by Eliza Boyd
After a thick swallow, Nicole said, “Well, I hope you get in there. It sounds like a wonderful place for a smart girl like you.” Then she took a drink of her orange juice and wiped her mouth with her napkin.
Evan knew how much Nicole meant that. Their arrangement hadn’t been hinged upon Hadley’s acceptance. All she’d had to do was go to that meeting and pretend to be his fiancée. She’d gone above and beyond with all of the other events she’d attended with him, but she didn’t need to care about any of it. In the ten days they’d known each other though, he’d come to see how much she really did care about him and his daughter. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have agreed to go to the rehearsal dinner or the wedding.
A tiny voice in his head said that it could have had something to do with the money. The woman loved her father enough to leave a serious relationship for him. There was probably more to that story, and just like he’d do anything for Hadley, she’d do anything for him. Leaving him alone two nights in a row with a stranger to help Evan out of a jam though? He might have promised her more money than she’d make in a few years, but he still wanted to believe that she’d done it for him too.
Perhaps that was naïve, selfish, or downright stupid. He wasn’t sure. However, he was sure that she’d agreed to sit through breakfast with his talkative, inquisitive daughter even though he’d given her multiple outs. She was there on her own free will. That had to mean something.
When the front door opened though, whatever Nicole’s presence meant didn’t matter quite as much. It flew right out the window because his mom was home. He wouldn’t get a chance to sneak Nicole out. He was going to have to explain why he had a woman at the breakfast table with his daughter. A woman who was wearing his clothes.
And—he realized too late—wearing his mom’s ring.
“Grandma’s home!” Hadley squealed. The maple syrup was already giving her a sugar high, it seemed.
“She is!” When his mother appeared in the kitchen, her smiling face quickly morphed into an expression of surprise. “Oh, hello.”
“Hi,” Nicole said, waving with her ring-free hand.
“This is Nicole!” Hadley informed her, pointing her fork in Nicole’s direction. Evan had to guide it back down to her plate.
“She was at the wedding last night,” he explained. “Her house was a long drive away in the snow, so she stayed here. In the guestroom.”
His mom put that smile back on her face and greeted Nicole. “Hi. I’m Rose, Evan’s mom. It’s nice to meet you.”
Nicole grinned back. “You too.”
It wasn’t awkward in there at all. Nope. Not one bit.
“Hey, Mom,” Evan said, trying to break the tension. “Where’d you run off to?” He cut into his French toast like this was totally normal. He wasn’t sure what else to do.
“Oh, just off to the tea shop.” She waved a hand in the air as she walked through the kitchen.
He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. “Didn’t you go the other day?” he asked, wondering how much tea the woman needed. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen her drink any, either.
She paused, her head tilting slightly. “Did I?”
“Yeah. On Thursday.”
“Ah!” She resumed her approach to the fridge. “That’s right,” she said when she got there. Opening the door, she nodded. “They didn’t have what I was looking for, so I went back this morning.”
That made sense, but when he noted the lack of bags she’d brought in, he asked, “They still didn’t have it, huh?”
As she shut the fridge, she said, “Hmm?”
“You didn’t come home with tea, Mom,” he said, craning his neck to see her. “So they must not have had what you wanted.”
She didn’t move for a few moments. It gave Evan a worried feeling, like something was wrong with her. Was she sick? Losing her mind? She’d been sharp up until this moment, but it all had to start somewhere.
“Oh, right,” she said. Then she shook her head. “No, but they ordered it for me. They’ll have it in on Tuesday.”
He blinked a few times, trying to make sense of all of that. With Nicole there, it wasn’t the time to pry. His mom wouldn’t tell him if something was really wrong anyway. So as soon as he got home from taking Nicole back, he’d get to the bottom of it.
“Well, I’m glad you’re back,” he said, rising from his seat. He took his plate to the sink and turned the faucet on. “I have to take Nicole back home, so if you don’t mind watching Hadley for an hour, that’d be great.”
His mom gave him a warm grin. “You know me. I love spending time with my granddaughter.” But then she leaned against the counter and flicked her gaze to Nicole. Evan did the same, finding Nicole pretending to be very interested in her orange juice all of a sudden. “But I do have to say,” his mom continued quietly, so only he could hear, “you’ve been out a lot lately. Anything I should know about?”
After turning the sink off, Evan spun to face his mom. “Is there anything I should know about you?”
Straightening her spine, she said, “No,” pretty quickly. Too quickly.
Evan was suddenly less worried about her health and more worried about what she was really doing instead of shopping for tea.
“You?” she asked, looking at him from the corners of her eyes.
Slowly, he shook his head, not daring to peek at Nicole. “Nope.”
“Okay, then.” His mom whirled away, heading out of the kitchen. But she paused in the archway just before she’d made it out. “Oh, Hadley, I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Evan’s stomach pitched the moment he realized what she was about to ask her. “If it’s about your ring, uh…” Staring over Nicole’s head at his mom, he tried to think fast on his feet—and not look at the woman currently wearing the piece of jewelry. “I, uh, found it in the laundry. It must have been in your pocket. I forgot to put it back, but I’ll make sure it ends up back in your jewelry box.”
