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He pretends to fall back in the booth and closes his eyes.
“He always was dramatic.” Hudson looks at me with a shrug.
“And a clown,” Lex adds.
“Good to know.” I glance back at Tristan, who now sits normally, revived, a goofy grin on his face.
He has this boyish energy about him. I can see how he’d be great working with kids. He’s not immature, just easygoing and joyous.
Our dinner arrives, and the conversation stalls a bit as we make small talk between bites of food. I’m mostly quiet.
Tonight has taken a different turn than I imagined, and it’s been fun. I was expecting a stuffy dinner with his parents and instead got a laid-back meal after a brief face-to-face with his parents. Hopefully, we gave them something to think about, for Tristan’s sake. I follow his lead.
Once we’re done eating, we stand outside the restaurant.
“It was great meeting you, Sage. I’m sure we’ll see you again.” Lex smiles knowingly before her eyes flicker to Tristan.
“You sure will.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders.
So much for rule number whatever about no unnecessary touching. Tristan has taken a liking to wrapping his arm around my shoulder, and I wish my stomach wouldn’t twist and drop each time. Wild butterflies let loose.
“Nice to meet you,” Hudson says with a smile.
Shaking his head in amusement, he reaches for Lex’s hand, and they walk away. I breathe out and turn to Tristan.
“That went well.” His smile is blinding.
“It did.” I have to agree that we played our roles perfectly. “I’m more concerned about your parents. Are you sure this plan will get them to transfer control of the trust to you?”
“It will,” he says with confidence. “They’ll think I’m laying down roots. We’ll have to interact with them, take them up on their dinner invitation. It will be a pain, but it’s only for a couple of months.”
“Do you think they’ll get mad when they find out the truth after you get the money?” I worry my bottom lip.
Tristan shrugs. “It’s not their money to play with. Just because they’ve added certain language to the controlling documents doesn’t mean that money shouldn’t be mine.” His jaw ticks.
I place my hand on his bicep and smile gently.
“You’re right,” I nod. “What you do with the money afterward is your choice.”
“Yeah.” He breathes out slowly. “Let’s go. It’s getting chilly.”
The car ride to my house is quiet. This plan is too good to be true. Two months of acting as his girlfriend, and I’ll get more money than I could make in way too many years working my current job.
Not if you’d stayed in school.
I rub my eyes and ignore that train of thought. Staying in school hadn’t been an option. I’d had too many doctor’s appointments and too many terrible flare-ups, made worse by how little I’d understood the disease. I had missed too many classes to pass, and dropping out had been the only solution.
My degree would’ve given me the opportunity to get a high-paying job with great insurance, but I can’t focus on that. I need to make the most of my life as it is instead of wasting energy on what could’ve been.
“Thanks for agreeing to do this and for coming tonight. You have no idea how much it means to me.” Tristan parks outside my house.
I notice the curtains on the window by the door move, and I internally roll my eyes. I bet my mom’s watching. She was so excited I was going out tonight. I had to remind her it was with a friend.
“You’re welcome. We both get a win out of this, right?” I shrug as if it is no big deal.
“Yeah, but not everyone would do this or take it so well. We’ll talk this week. I have a feeling my mom is going to call about dinner soon. We can sort out the details about our relationship before then.”
“Sounds good.” I open the door and look back at Tristan over my shoulder before stepping out. “Goodnight, Tristan.”
