Page 18 of His Fake Fiancé

Jake was laying on the floor on his stomach, facing away from the door. Olivia was sitting in front of him, along with Jake’s brother’s dog, Bella. The golden retriever was patient and gentle as Olivia patted her. The baby was dressed in a pink, lacey dress. Her dark curls were held back from her face by a headband lined with pink and white silk flowers. She looked precious.

Bella leaned in and licked Olivia on the cheek. The baby squealed and laughed, clapping her hands, which made Jake laugh. He was taking pictures with a very expensive looking camera.

“She’s giving you kisses, baby girl.” Jake kept his voice light, tilting his head to capture different angles with the camera. The click click click of the shutter was fast.

Olivia laughed again, completely enamored with the dog. Claire’s insides did a little pirouette. It was the sweetest thing ever. She moved into the doorway, leaning her shoulder against the jam so she could watch.

An ounce of guilt trickled through her at thinking Jake had been fooling around with someone. Although, in her defense, jumping to such a conclusion wasn’t a stretch. This was Jake after all.

“Ca-ca.” Olivia spotted her and lifted her hands toward the door.

Jake glanced over his shoulder, the smile sliding off his face. He scrambled to his feet and tucked the camera into the bag next to him. “Oh, hey Claire,” he said, his voice rough. “I d-d-didn’t hear you come in.” Patches of pink dotted his cheeks.

Was he blushing? She hadn’t seen Jake blush since they were kids. Why was he blushing? She didn’t think this was a terribly scandalous situation—unlike the ones running wild in her imagination a few minutes ago. A father taking photos of his baby was actually really sweet. Was it because of the stutter? The stutter was something he hadn’t had an issue with in a long time. It used to happen when he was younger and got flustered or overwhelmed, but, other than this last week, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard him stutter. Not that she cared. It didn’t change anything about the way she felt about him, even beyond the romantic.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice coming out rough and weird. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t mean to intrude.” Bella came over and leaned against her leg, looking for pets. As usual, she gave in and rubbed behind the dog’s ears.

“It’s not an intrusion,” he said, bending over and picking up Olivia. She gave another squeal and rubbed her little hands over the scruff on his jaw. “We’re family.” He gave Olivia a grin which he then slid Claire’s way.

Claire’s heart cracked so fast and so suddenly, she was surprised the sound didn’t echo through the room. The words left her feeling hollow for some reason, frozen in place. Jake had just called them a family. And yeah, she got that it was because of the whole fake fiancé thing. It was everything she’d wanted for so long, it was so hard to come to grips with the fact it was all fake.

Get a grip, Claire. You’re here to tell him this is a bad idea, not lose focus because he called you family. You have a family that loves and cares about you. Don’t let the flowery feelings distract you.

She sucked in a quick breath, hoping and praying Jake didn’t notice the war going on inside her. He didn’t seem to, which wasn’t surprising. One of things she’d learned about Jake over the years was that he wasn’t exceptionally observant, especially when it came to feelings. Not that he ignored people’s feelings or anything. He just wasn’t very good at reading between the lines and subtext type of stuff. She’d always assumed it was one of the main reasons he never played games—this whole fake fiancé thing notwithstanding. He was open and honest about who he was and what he wanted.

And it had never been her.

She just needed to remember that and she’d come out of this without getting shattered. Even though he didn’t know it, Jake had already broken it, many years ago, and the pieces were barely holding together. There’s no way it would survive another direct hit. She needed to be smart.

“Where’s my grandbaby?”

Claire turned to see Mrs. C topping the stairs, her hands full of shopping bags. Guess that explained where she’d disappeared to this afternoon.

“Hello, love.” Mrs. C smiled at her, and Claire’s heart gave a shuddering beat, the cracks aching. Mrs. C had always been so nice to her, taking her in and treating her like a daughter. It hurt so much that Claire couldn’t have it all. She loved her family, very much, but there’d always been a part of her that wanted what the Callahans had.

No, she’d wanted the Callahans. To be one of them.

A lot of that had to do with Mrs. C being a mother figure to her. It was the one thing Claire had ever truly wanted. She loved her dad, and he was good to her, and she knew he tried, but he wasn’t really the type of man who could relate to a daughter. It didn’t help that Claire felt guilty, since her mom had died giving birth to her. It was irrational and ridiculous, but she could help it. She was the reason her dad didn’t have a wife, her brothers didn’t have a mother.

Mrs. C tucked the bags against the wall and stood, her perfect eyebrows drawn together. “Is everything okay?”

Claire had no idea what she was projecting, what Mrs. C saw on her face, but it was enough to set off alarm bells. She tried to blank her features, go back to the easy going, don’t rock the boat, Claire everyone was used to, but her emotions were so close to the surface, she had difficulty getting there.

She had no idea why.

“Everything’s fine,” she said, forcing her lips to tilt up in what she hoped was a convincing smile.

Mrs. C stared at her, her blue eyes direct. Claire felt like she was being interrogated, but without words. Her skin pulled tighter with each hard heartbeat. Finally, Mrs. C gave a quick nod, and Claire felt like she could breathe again.

She then turned her gaze to Jake, who Claire assumed was still behind her. Claire glanced over her shoulder. He still stood there, Olivia in his arms, fascinated by the scruff on his cheeks. He was staring at his mother, one side of his mouth tilted up in that cheeky half grin he’d spent his life perfecting.

“Well, that’s good.” Mrs. C didn’t sound convinced, and Claire barely held back a wince. She had the burning need to apologize, although she didn’t know why. She hadn’t done anything to apologize for… had she?

Mrs. C clapped her hands once, which Claire had learned over the years meant it was time for a subject change. It was cute and endearing. Bella, who’d sat her rump on the floor, leaped to her feet, her tail flapping like a flag.

“Okay, so where’s my beautiful grandbaby?” She held out her hands and walked toward Jake and the baby. Olivia squealed—it was something she’d recently learned and was currently her favorite mode of communication—and reached for her grandma.

Mrs. C cooed and took Olivia, balancing the baby on her hip. “You’re going to come help me make some dinner, aren’t you?”