Fake Me

by Bonnie Edwards

  Being here for the weekend meant the children would have activities, especially the boys. Maybe they’d find a way to be friends. Maybe they’d land in a tumble of flying fists and kicking feet. Only time would tell, and they had a lifetime to sort out their differences.

  What a mess. Denny Bracken was the last person she’d expect to get himself into such a tangle. She wanted to call him every awful name she could think of, but her memories of him intruded, insisting that the young man she remembered would never intentionally plan to ruin two good women and three lovely children.

  Chapter Fourteen

  FARREN FINISHED HER lunch, stepped out the door of her unit and came face-to-face with Delphine.

  “Hi,” she said in a weak tone as she quickly pulled the door shut behind her. She smiled when she heard the click at her back. “I didn’t know you were in town.”

  “I wouldn’t miss the launch of Singles Fest,” Delphine purred. “Not when my brother’s here, too.” She glanced at the room number on the door. “Whose room is this?”

  “It’s a break room for me and the other employees,” Farren replied as she strode past Grady’s sister and headed for the pool. “The lifeguard is a friend of mine, and she also handles daycare and arranges for babysitters if people want to have a private date. She needs a place to hide or eat or check email. I just had a sandwich.” Quit babbling. Delphine knows all this about Eva already. And don’t admit to eating anywhere but in Grady’s home.

  Farren smiled uneasily until she came up with something nice to say. “Thanks for coming. I don’t know that we’d be here at the Landseer without you prodding me to talk to Grady.” Which was one hundred percent true.

  Delphine surprised her with a hug. “My brother would still be a hermit if you hadn’t got him out of the house. I’m going to see him right now.” She looked shy at the admission. “He invited me over. Thank you.”

  “I can’t take credit for that. He was probably ready to see you anyway.” Platitudes and small talk. Grady had hinted that he’d kept his sister at arm’s length in the offices in New York. “I have to get the barbecue out of the toolshed if you want to walk with me.”

  “No, I’ll go see Grady. I just wanted to thank you.” She looked less confident. “Do you think he’ll let me in?” She twisted her fingers together in a nervous gesture.

  “Of course, he invited you, right?”

  “Yes, but he’s been so difficult to read. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I did to get his silent treatment. I don’t want to make things worse.” She sighed, looking distressed. She clearly loved her brother and this estrangement had cost her.

  “Grady needs to explain himself,” Farren said gently because she didn’t have a clue what had come between Grady and his sister. She’d never asked, and he’d never offered an explanation other than Delphine was meddlesome. “When you clear the air with him, you’ll both feel better, I’m sure of it.” She clasped the other woman’s upper arms and gave her a light squeeze of encouragement. “You’ll be fine. You’ll come through this.”

  Delphine squared her shoulders. “I hope so. I miss my brother.” With that, she turned on her heel and headed toward Grady’s private entrance.

  GRADY DISCONNECTED from his virtual meeting as a knock came at his door. Must be Farren stopping in to say hello. He ran his palm over his hair to smooth it and went to answer. But the woman framed through the door’s window wasn’t Farren.

  Delphine. Of course she’d race over right away. He toyed with sending her away, but it was time to come clean. He wasn’t happy about it, though.

  He opened the door, scanning the pool area as he did so. Farren wasn’t anywhere in view, but the pool was full of screaming, laughing children. Huh.

  “Here I am, in the flesh, and we’re alone. We can talk. Or not.” He walked toward the living room, leaving Delphine to step in. “Shut the door, I don’t want to hear all the screaming from the pool.”

  She followed him inside. “Nice to see you, Grady,” she sing-songed. “Nice to see you, too, sister dear.”

  He turned to face her, chuckling. “Okay, I’ve been a total jerk and I’m, uh, sorry.” And he realized he was telling the truth, the honest-to-God truth. Rather than be open with her about Veronica, he’d retreated further while he came to terms with all he knew.

