by Eliza Boyd
So, without thinking about it too hard and talking herself out of it, she jumped into her car and drove Evan’s way.
By the time she got to his house, her palms were sweaty—and it had nothing to do with the heat in her car. She couldn’t believe how nervous she was to simply talk to the man she’d been “engaged” to for nearly two weeks. The idea of making their relationship real made her uneasy. So many variables could destroy the idea. But it was time. It’d never be the perfect time or the right time, so she figured she should just do it.
In the porch light, she pressed his doorbell with shaky fingers. She only felt comfortable going over there because she’d already met his daughter. And his mom. So it wasn’t like she was a stranger. It might be weird, but it was worth it to let him know how she felt.
How in love with him she was.
Her heart raced as she waited for him to answer the door.
But when the door opened and Helen appeared on the other side, her heart sputtered to a stop.
Helen gasped excitedly. “There you are!” she squealed. “Evan was just saying that you couldn’t make it because you were taking care of your dad. But you’re here!”
Melody pranced over to the door, her red hair swishing around her shoulders. “Nicole!” she shouted. “So glad you could make it!”
As the two women enveloped her in a tight hug, Nicole’s desire to be on Evan’s doorstep diminished. She obviously should have known something was going on at his house before this very second, but she hadn’t. And she couldn’t figure out how she felt about that. She was glad that Evan hadn’t tried to drag her into yet another family event to pretend to be someone she wasn’t and further hurt the people around him. But her heart ached at the thought of not being asked in the first place. In that moment, she wished he would have given her the opportunity to say no.
She reminded herself that he’d reached out to her several times that day and she hadn’t responded, so she had no one to blame but herself.
The shout of a little girl as she ran to the door made her heart clench. This was even worse now.
“You made it!” Hadley yelled as she launched herself into the group hug. “Dad said you couldn’t come, but you’re here!”
Suddenly, Nicole couldn’t breathe. Her arms and legs tingled, and her chest felt like an elephant had plopped down onto it. In a moment, she’d pass out if she didn’t extricate herself from this embrace.
Luckily for her, everyone let go at the same time and gave her some space. She wanted to cut and run, get the heck out of there before everything hit the fan, but someone closed the door. She felt trapped in Evan’s house, like she was about to face the firing squad. Because this was an unsanctioned event. One they hadn’t prepared for, and one that couldn’t end well with everyone involved.
Secrets were bound to come out.
All of them.
Evan appeared behind the women a moment later, his eyes wide and panicked. He didn’t know what to do, either. Her heart kicked up to a quick rhythm again, too fast for her to think clearly, especially while everyone was talking over each other.
Helen was saying something about getting together over the weekend. Melody was agreeing, asking for Nicole’s phone number. And Hadley was going on about her new school and how great everything was going to be when she started on Monday.
It felt like too much. Nicole had gone there to talk to Evan, to maybe take things to a real level with him. But, now, the fake predicament they found themselves in was rising to a head.
It hit the boiling point when Roger ambled to the door and slung an arm over Evan’s shoulder. “Oh hey, your fiancée is here.”
That word. That was the one word she’d wanted to avoid in front of Hadley. That word made her freeze, wide-eyed with her blood like ice. The winter chill outside had nothing on the deep freeze going on in Evan’s foyer. Especially when Hadley spoke up.
“Fiancée? Dad?” She turned to him, curious and childlike. “What’s a fiancée?”
“A fiancée is what a man has before he gets married,” Melody told her. “I was Roger’s fiancée before we got married last week.”
Hadley’s eyes flared so wide, the excitement in them a nearly fatal blow to Nicole’s heart. “Dad! You’re marrying Nicole?”
All eyes swung to Evan, who looked at Nicole with panic all over his face.
“She didn’t know?” Helen quietly inferred, a hand over her chest.
This was the moment they’d tried to avoid this entire time. Evan’s rules had been short but very specific: Hadley couldn’t get involved. But there they were, in front of his daughter and his friends, throwing the word fiancée around because they’d been caught off guard.
“Fiancée?” his mom said, coming late to the party at the front door. “No, that’s Evan’s friend Nicole. But actually…” She gave her full attention to her son. “Would that explain my missing ring, by chance?”
Evan started to answer her. “Mom, I told you. It’s—”
But Nicole couldn’t keep the lie going anymore. This was the breaking point. She pulled the ring from her pocket and took the five steps over to Rose. “Here it is.” She held it out to her and waited.
When Rose opened her palm to take the ring, Nicole let it go and stepped back. “Why are you giving this back to me?” she asked. “If he gave it to you, then it’s meant for you.”
A lump rose in Nicole’s throat as she shook her head. “It’s not though,” she choked out the second she’d swallowed over it. Gasps filled the room, but she pressed on. “Evan will have to explain.”
Evan looked like he was in physical pain, but Nicole truly was. Her heart felt smashed to bits as she backed away. When her elbows hit the door, she reached for the handle. But Evan’s voice stopped her.
“Nicole, wait.”
She couldn’t. She slipped out the door to murmurs of “What’s going on?” and “What’s happening right now?” and “It wasn’t real?” She preferred the ice cold outside to hurting everyone in that room.
