to do, and smile. “Like a Southern Prince Charming.”

  He noticeably relaxes. “You’re the best for doing this. I could never thank you enough, Georgie.”

  “You want to thank me? Then go be swept off your feet.”

  Will flashes the biggest, cheesiest smile, and I think he already has been.

  …

  I spend Will’s date shopping. It’s my fourth store when I find the dress I’m going to wear to the wedding. It’s short and light blue with a gold lace overlay, and it’s adorable.

  There are no stores like this in Culler. I can’t imagine being somewhere like New York City or LA where these kinds of fancy boutiques are everywhere. One day I want to see what there is out there in the world because, like Charleston, there’s way more than Culler. It’s not that I don’t like it at home, I do. There’s a kind of magic there that probably is rare to find. It’s more that there’s a whole world to explore, and I want to see it before I decide who I am and where I should be. Momma has never understood that about me. Will does. Beau used to.

  I add the dress to my “emergency” credit card, and I know when Momma sees it she will forgive me. I’ll tell her I saw it in a window while we walked by on the date and I had to have it. If Will approved it, I’m sure that will help her. Plus, she’s always in support of me wearing a dress.

  I get a nice salmon dinner on the Montgomerys. I’m still there when Will texts me that his date is over. He’s smiling when he sits down. Actually, “smiling” isn’t the word for it—he’s practically glowing.

  “You have a good date?”

  “It was more than great. It’s crazy how you can know someone in a different context, and then one day, bam.”

  I nod. I do know that feeling, and I get it. I had that with Beau once upon a time.

  Will exhales. “I’m happy. I don’t want to jinx it, but I am.”

  The waitress brings me a refill on sweet tea and I ask for the check.

  He’s still talking about his date. He’s so happy and excited that it’s difficult to look directly at him. “You should just tell them,” I say. Will stiffens. “You’re just so happy. Your family will support that.”

  “It’s not so easy.”

  “Why not?” I really don’t understand. His family is amazing. “And don’t say Dale Westin.”

  He hides behind that one story all the time. We don’t even know for sure what happened. All we know is one day he was out, he was the talk of the town and the point of gossip for two weeks, then he was gone. People do still talk about him, but I can’t believe that the people of Culler would be so unaccepting as to run him out of town. But since we don’t know the truth, I can’t counter him on the Dale point.

  “It’s not only Dale, although he’s a huge reason. You know how bad it was in town, Georgie, and I can’t go through that.” Will has this look on his face and he twists a napkin in his hand. “You know Granddad is not going to support this.”

  “Orry is spunky, sure, but he loves you.”

  Will is shaking his head. “You don’t live there. You don’t know all the things that go on or what he says about people. He’s traditional, and gay is not traditional.”

  I lean in. “I understand that, but you are not other people. You’re Will.”

  The waitress comes back with my check and Will throws down his money. “I know what you’re saying, but I don’t feel right about it. It’s not a good time with the w
hole family coming in and Drew getting married. I don’t want to take up the attention or cause any extra drama.”

  “Extra drama?”

  “Sissy will be here at some point,” he says with a groan. I groan, too. His aunt Sissy is the worst. “Plus, Beau and Uncle Hank on top of the wedding. I don’t want to add my coming out and Granddad’s reaction to the list of things that could go wrong.”

  The waitress thanks us and takes her money, while I gather up the bag from my little shopping spree. “You should think about it. They would want you to be happy. We wouldn’t have to sneak around anymore and—”

  “I’m not ready,” Will snaps. “Not yet.”

  “Okay,” I say.

  “If you don’t want to do this we don’t have to,” he says. I stare at him, and even though he says that, I can’t disappoint him. He needs me. I needed him when Momma was sick and he was there for me at school, at home; his family brought us dinners and he let me cry on his shoulder.

  I smile. “No way. You’re stuck with me. I’m sorry. I’ll stop mentioning it.”

  “You don’t mind being my fake girlfriend?” he asks with a smile.

  I think of Beau, but only for a moment. He doesn’t get to be in my head or have claim on me. Not when he left. “You’re the best boyfriend I could ask for.”

  Chapter Seven

  Beau

  I wake up with the sun. I need to stay conditioned and on track for basketball. The whole house is quiet when I walk downstairs. Everyone’s probably asleep, but I know when I’m back this place will be busting with energy. I grab a banana off the counter and shoot Ma a text while I eat it. Have a great day, Ma. I don’t want her to worry about me being here.

  Dad is outside the front door stretching, dressed in some running shorts and tennis shoes. When I was a kid, Dad went running every morning. I guess I hadn’t thought that he might still. I try to turn and leave, but he sees me.

  “Hey, son,” he says, studying me. “You’re up early.”

  Something about him calling me son grates my nerves. I know I am, but he feels like a stranger. “Going for a run.” I put in one of my earbuds.

  Dad nods and keeps his eyes on me. “You want to go with me?”