That One Night: A Fake Marriage Romance

by Amy Brent

  She was on my mind even more this morning though as the end of the recording contract with Eureka drew nearer and nearer. I wished I could freeze time for just a little while longer, but it seemed like every day passed faster and faster, and I knew the last day would be here long before I was ready for it.

  I wanted to do something nice for Faye. I had been thinking about it for days, trying to puzzle it out. It wasn’t like I could exactly just pick up and fly her to Hawaii. Besides, I knew Faye would never go for it, not with just a few weeks left on the recording contract.

  Come to think of it, my bandmates probably wouldn’t appreciate it either. At least I knew Alice wouldn’t. She was determined to finish recording the album before the baby was born, but time was moving fast for her as well.

  Neither Faye nor Alice would be okay with us just picking up and leaving for a few weeks, and honestly, I wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do anyway. I wanted it to be special, something only I could do for her. But what?

  I shook my head at my own foolishness as I walked down the hallway. I was so lost in my thoughts about her that I didn’t see the woman making a beeline for me until it was too late.

  The collision knocked me back several steps and sent Rebecca’s glasses flying to the ground.

  “Oh, shit, Rebecca. I’m so sorry. Here, let me get those for you.” I had just started bending down to pick up the glasses when Archer’s assistant leaned forward, grabbing my arm with a surprisingly strong grip to stop me.

  “No! No, uh, it’s okay.” She swooped down and snagged the pair of glasses before I could even move. “It was my fault after all. I should have been paying more attention.”

  “Not at all, Rebecca. It was definitely my fault. I didn’t hurt you too bad, did I?” I asked, half-joking. I really had knocked into her pretty hard. I would have a bruise on my shin to prove it.

  She just laughed, shaking her head. “No. I’m fine, Sam. Really.”

  “Well, if you’re sure…” I peered at her again, just to make sure she wasn’t putting on a brave face, but she really did seem just fine. “I guess I need to pay more attention too. Just get too lost up here sometimes.” I pointed to my temple with a shrug, about to keep walking on to the practice room where the rest of the band was waiting for me, but she stopped me with an outstretched hand.

  “Listen, I’m actually glad I found you,” Rebecca said with a bashful look as she reached into her bag. “I wanted to give you this.”

  I watched on in curiosity as she pulled out a small white envelope. Congratulations was written in tiny neat letters across the front that screamed of Rebecca’s hand. I was surprised to see that it was a wedding card.

  “Oh, Rebecca, you didn’t have to get us anything.”

  “I know,” she said, shrugging as she adjusted her thick-framed glasses. “I just, I felt bad about what I said to you, about Faye, and Archer. I should have known better. It’s obvious that she belongs with you.”

  She paused, tilting her head as she studied me for a moment before going on. “You really love her, don’t you?”

  Jesus, it really was obvious, wasn’t it? The only one who didn’t see it was the one person I needed to see it the most.

  I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck as I thought about how to answer her question. But what was the point in denying it? It was just the truth.

  “Yeah,” I finally said. “Yeah, I really do.”

  Rebecca nodded as if I’d just aced the final test on an exam. “I’m happy for you then. You’re with the one you were meant to be with.” Her smile faded crookedly. “Some of us aren’t that lucky.”

  On impulse, and at the look of sadness in her eyes behind her glasses, I reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

  “Hey, Rebecca, I never…I never thought this would happen to me either.” I wasn’t about to tell her how true that statement was. I could honestly say I had never expected fall for Faye and then have her be threatened by a stalker and then have a fake marriage to protect only to fall in love with her all over again. And then there was the other truth, that we weren’t even together. Not for real anyway. But I shook that all off, sending Rebecca a sympathetic smile. “Believe me, if I can find true love and all that, then you definitely can. You just…can’t give up. Don’t give up on love. It’s worth it, even if it’s hard at first. In the end, it’s always worth it.”

  “You would do anything for Faye? Would do anything to be with her?” She asked it as if she already knew the answer, but I gave her one anyway.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I would. I would fight to the ends of the earth for her.” I meant every word, and Becca must have heard it in my voice, because she grinned at me.

  “You’re a good man, Sam. I hope Faye realizes how lucky she is.”

  “I’m the lucky one,” I said, and I meant that too. Faye was more than I had ever thought I would deserve. Now I just had to figure out how to convince her that she deserved me just as much. “Well, I better get back to work,” I said with a wave. “Thanks for the card.”

  I turned and started walking away, but Archer’s assistant didn’t say another word. She just stood there in the middle of the hallway with a serious and contemplative look on her face. I shrugged and kept on down the hall toward the practice room. Who was I to try to understand women? I would have been happy enough just to understand one of them!

  I was still shaking my head in utter confusion as I made my way down the main hallway to the door at the very end. I pushed it open to find Casey sitting behind the drum set, idly banging out a soft beat as Alice paced along one side, rubbing her lower back.

  As I entered, Casey shot me a smile, but Alice looked downright malevolent as she turned to me.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  “Sorry, Alice. I know I’m running late,” I said with a shrug as I walked over to the stool by my guitar and took a seat, pulling out the card.

