Page 92 of Fake It For Him

I nodded, completely focused on doing it right this time. With Finn and with Ella earlier, I’d said all the wrong things. I hadn’t made much sense and it’d almost cost me everything. This time, I wasn’t just going to say whatever came to mind.

I spoke with slow, deliberate purpose, weighing everything in my mind before I let the words leave my mouth. “At the beginning of all this, I hired Ella to be my girlfriend. You guys wanted me to have a date and said I couldn’t come without one, and I wanted to get you off my back. I wanted to be here for Freya and I didn’t want to be the guy who constantly had to be watched. The brother nobody trusted. Ella was my cover. My damage control.”

I exhaled slowly before I inhaled again, looking at Freya the most often but making eye contact with everyone—and even Mikey—in turn. “What I didn’t know when I approached the agency was that they were going to set me up with someone I met before. Ella and I actually met that night in Edinburgh after I left you. She was kind to me that night, helping a complete stranger she’d literally found on the streets and then patching me up.”

As I said it, I tightened my grip on her hand, not really believing how far we’d come since that night. “Because of the way she treated me, I never forgot about her, but we didn’t keep in touch. I had no idea she’d signed up with Faux’s or even that she was back in the States.”

Mom started smiling when she saw the way Ella and I were holding on to one another, but she didn’t interrupt me. “She almost walked away when she saw who they’d matched her up with and I had to beg her to follow through. Obviously, she eventually agreed, but she definitely wasn’t super excited about all the time we would have to spend together.”

I thought back to that day in the coffee shop and grinned, turning my head to drop a quick kiss on top of her head. “That’s when things started changing, with all that time we spent together. We were forced together by our situation, but I fell for her. No word of a lie. Ella’s support, her kindness, and her understanding helped me work through things I kept buried for years and she helped me rediscover who I used to be, and who I want to be going forward.”

“Who’s that?” Freya asked, tears shimmering in her eyes, but I saw the faint smile on her lips. “Who do you want to be, Calan Reid?”

“I want to be your brother and their son.” I glanced at each of my parents. “I want to be a member of this family. A good man. A man worthy of Ella’s love and your trust and forgiveness.”

Freya stared at me for another beat after I’d finished talking, then suddenly broke into a wide grin and threw her arms around me. She held on to me for a long time before she hugged Ella. She beamed as she pulled away.

“I forgive you,” she said excitedly. “Both of you. You’re idiots for lying to us in the first place, but I get it. I even think I might’ve gone just as far or even further to be able to be at your wedding, and as long as you’re being honest now, that’s good enough for me.”

She spun around and put her hands on her hips as she faced our family. “The best wedding gift you could possibly give me would be to forgive them and for us to move forward. Together.”

My heart catapulted itself into my throat, but my mother nodded almost immediately, smiling at both Ella and me. She told us that she was sorry we felt pressured into that kind of situation in the first place. She hugged us each for a long time before she finally broke away to introduce herself to Kara and Mikey.

Dad and Finn took a little longer, but Dad held out his hand and shook mine. “Let this be the last time you lie to us, but okay, Cal. At least I know your love for her is real. I’ve seen it myself and there’s no faking that.”

Finn sighed deeply, not quite shaking my hand or expressly saying that he forgave me, but he offered Ella a tight smile. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I seem to be giving myself a lot of reasons to have to apologize to you, but I shouldn’t have said what I did. If you’re going to be sticking around, can we put it behind us and start over?”

Ella beamed at him. “Of course. I look forward to it.”

His gaze swung my way next, but he just tipped his head to the bar. “I’ll be over there if you want to talk. For now, I think I just need another drink.”

“I’ll be there in a few.”

First, I was going to dance with my girl for as long as she wanted me to, and after that, I would find him. If not tonight, then tomorrow. There was no rush. Things were going to work out this time. I could feel it all the way down to my bones.

48

ELLA

After dancing the rest of the night away, Calan and I returned to our guest house. He’d had a quick chat with Finn, but they’d agreed to talk more tomorrow. Mikey and Kara were staying in that room Calan had offered them on the property next door, and they’d had a blast ringing in the New Year on the dance floor with us.

Although Mikey hadn’t said it, I knew he’d been impressed with Calan and that he believed what he’d told his family. The look on his face after they’d hugged us had said it all. When he’d looked at Calan, his features hadn’t been twisted with anger or distrust. His eyes hadn’t been clouded over or stormy.

Instead, his expression had been open, his features soft and his eyes filled with pleasant surprise. I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling Calan had finally managed to convince my friend that he wasn’t who Mikey had thought he was.

They might even turn out to be friends. Here’s hoping.

Emotionally exhausted and still finding it hard to wrap my head around everything that had happened in just one night, I was happy for some alone time with Calan when he closed the front door behind us.

I yawned, kicked off my sneakers, and stretched my arms up above my head. “Man, what a night. That was crazy. Wasn’t that crazy? Why’d you wait so long to tell me how you feel?”

Arms wrapped around me from behind, holding me close to his chest. He nibbled playfully at my earlobe. “I didn’t know you had such bad taste in men. If I knew you’d actually fall for an asshole like me, maybe I’d have fessed up earlier.”

I giggled and rested my head against his shoulder, peering up at him. “Well, you have exceptional taste in women. Maybe that’s why I fell for you.”

“Because I fell for you?” he teased, tracing my ear with the very tip of his tongue. “Far be it from me to say so, but maybe you should have higher standards.”

“Nah, my standards are just fine. Loving a man who loves me the way I need to be loved? Who allows me to love him the way I want to love him without telling me how I should be doing it? I think I’m doing just fine.”