  But what he’d learned wasn’t Delphine’s fault. They’d both been taken in. He opened his arms and she stepped into them.

  “Twins shouldn’t be apart that way,” she said with a sniff. “It’s not natural.” Her shoulders slumped against him. “Whatever I did, Grady, I’m sorry.”

  The twin thing was more Delphine’s joy than his. She was his sister and he loved her. But she’d loved being a twin and swore that gave her more incentive to make sure he was happy.

  “But you couldn’t resist doing it again with Farren, could you?”

  “What do you mean?” She pulled back and looked up at him.

  “You sent her to me to set us up, the way you hired Veronica and put her in my overworked sights.”

  She rolled her lower lip out in a classic childhood expression. “And you wanted to marry Veronica in the end. So, even though she’s gone, she was the right choice for you. I don’t understand how you can blame me for her accident.”

  He shook his head. This would be a long and difficult conversation. “I didn’t blame you for that at the time and I don’t blame you now. But there are things about Veronica you don’t know.” He settled himself to explain. It was time.

  She reared back. “What do you mean?”

  He headed for his lounger and sat with his hands over his belly. He waved her to the futon where she settled and curled her legs up beside her.

  “About three months ago, I heard from a man I didn’t know.” The guy had waited until his guilt had peaked about six weeks after Veronica’s drowning. “But Veronica did.”

  She tilted her head, curious. “And?” Her brows held a small knit that heralded confusion.

  Grady drew a deep breath. “He was Delphine’s lover, the man she was paddling across the lake to see that night.”

  “You can’t be serious.” Her eyes went wide with disbelief and shock. She laid a palm over her belly as if she felt queasy. “I don’t understand.” She shook her head in denial, but he knew his sister and she was already putting pieces together in her mind.

  “Want a coffee? Or water.”

  “No.” She paled. “I need to hear the rest.” She leaned down and moved her purse. Moved it again. Agitation meant she couldn’t settle, so her purse took the brunt as she lifted, dropped, and slid the heavy weight of it from side to side. He knew it weighed heavily; she carried half her belongings in that bag. “Tell me plainly what happened.”

  He nodded and caught her gaze. Held it. “Out of the blue, I got a call from a man in tears. The number looked vaguely familiar, as if I should know who it was on the other end, so I answered. The guy was blubbering, nearly incoherent. It was so unexpected that I didn’t hang up right away.”

  “But you didn’t know the number?”

  He shook his head. “Maybe I’d seen it in Veronica’s contact list or something. The crying made me wonder if it was a wrong number, but what if this guy was suicidal? I kept him talking, asking about his life, and pointing out that people loved him.” He shrugged, feeling the remnants of his helplessness at the time.

  She nodded. “That must’ve been awkward and strange.” She clucked her tongue in that way she had of expressing concern.

  “What do I know about this stuff?” He went on. “I’ve seen people talked off ledges and bridges on television and movies. That’s it.” The fear he’d felt with his initial contact rattled through him again, like muscle memory or something.

  “Of course.” She nodded, hanging on each word. “Anyone would do the same.”

  “But then he said that the only one who loved him had drowned. I went on alert. Like, what are the odds, right?”

  “Not h
igh.” She shook her head and looked unbearably sad.

  “When I asked how he got my number, he said he got it from Veronica’s phone when she was sleeping.” He’d said it so calmly, as if Grady should already know that he’d seen her sleeping. But Grady’s mind had raced and rebelled at the idea of some other man seeing his fiancée asleep. Things had unraveled quickly from there.

  “I thought the guy was pranking me —like a weirdo who gets his kicks getting into the heads of the bereaved, or—” He drew in an uneasy breath and dragged both hands through his hair. He had to finish this.

  She nodded. “I’d wonder the very same thing. Anyone would.” Clasping her arms around her waist, his sister rocked in distress. “But he wasn’t doing that, was he?”

