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“Actually, we’re engaged,” I said, surprising even myself.
“No! When did this happen?!”
Star sounded stunned.
“Summer didn’t say!”
“Well, we’ve kept it quiet, you know.”
Very quiet indeed, I thought, so quiet that nobody knew. Not even me, who was supposed be the one who was engaged. I didn’t think it through, of course, I mean who would I bring? I would have to cancel right before the weekend, claiming a wax emergency or something. Women took those seriously.
“You must bring her!” Star sounded completely hyped up. So much warmth flooded her voice, it almost sounded real. “I just want you to be happy! And if you too have found love, well, that would just be the greatest!”
I rolled my eyes. “Uh-huh,” I mumbled.
“Will you stay at our place in Malibu?” she enquired innocently.
“No, I think we’ll find our own place,” I said.
“Which weekend will suit you,” she asked, rattling off dates and by the time I put down the phone, I had managed to book a weekend in LA for me, my daughter and my imaginary girlfriend, sorry, fiancée.
By the time Summer came down for breakfast, I was ready to tell her the news.
I waited for her to get something to eat and a glass of milk.
“I was talking to Star this morning,” I started.
“And?” she put down her toast, staring at me. She knew what was coming.
“You were right,” I said. “She’s getting married to Trevor and she wants us to come out there and get to know him and his son.”
“I know them already, thank you very much. Arseholes, both of them.”
Case closed, according to Summer.
“Sweetheart, your mom is serious about this guy and she wants you to get along with him and the kid.”
“The kid is, like, I don’t know, creepy! I don’t want anything to do with him!” Summer’s voice was getting louder. I could see she was getting upset. To distract her and calm her down, I told her what I’d said about taking a fiancée along.
It worked.
“You did what?!” she cried out.
“Your mom was completely freaked out,” I said.
“Of course she was! She thinks you’re still totally in love with her!” she grinned.
As if I ever was. But that was a story for another time.
“What are you going to do?” Summer asked, giggling.
“Maybe I’ll ask Evie to go along, pretend to be my fiancée for the weekend.” Why not, I thought. A few days, what was the harm? She was my PA, her job was to assist me and this was how I needed assisting.
“Yes! Please do that, Dad, please!” I wasn’t expecting Summer’s response to be this strong. I had to laugh, “Okay, okay, I’ll ask her.”
“Evie’s great,” Summer said and went back to finishing her breakfast. I watched her, the anxiety of earlier had vanished. Summer seemed like a tough kid but it was all an act. She had been in therapy for years after the divorce and the therapist had said she needed stability and rules. That is why she’d come to live with me. When she was with Star, they were always moving around, going away on film sets whenever Star got a job doing make-up for a movie. It was only when she was with me that she seemed able to settle, sleep through the night and settle down. It didn’t take much to convince Star to let Summer stay with me, it was clear to me that having to look after Summer was a bit of burden to her. She did love her, but she was so obsessed with getting her career on track after the divorce that everything came after that in her life, even her daughter. Even if I worked all day, at least at my house she had her own room, which always stayed the same. When we asked Summer, she’d said straight away she wanted to live with me.
I decided it would be better if I asked Evie in front of Summer, I had a feeling she would be able to help convince her. I was right.
