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“You have?” I asked.
He nodded.
He pulled two slices off and put them on a paper plate that had come in the bag and cracked open the two-liter. “So, aside from our mutual pizza preference, I thought we might need to come up with some relationship stories. If we’re going to be convincing, that is.”
He handed me the plate and poured the soda into one of the empty coffee mugs that were sitting in the kitchenette.
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate you being all in on this.”
“Ah,” he said, waving his hand like he was waving me off. “I’m only in it for the pizza.”
12
MARK
As we ate, we talked about our childhood in an amiable way. I learned that she was more athletic as a kid than I knew. Track and field, basketball, you name it, she did it. It was impressive and an element of her life I’d never known. It also made sense as to why she was so good with the horses. Being athletic and inclined to competition, she fit well with the nature of taming wild horses and teaching newbies how to ride.
Intentionally, I avoided bringing alcohol to our dinner. I didn’t want any pressure to think of this as a date. This was just me helping out a friend and enjoying some time hanging out. But I couldn’t help that the way her eyes lingered on mine over her glass as she took a drink, or the way she laughed so easily and freely, and we sat closer and closer as the evening wore on seemed to be flirtatious in nature.
I had to write that off. I needed to let that go. She was the sister of one of my best friends, and she wasn’t looking for anything other than a fake date to a wedding. That was it. Nothing more.
When the pizza box was empty and we were both happily full, I made a quick exit with the promise to talk to her soon and go over more details about our fake relationship. We hadn’t gotten to much of it while we talked. We were busy enjoying learning more about each other’s real lives.
When I got back to the ranch, Camden was waiting for me in the living room.
“Hey,” I said, shutting the door behind me.
“What’s up?” he asked. “I heard you were hanging out at my sister’s office.”
“Yeah, I was,” I admitted. “How did you hear that?”
“Small town,” he said. “Word gets around pretty quickly.”
“Ah,” I said. “I forgot about that.”
Camden laughed, cracking open a beer. He held it out to me, and I took it gratefully. Then he cracked another and took a deep sip.
“So what were you doing up there?” he asked.
“Nothing much,” I said. “I just agreed to go with her to this wedding, so I figured if I was going to be her fake boyfriend, we should get comfortable eating around each other and come up with a good story.”
“Her fake what now?” he asked.
“Fake boyfriend,” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. “It’s her friend Jade. Ex-friend, I guess. Sort of friend?”
“Yeah, I know all about Jade. Continue,” he said.
“Well, when Jade was here doing her riding lesson, she asked Carmela if she would come to her wedding, and she said yes. And I happened to be there, and one thing led to another, and now, as far as Jade knows, I’m her boyfriend.”
“Oh, Lord,” Camden groaned.
“Seriously, it’s not like that,” I said. “It’s a favor. I’m just doing her a favor.”
I didn’t bother to elaborate any further, opting instead to head into the bedroom and change into my sweats. When I came back out, Camden didn’t mention his sister again, and we just watched TV for a while before going to bed.
Waking up the next morning, I tried to prepare myself for the day. It was going to be a difficult one, one that I had been dreading since I drove into town. But I needed to go get it over with so I could move on.
I was going to go check on the progress of my father’s house.
My house, I reminded myself as I got dressed and went to the car. It still felt strange to think of it that way. It was my house now. Not just the house I grew up in. Not just the house that had been in our family since my grandfather married my grandmother and had their children. My house.
I drove over in a bit of a daze, letting the memories wash over me as I passed by corners where I used to stand and wait for the bus and parks where I used to play with Camden and Ryan and Graham. It was almost eerie how familiar and yet strange it felt. Life had moved on here. New people lived in houses that were once occupied by families long since gone. Middle aged men I used to see on riding lawn mowers were now wrinkly and gray, wearing their bathrobes out to fetch the paper in the morning.