  Ignoring Alice’s scowl of disapproval, I tore the envelope open.

  “Hey, what’s that?” Casey asked, looking at the paper in my hands curiously. I just shrugged again as I read the words on the card.

  True love is forever. True love is unending. True love is eternal.

  There was nothing else on the card, not even a signature. I just shook my head. I would never understand. But Casey was still waiting for an answer.

  “It’s a wedding card from Archer’s assistant, Rebecca.”

  “Oh, that was nice of her,” Alice said in a distracted voice as she waddled over to where I was sitting. She propped her hands on her hips and shot me another arch look.

  “Where the hell have you been, Sam? You’re late.”

  I eyed her askance. “Are you sure you should be practicing with us and not be at home in bed with Connor rubbing your feet?”

  Alice just scowled at me before going off on a tirade. “Contrary to popular belief, Sam, all pregnant women don’t appreciate having their enormous feet rubbed, and also, every time I lie down, the little tyke presses right against my bladder and I have to get up to pee like every ten minutes, so no, no, I don’t think I should be at home in bed instead of here, trying to finish this damn record before this baby decides it’s time to join the rest of the world in a few weeks.”

  I threw my hands up in the air in a gesture of apology. “Sorry I asked.”

  “Well, you should be,” Alice said with another fierce frown before turning away. At least now she was spreading her frown around both me and Casey instead of having it just focused on me. “Now, let’s run through ‘Deep as the Ocean’ a few more times. We were a little off on the recording.”

  I let out a little sigh of relief as I grabbed my guitar. At least Alice wasn’t going to grill me anymore—right now anyway.

  I settled the instrument on my lap as we sat down and started practicing, running through the song that I could play in my sleep, blindfolded, but I didn’t say that to Alice. She’d always been a perfectionist,
and now with the stress of the baby and getting the album recorded before she went into labor, she was even worse.

  There were only two more songs to record before the album was finished, and it filled me with pride and excitement but also with trepidation because I knew that as soon as it was over, Faye planned to leave me.

  The thought of that had dread settling in my stomach. I felt like over the next few days, living together and everything, I might finally have a chance to convince her before the recording contract was up.

  But then we’d be moving on, no longer working at the studio or with Archer. No more reason to get any threatening messages, and no reason to keep her with me. Not unless I could give her one, and quick. But what? How could I convince her?

  “Hey! Earth to Sam! Are you even paying attention?”

  “What?” I said, jerking up and meeting Alice’s stare as she glared down at me. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m paying attention. Of course I am.”

  “Okay, good, because we need you on your A game here, all right?”

  I rolled my eyes at Alice’s caustic remark. “I’m always on my A game.”

  Alice snorted. “Yeah, okay, Mr. Delusional.” The singer turned away, walking back toward the mic on the stand, but she jerked to halt after a few steps. “Damn it! Shit.”

  “What? What is it? is it the baby?” I demanded, panic hitting me as I leaped my feet, fully freaking out now. My mind raced with all the things that could go wrong. “Casey! Grab the go bag!”

  “Got it!” Casey shouted, his own face pale as he jumped out from behind the drum set and started rushing for the door.

  Meanwhile, I was spinning in circles, my panicked mind making it impossible for me to figure out what I needed to do next.

  “I’ll, uh, I’ll get the keys.” I started for the door, a few steps behind Casey, but Alice’s snort of laughter froze the both of us before we could make it any farther.

  “You both are morons. Sweet morons, but still morons. It’s not the baby, unless you count having to go to the bathroom for the sixteenth time in an hour an emergency.” Alice waddled off the small stage, still shaking her head and chortling at us as she headed in the direction of the bathroom down the hall.

  Before she left, though, she turned and gave us both a scowl. “Don’t go anywhere, either of you.”

  Then she disappeared, and I let out a sigh as the panic finally started to fade. Casey and I both watched the door Alice had just disappeared through, and after a moment, Casey shuddered.

  “Is it just me, or is she scarier when she’s pregnant?”

  “A lot scarier,” I said, nodding in agreement. But there was nothing to do but go back to our instruments and wait for Alice to get back. I sat down, grabbed my guitar, and fiddled with the notes, not really playing anything.

  “I can’t believe you and Faye didn’t go on, like, a honeymoon or something,” Casey said idly as he sat back behind the drum kit.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “It isn’t a real wedding, remember?”

  Casey just shrugged. “Even still. You could do something fun, go on a trip.”

  I was already shaking my head. “We’re on a deadline. We have to get the record done and we still have a lot of work to do. Besides, Faye would never leave.”

  “If I were you, I would still do something. Go to the zoo, or down to the pier. I think Mickey still has an old yacht. I would take it out for a few days and—”

  “That’s it, man!” I said, leaping to my feet. Casey’s words sent an idea swimming in my head, something special I could do for Faye that she would never expect. “You’re a genius!” I shouted the words over my shoulder, already heading for the door.

  “I know, but… Hey, where are you going? Sam! Where are you going? Don’t leave me alone with Alice! Sam!”