  Grady shook head. “When Veronica took the job with me, she told her boyfriend, this guy, about the long hours and the travel. After a few weeks, he came up with the idea that she should be available to me.” Saying it out loud like this made him squeamish. He couldn’t overlay the woman he’d loved with the woman this man claimed she was.

  “Veronica planned to seduce you?” Delphine asked, her voice faint with shock. “It’s hard to believe she could do that while involved with someone else. Not the woman I knew.” Her words dripped of betrayal and rising anger.

  “Not at the beginning, but after a few weeks. It wasn’t her idea, but yes, she enticed. Invited. And yes, seduced me. I hesitated because I had to be certain of her signals. I walked a minefield with her and all along, she must’ve been laughing at me trying to keep things professional. But she was subtle, and I didn’t see how she manipulated each situation. I don’t want to blame her, a woman who worked for me. Ordinarily, I’d never look at an employee that way, but she was perfect for me. Veronica was all I wanted in a wife.”

  “Do you think she targeted you before she applied for the position?”

  “No. This was an opportunity for her. For them.” He shook his head. There’d been some honest affection for him. He felt sure of it. “I saw exactly what she wanted me to see. A fabulous assistant, with my best interests at heart. A woman I could partner with in business and in life. She suggested a pre-nuptial agreement once. She looked as if she hated the idea and by then, I was caught up in how lucky I was to have found the perfect woman right under my nose.”

  “And all that time, this man was waiting for her. I’m so sorry. I feel sick.” She covered her mouth for a long moment. Got control and waved him to continue.

  “For our divorce, yes. They saw each other whenever she said she needed to visit her family. Which was once a month; sometimes twice. The other day at her parents’ house I learned she went months between visits. She must’ve been with him, instead.” He shrugged, feeling sympathetic. “I know this is a shock. It was for me, too. I grieved for weeks in this house and steered clear of people. I knew wherever I went, people at the office, our clients, everyone would look at me with pity. I couldn’t face it.” The memories of the weeks after their mom’s death had crowded his mind. School, sports, girls, his buddies. Everywhere he looked he’d seen awkward sympathy.

  “I get that. I do. Veronica was with you at home, work, away on business with you. She was like your other half.” Her eyes filled and she dabbed at them. When she raised them again, they were filled with outrage on his behalf. He shook his head at her.

  “A few weeks in, I’d wallowed enough and felt ready to return to work, except I got his call. Jeremy. He wouldn’t give me his last name, but he was wracked with guilt and had to confess. I listened to the whole thing, numb.

  “He said it was his idea to rent a cabin across the lake so she could paddle over. She didn’t want to chance that she’d be missed, but when her bridesmaids went to their rooms, she took the canoe, too tipsy to handle it.

  “Jeremy told me he’d insisted on seeing her that night. Told her they deserved to drink champagne and celebrate their win over me. He has a lot of guilt to live with.” Grady shook his head. “Of course, he blames himself for her death.”

  “But why call you? Why put this in your mind? He unloaded on you.”

  “I don’t know. But in a strange way I think he may have wanted to apologize or let me know that she’d never really been mine. I can’t get clear on his motive.” He shrugged. Jeremy’s reasons for telling Grady the truth were his.

  “Maybe a bit of both. By telling you everything he can punish you and himself.” She frowned. “You haven’t heard from him again, have you?”

  Grady shook his head. “His number’s out of service. And I didn’t get his last name.”

  “I’ll take a ginger ale if you have some. It’ll settle my stomach,” his sister said softly. “This new version of Veronica will take some time to get used to.” She gasped. “I’m so sorry I put her in your path.”

  Grady went to the fridge and dug out a can of ginger ale. He found a glass, filled it with ice. “Not your fault. I needed an assistant, and you handle HR for the firm.”

  After he delivered her drink, they sat in silence while Delphine digested all he’d told her. After a moment, she spoke. “Grady. I don’t know what to say to make this better. How did your month go at work?” He saw residual pain in her eyes, but at least now she understood why he waited to explain himself.

