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“That’s because of Wren, too. I love her. She’s like a niece to me.”
“Everyone will believe it. No one will question it.” The more I thought it through, the more it made sense. “But if you’re not okay with it. I can tell him I made it up. You obviously get a say in this.”
“Let’s say I wanted to help you. What would it entail?”
“Honestly, I haven’t thought that far ahead. But I would think it means a few dates, being seen around town.”
“Do I need a ring?”
“I’m sure Gran wouldn’t mind if I use hers.”
Everly dropped her head into her hands. “We have to lie to your grandmother?”
“I don’t want anyone to lie for us, so it’s best if we’re the only ones who know the truth.”
Everly nodded. “That makes sense. But if we’re going to do this, we need to go all-in.”
A thrill shot through me that she might be on board with my plan. “How so?”
“I think we’re going to have to live together and set a date. Really show the judge we’re serious about this.”
“Wren’s worth it.” Was she worth me living with my best friend? What if wires got crossed and one of us started having feelings for the other?
Everly’s forehead wrinkled. “You know I’d do anything for you.”
I could hear thebutcoming. She was my best friend. She was always there for me. She was the one I called when I needed help when Wren was sick. It was natural that she’d be the one I would go to for this, too. I didn’t consider all the possible ramifications. Or what it might mean for Everly.
“So, let’s make a plan.”
“We’re doing this?” It was almost too good to be true.
“I’d do anything for you and that little girl. I hate to lie, but it’s for a good cause.”
I tried not to think about what might happen if anyone found out it was fake.
It would be an issue for the custody case and my business, but there was an elephant in the room that neither of us had mentioned. What if one of us liked the arrangement a little too much? Everly had never made any move toward me. Not even when she was drunk or when we’d commiserated over a breakup.
It was only me who wondered what would have happened had I not gotten a one-night stand pregnant. Would Everly look at me differently? Would she see me as a man and not just her friend who needed her help?
There were so many questions swirling in my brain; my head was throbbing. But we needed to plan our arrangement before I could consider the consequences.
Two
EVERLY
Itold him we’d pretend we were engaged.
The words kept running through my head as Harrison went over the details of what we needed to do to prove to everyone in our lives that we had finally taken the leap past friendship and into a relationship.
According to him, no one would be surprised. Yet it was life-altering for me. Because in the back of my mind, I’d always wondered, what if? What if we’d gone to the same college? What if I’d been brave enough to make a move on any one of those nights we were alone? On the couch, watching a movie, swinging side by side on the elementary school playground while we talked about our dreams for the future?
What if he hadn’t gotten Lola pregnant when he ran into her at a bar and they had a one-night stand? But the rational part of my brain would remind me that he wouldn’t have moved back home if he hadn’t gotten Lola pregnant. There was no guarantee that Harrison would ever have seen me as anything more than a friend. We remained friends because he’d moved home to be close to Wren and Lola. He needed my help.
What he didn’t know was that I needed him like the air I breathed. We’d become friends the summer my dad walked out. I was ten and in shock. I didn’t understand what I’d done to make my father leave. I didn’t know if he’d ever come back.
It was Harrison who’d distracted me from the reality of my family imploding. He’d created all sorts of adventures that summer. And then later, when we found out my dad had created a new life with another woman, going on to have more children with her but wanting nothing to do with us, it was Harrison who was by my side. He was the one who grounded me, who kept me moving forward and thinking about the future. He never let me dwell on the past or how that one act changed my life forever. Because my mother never let me forget it.
“What do you think?” Harrison asked when our food was cleared.