  *

  Faye

  I clicked my tongue as I stared at the papers spread out in front of me, but I didn’t really see them. I had been cooped up in my makeshift office at Eureka Records all morning, but I still couldn’t seem to focus.

  I knew why. It was because every time I sat down to work, my thoughts led me back to Sam and the last couple days.

  Everything still seemed so surreal: the wedding, me and Sam living together. We had even started to fall into an odd little routine, almost like we really were married.

  I would wake up to the smell of coffee as Sam bustled about his tiny kitchen, cooking breakfast. Sometimes he would even bring me a cup to lure me out of bed even though I didn’t need the extra lure. And sometimes, like this morning, I would lure him back into bed with a kiss and a few whispered words. We’d both been late to work today.

  Over the last couple days, I had learned more about Sam than in the last year and half, and I was falling even deeper for him despite myself. And what was even worse? I was starting not to care.

  That sent a flutter of panic through me, and I cleared my throat, focusing back on the task in front of me. But right away, my thoughts drifted again.

  There had been no more threatening notes since the wedding. It seemed as if our ruse had actually worked. There were just a few more short weeks before the record was done and the contract was up. Then I wouldn’t be working so closely with Archer and the danger would have passed. Sam and I could go back to our regular, normal lives.

  Is that really what you want? A soft, tiny voice whispered in the back of my head. Of course it’s what I want, I answered back, but not as firmly as I once would have.

  With a deliberate huff, I picked up the images in front of me and forced my attention back to my work.

  I had been slaving over the album release and all the marketing and promotion that was going to be coming up for the band. As always, I felt that old surge of excitement.

  The album wasn’t even done yet and already there was a lot of buzz about it, which was added to by the relationship between Alice and Connor and their baby. As much as I disliked it, even my and Sam’s own story that had been publicized all over the press had helped.

  It was a lot of press for the band, and their popularity had skyrocketed since the end of the tour. I couldn’t help but feel so proud and excited. I had proved everyone wrong who had ever thought that I couldn’t do this on my own, without a big company behind me.

  I was working on picking out the final choices for the album art before showing it to the band for approval, and even though I had a lot of options in front of me, I was drawn again and again to a photograph Lori had taken.

  It wasn’t a posed photo. It was just of the three band members hanging out on a set of concrete stairs. It was a simple black and white photo, but it was pure them. Casey had a smirk on his face but there was something hidden behind his eyes, and Alice was staring straight at the camera, a small sneer on her face as if challenging the viewer, but with a fragility that softened her hard edges.

  And then there was Sam. He was looking down, his expression serious but hopeful, his dark poet’s eyes full of mystery that only he could see. It was a beautiful photograph, but even more, it was honest to who they truly were not just as musician’s but also as people.

  I was still staring at the photograph, not even aware of my finger tracing Sam’s profile, when the door to the makeshift office burst open and Alice stormed into the room, throwing herself into one of the overstuffed armchairs.

  “Is…everything all right, Al?” I asked slowly, already knowing the answer.

  “No. No, everything is, in fact, not all right,” the surly singer said, casting me a look that was all furrowed brows.

  I set down the photo, crossing my arms on the desk before leaning forward.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “The matter?” Alice snorted. “The matter is that I’m trying to get this album recorded and Sam disappeared and I have to stop every five minutes to go pee and I’m the size of a planet and everything is just…it’s just all so…”

  “Al,” I said, trying to get her attention, but she was too foc
used on all her problems to look at me. I could tell there was more she hadn’t said—the real thing that was causing that line to form in her forehead. “Alice.”

  After a long moment, the singer finally looked over at me with a sad look in her gray eyes. “Connor wants to book a tour.”

  “When?”

  “January.”

  “Well, that is still”—I paused, quickly doing the math—“five months away.”

  “Exactly! The baby will only be a few months old and he…he wants to leave and I don’t know what to do, Faye.”

  At the sound of tears in Alice’s voice, I got up and moved around the desk so that I could take the chair next to her.

  “Al…I don’t know how to say this, but…you and Connor are both musicians, in pretty-big name bands. You’re both going to go on tours eventually. It’s part of your contracts. Unless you want to give up music?”

  “Hell no! Of course I don’t want to!” Alice said angrily.

  “And neither does Connor, right?” I said softly. “So that’s just going to be something you’ll have to figure out, together.”

  “I know. You’re right. I know that you are but…” She looked at me then, and her whole heart was shining in her eyes. “I’m scared, Faye. I’ve never relied on anyone before, but I rely on Connor. I need him, and I’ve never needed anyone. I don’t…I don’t want him to go. It terrifies me, how much I need him.”

  I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat. It was far too close to my own feelings about Sam and made me uncomfortable, but I set that aside. I needed to help my friend.

  “Listen, Al,” I started, reaching out to take her hand in one of mine and giving it a comforting squeeze, “Connor loves you. He’s crazy about you. You know that. And if he has to be gone for a few months, you’ll make it through because you love him too. It’s not always easy, and sometimes you both have to compromise, but you’ll get through it. Besides, you’re not alone. You have Sam and Casey, and me of course.”