The door flew open as Evan exploded out of it, but Nicole couldn’t hear any more of this. She couldn’t put those people through the heartbreak too. After she’d warned Evan that this would happen, she couldn’t afford to go through it. She’d already lost so many people in her life, and losing them would sting just as much. They’d taken to her the moment she’d set foot in Evan’s life. It just wasn’t fair to any of them.
Evan’s hand on her elbow stopped her. “Wait. Please.”
“For what, Evan?” she asked, stopping on a dime and spinning around to face him. The air turned white in front of her mouth with each word she slung at him. “So I can stick around and watch these people get hurt?”
“No. So we can discuss this. You’re here for a reason, so let’s talk about it.”
She scoffed, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets and flaring her elbows as her blood boiled. “This doesn’t seem like the best time. You’re throwing a party I wasn’t invited to.”
He lowered his voice and clenched his teeth. “For this very reason. But if we can just talk about this, we can tell them what’s really going on here.”
“And what’s that?” she asked, her eyebrows drawing down. She tilted her head to the side as her stomach churned with anger and sadness. “What’s really going on here? Because the way I see it, we’re hurting people. Like your daughter, who wasn’t supposed to get caught up in this. But she’s in there, asking if we’re getting married, and—” Her voice caught as the words got stuck in her chest. When tears slipped down her cheeks, she wiped at them with frustrated fingers. The bitter wind froze watery paths on her skin. “And we’re not, Evan. We’re not.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but a tiny, sad, heartbreaking voice came from the front porch.
“You’re not marrying Nicole?” his daughter asked, her cute pigtails blowing in the icy wind. “I’m not getting a mom?”
Everything they’d tried not to do came crashing down in front o
f them. And as much as Nicole wanted to run away from all of this, a larger part of her related to Hadley so much that she couldn’t. She knew what it was like to wish for a mom so hard that it hurt. To pray that her own mom would come back home to help her deal with adolescent life in ways her father couldn’t. It never came true for her, but she wanted that more than anything for the little girl in front of her.
With her stern gaze on Evan, she walked past him and then knelt in front of Hadley, taking her small hands in hers. “Someday, you’re going to be my age and you’re going to realize that your dad has always done everything he could to make your life amazing. Even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, and even if you miss your mom. I promise you,” she said, sniffling tears back. “Have a great time at Pemhall Prep, ladybug. You’re going to do great.”
Hadley shivered in the winter chill and threw her arms around Nicole. “Can you at least go to parents’ night? I don’t want to be the only kid without a mom there.”
Nicole squeezed her eyes shut. “What about your grandma?” she asked, opening her eyes and finding Rose watching on.
Hadley pulled back to look at Nicole. “She’s not my mom though.”
“Well, it’ll have to be okay with your dad.” And before anything else could he said, she kissed Hadley’s cheek and stood.
Then she did the hardest thing she’d ever had to do.
She walked away from Hadley. From the friends she’d grown to like.
And from Evan.
Without another word.
17
Evan didn’t know how to deal with the fallout of this. He wanted Nicole by his side as he explained what he’d done. He wanted her by his side for the rest of his life. She’d come over for a reason, but they’d never gotten to that. Instead, the entire lie had exploded in his face. What had seemed innocent at first had spiraled out of control. And now, he had to face it alone.
With a deep breath, he scooped a sad Hadley off the porch. “It’s freezing, little lady. Let’s get you inside.”
“But what about—”
“We’ll talk about this later okay? Mom?” He had her take Hadley and Makayla upstairs, promising to wait until she was back to explain.
And he did.
To their shock, he told them about the plan he’d concocted. That he’d only asked her because he’d cost her her job and she’d clearly needed the money for her dad’s care. That he’d paid her a lot of money to do all of this and had only hurt her in the end.
Everyone’s expressions drilled holes in his heart. He’d messed up. He knew it. He didn’t need them telling him that too.
Roger was the one who spoke first. “So why not pay her some more?”
“Why?” Evan responded, furrowing his brow.
“To make up for what happened tonight. She clearly didn’t want to be a part of that and you have more than enough money to help her with her dad.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “It was never about the money, man.”
“It wasn’t?” Roger asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because it sounds to me like she only agreed to this because of the payday.”
Jude nodded next to him. “Didn’t I ask you if she was only out for your money?” he reminded him. “Seemed way too soon to me, and now I get it.”
But Evan shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “No, man. No, I don’t think you do.” He looked around at all of his friends. “I don’t think any of you get it.” Then he pointed at Roger. “Especially you. You treat me like I’m not the same kid you went to school with. You know that, right? I have all of this money now, so you think I must have changed overnight into someone completely different, but I didn’t.”
“Are you sure?” He took a step forward, folding his arms over his chest and keeping his chin high. “Because the Evan I know wouldn’t have paid a woman to pretend she was his fiancée to get his daughter into some fancy school.”
“Hey. Watch it,” Jude snapped, holding an arm out to keep Roger from advancing again. “Makayla loves that school. It’ll be worth it for Hadley.”
