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“What?” he asks, frantically peeking his head out to look at the front of the shop. “Oh, my God. Hey guys, can you tell the last few customers we’re closing and then shut and lock the doors, please?”
I start panicking at his requests, which only seem to confirm my fear that something is seriously wrong. “What? What do you mean? What’s going on?”
He ignores my question and pulls out his phone as the other employees appear behind him. Shane scrolls through his phone until he finally hands it to me. I read through article after article, and my heart is pounding with every new sentence or title I come across.
Oh my God. Everybody knows. The truth is out. Aiden and I’s secret is no longer a secret. What the hell am I going to do now? How do I face anyone again after this?
We decide to walk back out and see if the line of people is still gathering by the windows. We see them as soon as we emerge from the back, but there’s even more than before. Crowds are gathering and now there are even cameras.
Shane rushes me to the counter to duck behind it, so they don’t get anything they’re looking for. As I’m hiding, I start thinking about why someone might have a camera.I’m sure the media’s coming to see me in person, hoping for an interview.
As the thought of the media being outside resonates with me a little longer, it causes my side of the arrangement to cross my mind.Oh my God, my mother! She can’t see this!
I immediately dial my father, so he can stop her, hoping I’m not too late.Why haven’t I been on my phone today? How did I miss all of this happening around me?I think as it’s ringing.
“Hello, Josephine,” my father says when he answers. It’s slightly comforting to hear his voice after the realization that what we’ve been doing is now public knowledge.
“Dad. Do not let mom watch the news. You need to turn off the TV and the phone. Don’t let her look or listen to anything. She needs to stay off social media and everything she has access to. Do you understand me?” I ask urgently.
“What’s going on?” he asks. “You sound panicked. Is something wrong?”
“Our deal is over. We’ve been exposed. Everyone knows what we’ve been doing. The truth is out about my and Aiden’s marriage. It’s over, Dad. But we can’t let her know. This would devastate her if she knew why I did it.”
Tears fill my eyes as I imagine my mother in her bed, recovering. I don’t regret my and Aiden’s arrangement for a second because it saved my mother, but I will do whatever I must to keep her from finding out about it.
He agrees to keep her away from everything and keep it a secret. She may be the only person in California who doesn’t know, but we plan to keep it that way. We agree she doesn’t need the stress or guilt, knowing it all came about because we worried about her so much. She doesn’t need to know that we did all this for her.
“I know your mother, and she’d never forgive herself for you doing this for her. So, I promise I will do whatever I have to do. Are you okay?” he asks.
It hits me for the first time, as strange as it sounds. I was so concerned with how everyone else would feel that I never stopped to consider myself. I haven’t had time to really think about what this getting out means for Aiden and me.
Oh no…. Aiden….
Thinking about him seeing this news makes me nauseous, and it hits me that he won’t want anything more to do with me now. He’s done using me, and that’s all he needed, so now, will he even talk to me?
I feel the tears starting to fall, and him asking me if I’m okay doesn’t help. I know he’s trying to do the dad thing and protect me, but I need time to process. I decide I need to get off the phone and figure things out.
“I don’t know yet. But I love you! I’ll talk to you soon. Goodbye, Dad,” I say and hang up before he can respond. The tears start streaming down my cheeks steadily and won’t stop. They’re falling faster than I can wipe them away.
Shane’s asking me questions and trying to help in any way he can, but I can’t think straight. The only thing going through my mind is how scared I am that everything between Aiden and I is ending.
He’s going to toss me to the curb with a ruined reputation. I know I’ve been a fool in thinking I can trust him. I allowed myself to get close to a man with no intention of loving me.
This is my own damn fault, and I have to wake up from my daydream and realize we don’t have a happy ending together. It’s time to figure out how to save myself and my family from this humiliation.
The media outside pops back into my mind, and I start wondering how I’m going to escape this situation. In my overwhelming flow of emotions, my mind can’t seem to find a way out or a solution for this chaos that surrounds me. I can’t hide behind a counter for the rest of my life, so what now?
42
AIDEN
I’m trying to talk to my parents and Aleighia about what’s happening, but no one will listen. They’re talking over me, not letting me say a word without shutting it down, and I can’t take it anymore. The only thing I can think about right now is Josephine.
Thinking about her seeing this news and thinking I’m the reason it’s gotten out is worrying me.I don’t want her to think it’s my fault. She needs to know I would never do something like this to her, especially now that I have genuine feelings for her….
I make one final attempt to explain, and as soon as my father interrupts me, I can’t listen to it anymore. He doesn’t care what I have to say, anyway. But Josephine might.
“I can’t do this right now. I need to go see her,” I say. Abruptly, I stand up from the couch, grab my keys by the front door and walk out. I hear them all trying to stop me and asking what I mean by going to see her, but I don’t stop. I shut the door behind me and head to my car.
