by Elle Chance
I couldn’t stop the smirk on my face at hearing her say that. “So now you’re not just lying to me, you’re lying to everyone. That’s great. And you’ll pay me to lie too.”
Sofie sighed and looked at me again, dropping her hands. This time she’d clamped down the anger so far I almost couldn’t tell she was pissed off. It was scary the way she could do that. “I’m not thrilled about it either. And hey, there must have been a reason you were flirting with an undercover billionaire. I’d bet good money that this is exactly what you wanted.”
“You wish.” And I knew the truth would hurt her more than anything else I could say right now. I was annoyed, and she was accusing me of being a creep and a jerk. Her words were landing too close to home. “I just wanted to sell an article on what you were doing in Homesburg. I figured it had to be a good story. And this is turning out to be juicy.”
Sofie’s calm mask flickered for a second, sadness creasing her face. “Well, that’s great. I’m used to that. It’s a shame you won’t get to write about any of it.”
“Then I’ll walk.” I shrugged, feigning a casual mood I wasn’t feeling. “What do I care? I can go back to the city, to the job I hate, and I’ll be no worse for wear. You’re screwed if I walk away after telling your brothers we’re together. Good luck explaining that to your father. I can follow you to the woods for a week and then split?”
“Maybe you’re not the one.” Sofie was trying to play hardball with me.
“Doubt it, sweetheart. I’m not the one who’s scaring you into paying me to smooth this over.” Sofie seemed completely freaked by her brothers, and I imagined even a sick Mark Barlow would be a force to reckon with.
Sofie’s grey eyes narrowed as she debated whether I was bluffing. Her money was tempting, but I knew my career would be improved by telling the story of Mark Barlow’s health scare. Or at least that’s what I’d hoped I’d end up with.
“What do you want to write about?” Sofie asked.
Which meant I was winning here.
“Your father. No one even knows your father’s sick, much less that he’s out here. And isn’t Barlow Corp up for being acquired?”
Sofie bit her lower lip, mulling over her answer. “I don’t know details of that. I work for the Barlow Foundation. Good deeds and all. And I can’t promise you anything involving my father.”
“Fine, but you’ll give me an exclusive after this is all done.” I stepped closer to her.
Sofie glared at me for a long moment. “Fine. But it’ll cover the Foundation too. Mostly the Foundation, and one quote about my father.”
“Deal.” Hell, any personal Barlow information would sell like crazy.
I would pay a week of my new salary to read Sofie better. She’d gone from the flirty girl requesting drinks from me to a closed-off executive more quickly than I would have thought possible. I couldn’t tell if I was pissing her off or making her sad with my terms. All I knew was that all the heat between us had turned subzero as soon as she found out I’d known who she was all along.
The doors to the bar opened and Patty appeared in the doorway. “Oh, hey, lovebirds. I hear we’ll be talking over some NDAs to get to the lawyers tomorrow.”
Sofie smiled at Patty, as though she wanted nothing more than to work on some legal jargon. “Can’t wait.”
I followed her over to one table near the bar where the light was visible. This all still felt unreal. I wasn’t sure what I was having more trouble grasping. That Mark Barlow was sick. Or that I’d somehow gone from kissing Sofie to being her least favorite person that fast.
SOFIE
I SPENT THE next morning in bed agonizing over the night before. Josh had been my closest confidant in town, even with all the things I was holding back. But instead of a handsome, charming friend, he’d turned out to be like everyone else I’d gotten close to. More interested in my father, my name, than he was in me.
It was pathetic, but flirting with Josh had been the closest thing to a real relationship I’d had in a long time.
And now I was rushing into a fake one with him. I was afraid of what my brothers would have said to my father otherwise. I was afraid my father would think I would crumble without him. It felt like a gift to my father for him to think I had someone on my side while he was getting more irritated with treatment every day.
But eventually, I crawled out of bed to get into a more formal dress than the one I wore the night before. Josh, Patty, and I had another meeting to run over a series of NDAs to ensure that my family’s interests were protected during the relationship. That went smoothly, at least, until after the paperwork was over.
“When are you and your brother seeing your father next?” Josh asked, with annoying sincerity in his voice.
“Tomorrow, since we weren’t planning on having them here today. Why?” I wanted to return to the quiet sanctity of my room and maybe sleep through this nightmare.
“Oh, great, we have bonding to do.” It surprised me how serious Josh looked, considering he was spouting nonsense. “How else will anyone buy that we’re dating?”
I tapped the pen I was holding. There was no way I needed to spend any more time with Josh. “Relationships happen. We don’t have to let anyone dictate what ours looks like. Besides, my brothers wouldn’t know true love if it hit them in the face.”
Josh was unmoved by my argument. “Sure, you can say that, but we’re not on your turf. I’m the one with the real home-court advantage. And now I have to not only explain this to Cory but to the rest of my family too.”
“Don’t you have to quit your job or something instead?” I wanted to assign him a task and get him out of my hair as soon as possible. It turned out his eyes were still as mesmerizing as they had been before I found out he had been lying to me.