“What ring?” Hadley asked, scooting her chair back now that she was done with breakfast.
“Oh, just the one your grandpa gave me when we were first engaged,” his mom answered wistfully. Though almost like she knew something Evan didn’t want her to know. “It’s really pretty. Has three diamonds on a band of white gold.”
Nicole must have caught on. In his peripheral vision, he saw her left side rise a bit before falling back down—like she was slipping her hand under her leg to hide it.
He willed himself to keep from flicking his gaze to Nicole as his heart sped up. He’d given her his mom’s first engagement ring? Out of all the rings he could have chosen, that was the one he’d picked?
“Sounds beautiful, Grandma.” Hadley put her plate in the sink.
Evan ruffled her pigtails, trying to redirect this conversation. “Will you be good for your grandma while I take Nicole home?”
“Sure.” She went over to Nicole. “Will you come back when we have French toast again?”
Nicole aimed her gaze over Hadley’s head for a moment, but Evan didn’t know what to tell her. It didn’t matter though. She handled it deftly all on her own. “Maybe. It was the best French toast in all the land. But you know how your grandma watches you sometimes when your dad has to go somewhere?”
Hadley nodded her small head. “Yeah. We play games and she lets me stay up late sometimes.” She whipped around to Evan to see if he’d heard, but he pretended like he wasn’t listening as a smile strained his lips.
Even his mom, who was still in the archway, feigned not paying attention. The scene warmed his heart.
“That sounds like so much fun,” Nicole told her. Then she scooted her chair back so she could face his daughter fully. “But with my dad, I have to watch him a lot even though I’m younger. He hurt himself and had surgery, and now, he can’t do a lot of things on his own. So I don’t get to leave very often and do fun stuff like this with you, which means I can’t make any promises, okay?”
“Okay,” Hadle
y said, more subdued than before. “Well, can you give your dad this for me, then?” Without any warning, she lurched forward, wrapping her arms around Nicole as best she could while Nicole was still in the chair.
Nicole’s gaze shot to Evan as she slowly brought her arms around his daughter. She set her chin on Hadley’s shoulder and said, “You bet I will. As soon as your dad takes me home, I’ll give him one of these.” She soothed circles on Hadley’s back until his daughter pulled away.
“I hope that makes him feel better.”
“Me too,” Nicole said, touching a fingertip to Hadley’s nose.
That made her giggle. “Will you tell my dad if it helps your dad?”
“I promise.” Nicole gave her a tight smile. When it started to turn watery, she got up from her chair and picked her plate up.
Evan’s mom flashed a heartfelt smile to him a split second before she spun away. Evan was thinking the same thing. This woman was good—really good—with his kid. She was just the kind of woman he could let into his life. This woman wouldn’t disappoint Hadley the way her own mother had. All of the feelings he had about her were right. And he was ready to do something about that.
He lurched forward to take her plate. “I’ll wash this. If you want to change before we go, the bathroom is around the corner.”
“Thanks,” she said without looking at him.
He didn’t miss the way she dabbed at her eyes on her way out of the kitchen.
A few minutes later, they were ready to go. He didn’t want to throw the whole “maybe this relationship should be real” at her as soon as they got into the car, so he waited.
And waited. And waited.
No time felt right. Not with the heaviness hanging over them. Not with the lie he’d told his mom ringing in his ears. Not with the scene that had just played out with his daughter still fresh. Not with the tears she’d cried barely dry on her face.
Then his phone rang, and the call derailed his thoughts about him and Nicole completely.
On speakerphone, the Pemhall Prep headmaster’s voice filled the Jeep. “Mr. Charleston? I know it’s early on a Sunday, but I wanted to call you with some good news anyway. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course, Mrs. Jamison,” Evan said, flicking his gaze to Nicole. Was this the call he’d been waiting for?
“Oh good. We want to formally invite your daughter, Hadley, to Pemhall Preparatory.”
Evan’s eyes fluttered shut as relief coursed through him. His daughter was going to go to the school she wanted to go to, and it was in no small part due to the incredible woman next to him. He glanced at her with a huge smile on his face, and hers matched the size of his.
His heart almost couldn’t take the genuine excitement Nicole had for the success of his daughter. It was just another reason to add to his list of why this fake relationship could work out if it were real.
By the time the call was over, he was pulling into her driveway.
“Okay, then,” she said, unbuckling her seat belt. “I guess this is over now.” She stuck her hand out across the cab of his SUV, waiting for him to shake it. “Tell Hadley how happy I am for her?”
When he took her hand, he said, “Yeah, I will.” He understood the symbolism of this handshake routine of hers. The fake part was indeed over now that their original deal was done.
He had her number though. He could call her later, when things settled down. He knew where she worked, and he knew he could stick a hundred grand in her bank account to get her to call him if he needed to. That thought almost made him chuckle as she slowly got out of his Jeep.
The part that kept him from chuckling was when she didn’t even look back at him before she disappeared into her house.
The part that almost made him chuckle again was the fact that he needed to follow her in to retrieve his mom’s ring. He’d almost forgotten, and if he didn’t get it back to her, she’d become even more suspicious. Though it sounded like they’d have to trade secrets and she didn’t want to do that. Still, he figured he’d get it while he was there.
