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She pulls her hands from the tabletop, down to her lap. “The BMW, the five-thousand-dollar suit. These aren’t your props for a fake date.” Her eyes widen as if she’s pushing puzzle pieces together on a coffee table. She’s been too close to see the picture developing in front of her before but now with the tension and expectations from the wedding behind us, she slowly sees it coming into focus. “Is that your car Hunter?”
“I never said it wasn’t.” I hide behind half-truths, hoping to hold for a moment longer to a lie that delivered Catherine to my arms.
“But you let a false assumption breathe. How many others are there?”
I reach my hand across the table, which she ignores, hugging herself instead. “I’m not sure I know what you’re asking.”
Fire blazes across her dark eyes. An intense gaze which I meet head on. I knew this moment was approaching. It’s not unfolding the way I had anticipated but I won’t back away.
“Are you working for Mr. Franklin?” Her question is dipped in anxiety.
I attempt to respond to her question while running through my head the catalog of half-truths I’ve spilled up to now. The moment has arrived. The truth can’t wait another day. “No. I’m not.” She crosses her arms against her chest, every syllable coming out of my mouth being scrutinized.
“My name is Hunter Farro and I do work as a maintenance man at the Legendary Hall. But that’s not the complete story.” Her shoulders stiffen, not an ounce of ease returning to her body. “I’m working there to better understand the true condition of the business.”
“True?” she scoffs out my word at me.
“I’m not a maintenance man by profession. I’m a businessman. I specialize in purchasing undervalued and poorly run businesses and turning them around. I’ve been assessing the Legendary for months. I made an offer to purchase it from Mr. Franklin three months ago. He ignored it. I’ve updated it twice and when Mr. Franklin finally took on one of my offers seriously, I became an employee there to better understand the truth behind the operations and what its real valuation should be.” I pause knowing I’ve just dumped a load on the table.
Her gaze softens and her hands return to her lap. “So, in addition to being a fake boyfriend, you are a fake employee?” She shakes her head. “And after I’ve just told you how much legacy businesses mean you sit here and tell me you’re going to take advantage of Mr. Franklin, buy his lifelong family business that means so much to this community and what? Flip it and turn it into a Chuck E. Cheese or some other monstrosity?”
Shit this is going off the rails in record time.
“No, never. The opposite.” I raise a hand, hoping to ease her concern. “I’m looking to restore the Legendary, restore it to its glory and maybe even beyond.”
“And you expect me to believe that? When nothing you’ve told me up to now is based on a truth.”
I have no defense for her words. “You’re right. You don’t have to believe me. But I know someone who you’ll believe.”
“And who is that?”
“You.” She tilts her head to the side and attempts to understand my meaning. “Trust your instinct. The one that screamed at you to grab this stranger and kiss him knowing in your gut that he’d be a kind, gentle soul who would protect you.” I watch her throat tighten. The memory of our first kiss playing in her head.
“Trust your instinct that said you can take this man whom you barely knew to meet one of the most important people in your life, your precious sister.” Her long eyelashes flutter with what I imagine is the recollection of our biking excursion.
“You don’t have to believe me to trust the instinct that has always guided you to the right decision. That told you Palmer wasn’t good enough for you. That led you to Indiana to refine the skills you knew needed sharpening. Look into your heart and acknowledge that even though you and everyone in the world knew that you didn’t need a man on your arm at the reception, that you were happy I came. Not any man - but me.”
She lowers her chin to her chest to hide her eyes from me. I have no clue whether I am chipping away successfully at her resistance. “All I ask is that you trust your instinct one more time to know what I’m telling you now is the truth. That I am who I say I am. That I’m here to help the Legendary. This has been a dream of mine for a while. And I’m this close.” I press my thumb and index finger in front of my face, an inch apart. “I’d like to cross that finish line with you by my side.”
It's not till I say the words that I understand them. This deal has been a dream of mine for a while. My first solo acquisition. A big move to step out of the shadow of my family. But it will always feel hollow if I can’t complete it with Catherine by my side.
Catherine lifts her chin and the fire in her eyes returns. I sense it before she speaks, “By your side? I don’t even know what that means Hunter. You have more sides than a hexagon. I kissed you because I took a leap of faith that you were a kind soul. I shared my family with you because I trusted you, because I was opening up and being honest hoping to get to know you better, and the entire time you continued to fill me with half-truths and outright lies. Two different cars, two sets of wardrobes, where do the lies end?”
She pushes up from the booth. “Was your plea for us to find a way to stay together the truth? Or was it part of your deceit? A part of a plan I can’t comprehend?”
She lifts a hand to halt me from replying. “Don’t. I won’t believe it no matter what you say.” She shakes her head side to side. “That’s what I get. I started us down this path. On that first day when I kissed you, my actions told you it was okay to be fake. That I was okay deceiving others. Therefore, you should let that be your guide in all matters that pertain to me. I don’t blame you. In a way this is all my fault. Goodbye Hunter.”
She pivots and twists on her heels. She pauses after three steps as hope fills my chest. I rise from the booth as she turns in my direction. The fire no longer burning bright in those beautiful eyes. “Lose my phone number.”
My heart sinks along with me as I slump back into the booth. I realize why her eyes lacked the fire they had a moment ago, it's because she’d used it all up burning me to a crisp.
