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“You seem like an okay guy. At first, I was offended, especially when . . .” She trails off, biting her bottom lip.
“Especially when what?” I press, leaning forward and arching an eyebrow.
“Nothing.” She shakes her head.
“Nuh-uh. If we’re going to do this, we have to communicate. What were you going to say?” I refuse to drop it. If she has any misperceptions of my character, I want to make sure I fix that before we become more involved.
“Umm…” She looks around the coffee shop without making eye contact. “Well, when I found out who you were, I thought you were using this as an excuse to get me to date you. I mean, your family is wealthy, from what I’ve heard.”
“Did you mention this to someone?” The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If my parents find out, I’ll definitely lose the money.
“What? No. Well, I mentioned it to my best friend.” Her nose scrunches. “She doesn’t live here, though,” she rushes to say.
That’s not so bad, then. As long as she isn’t from town, I doubt my parents will catch wind of this.
“But before that, someone mentioned your family. Then, I remembered how desperate and honest you seemed when you brought it up, so I figured you must have your reasons.”
I nod quietly. “I do have my reasons,” I finally say. “I wish I didn’t, but I’m not manipulating you. My parents do enough of that already.” I shake my head.
“I’ll help you, then.”
“And in return, I’ll help you.” I nod. “This is great. Thank you. I promise you won’t regret it.”
I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Now my parents need to buy into this and approve the relationship enough to transfer the trust fund to me on my twenty-fifth birthday. I have about two months.
Once things die down in the coffee shop, Sage stands across from me.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“My mom’s birthday is on Saturday, and my dad’s having a party for her. He told me about it yesterday.”
“Ahhh.” She nods. “That would explain the mood you were in.”
“Yeah.” I scrub a hand down my face. “I am expected to be there. If I skip it, I know it’ll be fewer points in my favor. Come with me, and it can be like our debut. My parents will be too busy socializing to give us much attention, but they’ll see you and start to question who you are in my life.”
“Are you sure?” Her eyebrows dip in uncertainty.
“Positive. We’ll play the part of the perfect couple—exactly how they expect us to be. They can’t hate you more than they hate my brother’s girlfriend.”
“That’s comforting,” she deadpans.
“It’ll be fine. If anything, my parents already expect me to fail, so . . .” I shrug.
“Tristan.” Sage reaches her hand out and halts midway, looking down at my arm and then me. Her hand retracts and sneaks into her pocket.
I shouldn’t want to feel her hand on my arm. I mean, it’s an arm. But the idea of her comforting me sounds nice.
“It is what it is. I’ve grown used to it. I was a troublemaker as a kid, always opinionated, did what I wanted without a care. I need to prove to them that I’ve matured. This money isn’t going to finance a fancy lifestyle. It’s going to be put to good use.” I let out a frustrated breath. “We have to be the perfect couple. We can’t let them do what they’ve done to my brother—can’t give them the chance to reject our relationship before they get to truly see us together. I’ve learned from witnessing their rejection of Hudson’s girlfriend, and we’ll use it in our favor.”
Sage stares at me as she chews her bottom lip. Her eyebrows pull together.
“I don’t want to mess this up for you.”
“You won’t.” I shake my head. “Think of it as acting. Were you ever in a play at school?”
“I was a mushroom.”
“A mushroom?” I laugh.
