AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Again, it wasn’t love at first sight,” I draw the conversation back to me because if I don’t tell someone what’s going on I just might burst. “But it was…”
“Romantic?” Eve offers.
“Weird.” I finish.
“Wouldn’t have been my first guess,” Tommy finishes the chocolate and sadly crumples the wrapper in his wide hands. “Proceed. What made it weird?”
“I was sitting there reading when this guy walked in and yelled for Cate.”
“Ok….” Tommy motions for me to continue.
I suck in a breath and then let it loose like a breached dam. “When I said, yes, that I was Cate, he came over and told me he needed me to pretend to be his girlfriend because his brother was about to walk in to meet her.”
“Did you do it?” Tommy asked.
“Yes…”
“But?” Eve puts her nail file in her tote and rests her chin in her hands.
“But then it turned into his brother inviting me to his wedding over the Christmas weekend.” I wait for them to protest but I am shocked by their excitement instead.
“Are you going to go?” Eve nearly screams in glee, clapping her hands together. “Wait, where is it?”
“It’s in Hawaii.”
“Praise!” She lifts her hands Heavenward. “Girl, please tell me you said yes to paradise before I slap the Spanish off you.”
I nod, kicking her shoes, “Calm down, Ma, I made a deal with him.”
“Oh, God, Cate.” Tommy pinches the bridge of his freckled nose. A true dad gesture. “Don’t tell me you agreed to sleep with him.”
“No!” I smack the back of my hand against his broad chest. “What is wrong with you?”
“Well -”
“I agreed to be his fake girlfriend for the wedding weekend if he: 1. Pays for the trip, 2. We have separate hotel rooms, and 3. He needs to be my date for the New Year’s Eve party.”
Then what I fear happens. They are completely silent. I fidget in my seat and bring my finger up to my mouth to chew when Tommy grabs my hand and tosses it back down to my lap.
“Are you doing all of this because of Derek?” Eve asks the question I was dreading.
I shake my head, knowing I could deny the truth to myself, but I won’t be able to hide from these two. “It’s fine. We’ve been broken up for a few months now.”
“But you aren’t ready to show up to a work party alone.” Tommy wraps his arm around my shoulder, and I rest my head against him. “No shame it that.”
“Thanks, Pa.” I pat his arm. “I just don’t want Derek thinking I couldn’t find someone else. Someone better.”
We sit in silence for a few seconds, hoping none of the passengers press the flight attendant call button in the middle of our family meeting.
“So, how cute is this guy?” Eve flashes her signature smile exposing the cutest gap between her front two teeth.
Tommy slow claps, “Great transition.”
“What?” Eve snorts. “If he’s ugly that won’t help our Kit Kat. So, is he cute?”
I try and fail to hide the stupid grin that creeps across my face, partly because of my bickering adopted parents and partly because I can see Theo’s dreamy green eyes. “He’s got to be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He looks like he was sculpted by Michelangelo himself!”
“Praise!” Eve dances in her seat. “What’s his name? What does he do?”