  “Pretty much as expected. A lot of searching glances from staff, brusque concern from clients. Murmurs of condolences from everywhere. Sorry I cut you off so often, but I wasn’t ready to discuss this. Especially not at the office.” Not in New York, where most of his time with Veronica was spent.

  No, he had to wait to be here in Last Chance Beach. He wanted to be home when he exposed himself this way.

  “And all along you had this secret. This terrible secret.” She reached across the distance and patted his knee. “I’m sorry I ever meddled. I thought she was perfect for you, and I had hopes you’d hit it off. I was careful to say what I knew you wanted to hear regarding an assistant.” She paused and drew a deep breath. “Have you told Farren?”

  “No. I wasn’t sure I could get through telling you.” His fake girlfriend didn’t need to know any of this. But he could see why Delphine would ask. She believed he and Farren were the real thing.

  Chapter Fifteen

  FARREN SAT WITH DENNY outside his unit as they watched his oldest boy and middle boy line up to get a hot dog and a bag of chips. The baby was asleep inside and the door at their backs sat open in case she woke from her nap. Denny expected to hear her at any moment.

  “The boys won’t stand near each other,” Denny lamented as each boy looked stiff and unyielding, cold shouldering each other.

  “They’re strangers, right?”

  “I guess. But they’ve known about each other for months. They’ve both said they forgive me.” The boys moved up a place in line.

  She chose to be forthright with Denny because they went back so far and if he didn’t like it, he could leave. “Let’s face it; you needed them to say they forgive you, so they did. They said what you wanted to hear.”

  He stared at her, then blinked. “Don’t pull your punches, Farren. Give it to me straight,” he said sourly. His shoulders sagged, but he stayed seated. He’d probably been lectured by every other woman in his life.

  He didn’t need another lecture. He needed someone to help him move on from here. With his children. Farren had no ax to grind, no personal pain to excise. Fair enough.

  “Talking around the issues won’t help,” she said. “You all need honest conversation. Forgiving you doesn’t mean your sons are willing to accept each other yet.” She was blunt, but he needed to hear the truth. “They need time, and this weekend is just the beginning. A year from now, they’ll be accustomed to each other. Maybe not best buddies, but they’ll have come to terms with the changes.” She hoped. Her heart broke for Denny’s children. Their loss of innocence, their sense of betrayal and anger.

  “You were always wise, Farren. That was one of my favorite things about you.” He gave her a lopsided smile.
“Sometimes I wish I’d never left town.”

  “I’m glad I stayed.”

  His eyes filled with affection she didn’t want. Not from him. She looked toward the breezeway and wondered what Grady was doing.

  “We should’ve gone to college together,” Denny said. “I don’t know why we didn’t.” He shook his head and she realized he didn’t remember that he hadn’t asked her.

  She watched the two boys. The older one, Jamie, was tall and long limbed while the younger looked like a small tank. Billy was sturdy and solid. Neither boy smiled and their body language was stiff and pained. They were handed their hotdogs at the same time and moved to the table set up with condiments.

  Billy set his bun on the table and the dog immediately rolled off the bun, then the table, and hit the ground. The shock on his face was comical and Denny snorted. “Poor kid. I better go help. He’s gonna blow up over that. He loves hot dogs, and his mom won’t let him have them.”

  She placed her hand on Denny’s arm. “No, wait.”

  Denny subsided into his chair as he watched Billy and Jamie. “Are you kidding me? I can’t believe it.”

  “I think, in the long run, things will work out,” she said softly. She blinked away a tear.

  Jamie had handed Billy his hot dog and moved back to the barbecue to ask for another for himself. Despite all that the boys needed to adjust to, Jamie the only child had suddenly become a big brother.

  Billy’s face looked thunderous at the kindness, but his expression turned to acceptance as he watched Jamie get another hotdog for himself.

  There may have been the flash of a small smile between the boys.

  “They’ll have to work things out themselves, won’t they?” their father said. “I can’t make this easier for them, or tell them to just do it, or make them be friends.”