“Oh, good news there. I asked to drop to freelancing occasional projects instead. That makes more sense to them than me just moving back home.”
“Thank god you don’t have to give up on all that live-tweeting,” I replied dryly. Maybe I could annoy him out of wanting to bond today.
Josh rolled his eyes. “Believe it or not, it’s good news for me and the possibility of having a career once all this is over.” He gestured between us uncomfortably. “You could pretend to be happy for me, sweetheart.”
“Must you keep up the pet names? And how do you propose we bond?” I’d much prefer to just exchange a fact sheet on each other instead of discussing it.
“Well, we could go to the movies. We have a very fine second-run theater in town that’s also cheap. And just get food.”
“No movies, what’s the point of not talking?” I countered.
“All right, we have a lot to talk about.” Josh considered it. “I’ll come up with something.”
“Talk about fodder for your story?”
“More like how long we’ve been dating.” My annoyance amused Josh. “And do we have pet names at all? Are we thinking of moving in together?”
I stood up, unable to keep talking about this so close to him. “Why would we be moving in together?”
“You requested to stay at my brother’s lodge before it officially opened so you could be in my hometown,” Josh pointed out, still seated. “That’s serious.”
I scoffed. “There’s just a motel by the hospital there. It was the saddest-looking place I could imagine staying.”
I turned when Josh didn’t quip back. His gaze had softened a bit. “So you wanted to stay somewhere more cheerful?”
“Don’t get analytical about it.” I looked out the window to where Homesburg nestled before us. “But it is a cute little place.”
“Yeah, well, anywhere looks cute compared to Manhattan. I won’t miss the commute for the next couple of months.” Josh chose his next words carefully. “And you have to tell me about your dad.”
“He’s more of a father than a dad,” I said, with a wry half-smile. “It’s not a unique story. He was diagnosed last month. We talked him into treatment, but he ins
isted on coming to Straubing.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Josh’s voice and eyes were sincere. Annoying, so annoying to me.
And he didn’t strike me as the type to mourn too deeply over a billionaire’s cancer diagnosis. But I didn’t want to think too much about that sorry being directed towards me.
“Thanks. Father’s asked us not to say much about it. I think he’s more embarrassed about potentially dying than scared of it. And he’s still as stubborn as ever.” My brothers and I had definitely all gotten that from him.
“Hence the NDAs, I suppose.” Josh thought it all over. “But what made you guys come out here? There are cancer centers in New York City.”
“There was an article about Straubing a decade ago. The author’s father got amazing treatment out here, and he thought it was a remarkable human experience. Apparently, my father went directly to the source. He had copies of the article printed out for each of us when he told us about it.”
“It’s just wild that he’s here.” Josh stretched out once more, somehow getting cozy and familiar in the middle of hearing about the worst part of my life.
That ease was a skill I don’t think I could have learned even if I tried.
“Well, his cancer has the best doctors out there. And my father is very concerned about being able to choose when his treatments stop.” My voice got soft every time I spoke about it. But he was rallying and had come out here to fight it. “He’s stubborn that way. So how long have we been dating?”
“You’re comfortable asking my brother for a favor, but you haven’t met my parents.” He scratched the five o’clock shadow on his chin. “That’s what, six or nine months?”
“Could be longer. Years even”
“But you haven’t told your family about me? After more than a year?” Josh was cute when his brow drew together like that.
“You’re not exactly a perfect suitor for a Barlow.” I was trying to be a little delicate with my words.
“Ouch.” Those brown eyes could look more like a puppy dog. Bad news for me.
“Well, if it comforts you at all, I haven’t introduced my family to anyone since college. And I haven’t been single that whole time.”I sat back down in a chair opposite him at the table. I was still all keyed up from this discussion.
“Hm, and I didn’t hear about that in the gossip rags. So you’re used to keeping relationships close to the chest.”
“I can hear your wheels turning from here.” I really didn’t want to hear more of his analysis of my personality right now. “Let’s just say a year.”
“Happy anniversary to us. I don’t know how I’ll explain this to Cory. I’m talking to him today.”
I thought about it. Cory was the only weak point I could really think of in this plan. Luckily he seemed to talk less than a monk with a vow of silence to anyone but Josh.
“I can pay him if he needs money for the Lodge.”
Josh perked up at that. “I’ll definitely try to sell him on that. But he’ll probably refuse the money. He’s honorable and all.”
“I’m glad one of the Chase brothers is. But does that mean he won’t go along with this?”
“Oh, he’ll disapprove of me and not you, don’t worry about that. But I’ll just tell him you’d be bothered if I didn’t help you out.” Josh grinned. “He’d warned me off of talking to you at all that first night. He was afraid you’d get annoyed and leave early.”
I laughed aloud at that, not entirely happy. “Well, next time listen to him.”
Josh leaned back in his seat, looking smug. “Well, you shouldn’t have kissed me yesterday. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and money.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I wouldn’t have if I knew you knew me.”
“I picked up on that.” Josh chuckled.