“Okay, fine. Maybe so,” Roger agreed. “But you still lied, man. You’ve changed.”
Evan took a deep breath, ready to reply to that. But he didn’t have anything to say. He’d been so sure that the money hadn’t changed him. That he was still the same person he’d always been. But maybe Roger had been onto something this whole time.
He never would have been able to do what he’d done if he hadn’t had his dad’s money. He’d thought about this before, but in a different context. He’d thought about how it’d been causing all of these problems for him.
But they were only there because he’d allowed them to be. Because he’d allowed them to take control of his life.
When he’d been with Nicole, he hadn’t worried about it. He’d gone to diners with sticky floors and ruined his pants because of her. He hadn’t needed money to take her to a wedding or his friends’ rehearsal dinner. He hadn’t needed money to be with her when her father had fallen.
And he hadn’t needed money to realize he was in love with her.
He loved how she hadn’t treated him any differently when she’d found out about his wealth. He loved how she’d wanted to give it back because it’d been too much. He loved how carefully and sweetly she treated his daughter. He loved how much fun she liked to have doing simple things like eating at that sticky diner. And he loved that he now liked vegan burgers because of her. He’d never be able to eat one again without thinking about the woman who’d stolen his heart when she was only supposed to be his fake fiancée.
“You’re right,” he told his friends. He scrubbed a hand over his face and let his head fall back. “You’re right. I’ve changed. I’ve changed, but not because of the money.” He thrust a finger behind him, at the door he’d closed once Nicole had left. “I’ve changed because that woman flew into my life and reminded me that my money doesn’t define me. The money my father left me doesn’t make me a different person. It’s made me a person with a bigger heart. And that woman took it when she walked out the door.”
Helen sighed as Melody clutched her chest. And the guys softened too. But it was his mom who finally spoke after his speech.
“Then why didn’t you go after her?”
Evan had thought she’d been suspiciously quiet. He’d been waiting for her to call him out, scold him for taking the ring—something to match how awful he felt inside. Instead, she’d cut him deeper than he’d imagined she would, but not on purpose.
“I can’t run after her with my daughter’s party going on. Leaving Hadley isn’t an option,” he managed to choke out over the lump stuck in his throat.
She stepped forward, sighing. “From what I just witnessed, Hadley would have preferred you to go after her. You did all of this for her. And she clearly likes Nicole.” When she reached him, she put a hand on his upper arm. “Honestly, I do too. I saw them together that morning last week. She treated Hadley better in two minutes than Patty ever did. And that’s not reason alone to marry someone, but something told you she was a good enough woman to bring into your home and your life. You wouldn’t have done that lightly.”
No, he wouldn’t have. He didn’t. He’d been desperate, but he hadn’t asked just anyone. He’d asked a woman he’d fallen in love with. A woman with a huge heart who didn’t deserve what he’d put her through.
But he’d blown it.
“I really messed this up,” he said, his head falling back toward his shoulders. He pinched his eyes shut with his fingers.
“Give it some time,” his mom said.
The women hummed their agreement, and when he righted his head and opened his eyes, he saw them nodding too.
He didn’t think he had a choice. Nicole was already known for ignoring him when she needed to. If she’d just messaged him back earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. But their timing had never been right. In fact, it’d been spectacularly wrong since the beginning.
Now, he prayed they’d be a
ble to figure it out before it was too late.
Three weeks later, Evan and Hadley had settled into a new routine.
He helped her with her hair in the morning, made breakfast instead of relying on his mom, and then took her to school. Once he was back home, he focused on work, trading and investing in businesses, property, and medical devices that he thought would be worth having in the world. When it was time to get Hadley, he’d leave it all behind and spend the afternoons and evenings with her. He helped her do her homework—and broke out Google whenever necessary—and made dinner. Sometimes they ordered pizza or his mom cooked because she liked to. Then Hadley bathed and got ready for bed.
And then Evan got into bed, wishing Nicole would reach out to him.
Maybe he was giving her some space. Maybe he was too chicken to find out he was the only one missing what they’d had—even if it had been fake. Maybe he didn’t want to face rejection.
All he knew was that his new routine was a Band-Aid. It was a good one because every second with his daughter was worth whatever he’d been through. Every smile she wore on rides home from school made it all worth every second. But it wasn’t healing his broken heart.
On a Wednesday, Evan found a spot in the pick-up line and waited for his daughter. When he spotted her, the pout on her face made him wonder if something had happened at school. She sulked as she walked to the car, and the moment she opened the door, she huffed. Then she plopped into her seat in the back and folded her arms over her chest, her head tilted down and her bottom lip poking out.
It was a little overdramatic, but he’d been waiting for this.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching to the back and jiggling her foot.
She ripped her foot out of his grasp and said, “All the other kids have both of their parents coming to parents’ night tonight. And Nicole said she would go if it’s okay with you and you haven’t called her.”
Evan’s breath caught in his throat. He tried to breathe deep to find the oxygen in the car, but the artificially warm air didn’t help. “It’s not that simple, Had. I wish it were, but it’s not.”