But before he even got the door open, the idea of chuckling left him completely.
And his heart stopped as Nicole’s frantic cries for her father rang in his ears.
14
At the hospital, Nicole anxiously waited for her father to wake up. Hunched over in the chair next to his bed, she set her elbows on her knees as her legs shook. Her heels clicked against the tile each time they bounced. She couldn’t believe he’d told the nurse she could go home—or that the nurse had actually listened. But when she’d called to say she was on her way home, he’d taken that as permission to be alone. And when he’d tried to get into his wheelchair to use the bathroom, he’d fallen over and hit his head on the dresser. At least that’s what it’d looked like to Nicole.
He’d never had an accident this bad in all the time she’d been taking care of him, and part of her took that as a sign. She’d taken her eye off the ball. She’d screwed up.
Evan opened the hospital door, balancing two Styrofoam cups of coffee in his hands. Handing one to her, he said, “Here. I wasn’t sure how you like it, so…” He set his cup down and dug into the pocket of his coat. “I grabbed cream and sugar.” Packets and little tubs littered the small table in the corner of the room when he was done emptying his pocket.
“Thanks,” she said, not taking her eyes off her dad. Then she set the cup down on the table, careful to find a flat surface for it.
“Want me to get us something to eat?” he asked. “I can go downstairs or order something for us. Whatever you want.”
“No, thanks.” She shook her head without blinking.
Evan released a heavy breath as he sat in the chair to her left. “It’s been hours, Nicole. You should eat something. Or at least drink some water.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not helping him by not taking care of yourself. He’ll need you to be strong when he wakes up.”
“If he wakes up,” she corrected.
He stiffened before saying, “That’s not what the doctor said. She said he’ll recover. He just needs some time.”
“Time he wouldn’t need if I’d been home.” The words tasted bitter on her tongue, but she’d spit them out and couldn’t take them back. They hung in the air as she waited for Evan to have a comeback for them.
But he didn’t. He stayed quiet. Sipped his coffee. Set it on the table. And sat there.
“You can go home, Evan. Be with your family.” She didn’t want him in the same boat she was when he could help it.
This time, he did have a comeback. “I checked in with them. Everyone’s fine. I’m staying here.”
Her next breath shuddered in her chest. The emotions from the day suddenly built to a boiling point, topped by the touching way Evan was staying by her side in the hospital. All of it was more than she could bear anymore, and it came crashing loose in the form of sobs.
Evan was at her side in an instant, crouching in front of her on the floor. “Hey, he’s gonna be okay. It’s all right.” He rubbed her back with one hand, the other resting on the front of her knee.
She folded forward, her forearms resting on her legs and her head falling to her forearms. Her whole body shook as the emotions poured out of her. Every single thing she’d been feeling since she’d had to leave Peter, maybe since she’d left her dad to go to college—even perhaps since her own mom had left her—came bubbling up to the surface and she let it all out through tears and tremors. She’d tried to be strong, to do the right thing for everyone. But doing the right thing for everyone had turned into the wrong thing for herself.
That hadn’t gotten her anywhere good.
Crying her eyes out in an uncomfortable hospital chair next to her unconscious father was not anywhere good.
Yet the man rubbing soothing circles on her back? The one handing her a tissue? Sitting next to him was somewhere good. There was a silver lining to it. But only if her dad came out of this unscathed
.
After several hiccups and erratic breaths, she was able to fill her chest again. Slowly, she released the air and willed herself to calm down. She had to admit that having Evan there during her breakdown helped, but she needed to get herself under control either way.
“There you go,” he said, adjusting his feet. He uncapped a bottle of water and handed it to her. “Here. Take a few sips.”
She did and then wiped her eyes. When they were dry, she used the tissue on her nose, hoping nothing embarrassing was happening on her face. She didn’t want to be another person Evan had to take care of like he did with his daughter, but she also felt like falling apart in his presence was okay. When she thought about it, she hadn’t felt that with Peter, and the comfort of that soothed her.
“Thanks,” she said, capping the water back up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out like that.”
“Hadley’s like that,” he told her as he rose to a standing position. “She lets things get to her until she just can’t take it anymore. She explodes instead of dealing with things as they happen.” He shrugged. “She’s seven though, so…” After trailing off, he winked at her.
“So I should have a better way to deal with my emotions than the same way a child does?” she asked, humor lacing her tone. She sniffled again. “Actually, yeah. That’s fair.”
“Eh.” Evan sat in his chair again. “It happens to the best of us.”
“I just…” Nicole shook her head, memories flooding through her. As she sat back, she said, “My mom left us too. But I was a teenager. And I didn’t know how to deal with it, so I ended up leaving my father as well.” Just when she thought she had no more tears to cry, they built again. “So when he hurt himself, I felt responsible.”
“You weren’t,” he told her. “You know that now, right?”
She lifted one shoulder. “I guess. But I still feel like I have to make up for it.” Letting her head fall forward, she admitted, “You know, I never told him about my job at the bar. He has no idea I was ever working there.”
Evan’s eyebrows drew down. “How come?”