His amusement earned a small smile from me. The next couple of months might not be fun. But of all the people to be saddled with, Josh was a good company. Sweet. And hopefully, he’d eventually stop turning to me with kind words and those sympathetic eyes. Otherwise, there was no chance I’d get out of this town without a broken heart.
JOSH
CORY TOOK THE news decently well. “I told you to leave her alone during the soft opening,” he said, looking annoyed.
“But you’ll go along with us dating?” I didn’t want to feel so desperate. At least Cory wasn’t the man to take advantage of this situation. “Sofie offered to pay you.”
Cory shook his head. “I’m not getting that involved.” He turned back to making the window work. “I just hope this doesn’t bite you in the ass.”
I watched him work, handing him tools as he requested them. “How could it bite me in the ass?”
“Annoying billionaires when you work for gossip rags sounds like a good idea to you?” Cory asked. He checked the window and shook his head when it was still slow to open. “5/8th?”
I handed it over. “They’re not gossip rags, they’re entertainment.” I rethought what I said when Cory didn’t reply. “All right, I guess that sounds like bullshit.”
Cory nodded amiably.
“But you think everything that’s not woodworking is bullshit,” I said.
“Nope.” He smiled when the window opened and shut smoothly again after his final change. “Fixing windows is good work too.”
“Well, regardless, thank you.”
I decided that this was as close to a solemn guarantee as I’d get from him.
“What are you gonna tell mom and dad?” Cory asked. He repacked the tool chest I’d put back in perfectly decent order.
“I don’t have to tell them anything. I just appear at dinners and don’t bring up the girlfriend thing.”
Cory cocked an eyebrow at me at that. “You’re hanging around town and not going to work? They’ll know something is up.”
“Can you tell them you gave me a job?” I asked hopefully.
“With what spare money? The Harcourts paid for renovations but getting paying customers in this season is up to me.”
I tried to find a better answer and came up short. “All right, I’ll talk to Sofie about it. But I guess I will have to tell them something.”
“Mom will be over the moon you’re together. She’s gonna give you grandma’s ring,” Cory said. He clapped me on the shoulder.
“I thought you had her ring?” I said, regretting it almost instantly. Bringing up Alice Harcourt could send Cory into a funk for days at a time.
“I gave it back,” Cory said shortly. He went from amused at my pain back to his normal stoic self.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll figure something out. Do you need any more help around here?”
“I think I’ll find my screwdrivers just fine. Good luck with Sofie.” Cory touched the brim of his baseball cap and ambling back downstairs in long strides.
I was sure that Sofie wouldn’t be happy about my parents. But my brother Cory had a point. There was no way I could be a mile from home with a “girlfriend” without my mom beginning to remind me about family baby names.
Sofie was quiet when she got back from the hospital with her brothers. She met me at the bar with Patty and Rocco in tow. “We all could use a drink tonight.”
“Sounds like you guys had a fun time.” I grabbed wine for Patty, a local craft beer I thought Rocco would like and made Sofie and I old fashioned drinks. “Will your brothers be around for any drinks?”
“They’re heading back to the city tonight,” Sofie told me, her voice spiky. “The little lady can take care of everything here and they’ll just come up when things change with my father.”
“They’re shits,” Patty told me flatly. “Refuse their service.”
Even Rocco nodded along with the sentiment, giving me a solemn thumbs up about the beer.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said to my captive audience. “And since I have all of you here, maybe we can all brainstorm on how to solve a problem.”
“Ugh, no problem solving,” Patty said
. She headed over to the TV. “What channels do you guys have on this thing?” she asked me.
When I mentioned them all, even Rocco abandoned us to join Patty in watching an old fantasy adventure movie.
“All right, smaller brain trust, but we can figure this out,” I said to Sofie. I gave her my most winning smile. She was paying fantastic money for it. “So we have to figure out how to tell my parents we’re pretty seriously dating.”
“I let you tell Cory and now you’re telling everyone?” Sofie asked.
“I had to tell Cory because he took your reservation without me in the picture. And we have to tell my parents because there’s no way my mother won’t meet a girlfriend of mine in town,” I said.
Sofie looked like she wanted nothing more than to throw her drink at me. Instead, she took a long drink from it. “What do they need to know?”
“Probably that we’re together. And they’ll want to meet you,” I said, barreling on before she could cut me off with objections. “But my parents are great. I’ll just explain that we never will get married or have kids to keep them off our backs.”
Sofie raised a perfectly manicured blonde eyebrow. “Your parents will take that sitting down? My mother would have had a conniption.”
I shrugged. “I have an aunt who never got married, so it’s not like my mom is unfamiliar with the idea.”
Sofie rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I’ll probably introduce you to my father sometimes too.” Her jaw tightened, which just warmed the cockles of my heart. She couldn’t even stand the thought of that.
“You’re lucky, you know,” I told her.
“Why’s that?”
“Parents love me,” I told her proudly. “I can be a very caring, warm person. I’m delightful.”
“I thought you got around. When have you had the chance to get to know parents?” Sofie challenged.