He's Mine Not Hers

by Gianni Holmes

  “Oh shit!” I cried, trying to regain my footing, but it wasn’t happening. Jason shouted in alarm, a sound that came out more like a scream as we both pitched backward into the thicket of bush.

  He fell on top of me, so I took the brunt of the fall which thankfully was broken by the clump of bush. The twigs did, however, dug into my flesh, bruising me in several different places.

  “Jason!” Becca’s cry of alarm was followed by pounding feet.

  “Get up! Get up!” I tried to push Jason to his feet, but still caught in a limbo of bush, I couldn’t gain enough momentum.

  “What the hell happened?” Becca asked.

  Zach caught a hold of Jason easily and pulled him off me before extending a hand. I grasped it gratefully, grunting as I got free.

  “I-I was falling and Daddy Luke—I mean Luke—tried to catch me,” Jason said, his face red. He had scratches on his arms and legs.

  “You poor thing,” Wesley said, reaching for Jason. “Can you walk?”

  “I think so,” Jason replied, but he needn’t have bothered. Wesley swung him up in his arms despite Jason’s protest. I moved forward to follow them, but Becca stood in my way, preventing me from following the others.

  “What were you thinking?” she hissed at me. “Can you be any more obvious?”

  “I think they believe what Jason said,” I replied, cringing because she was right.

  “I mean the sparkly lip gloss you’re wearing,” she snapped. “Wipe it off before Miranda sees you.”

  I scrubbed my lips with the back of my hand, and she was right. It came away with glittery purple lip gloss.

  “I’m sorry, Becca,” I said, grabbing the hem of my shirt and scrubbing at my lips. “You’re right. I can’t even blame Jason this time for trying to ruin this. He was just trying to help me to be more affectionate for the shoot.”

  “Well, I hope it worked, because we were looking at the pictures just now, and they are not good. Miranda isn’t happy. We have half an hour to convince them that we’re madly in love with each other, so if you have to imagine my son’s face when we’re taking those pictures, then do it!”

  She pushed her arm through mine, and with a sigh, I followed her. For the first time since I’d decided to go along with her scheme, I was having second thoughts. The feeling intensified when I saw Jason sitting on a bench, his legs in Wesley’s lap as the man dabbed at his abrasions.

  “Sorry, everyone,” I said, deciding to take charge of the situation. “I think I’m in a better frame of mind to get this done.”

  “You should be as good as new,” Wesley said to Jason, kissing a cut on his knee before placing his feet to the ground. I turned away from them, feeling Becca watching me.

  I channeled every ounce of pretense I had in me to make the best of the rest of our photoshoot. Some of my anger in watching Wesley take care of Jason must have come across as passion, because Zach came alive, encouraging us. I swung Becca in my arms, we held hands, I carried her and everything else that Zach told us to do.

  Eventually, we came to the last leg of photos for our shoot: snapping photos in a boat on the lake. By this time I just wanted to get the shoot over with so I could get Jason home. Wesley insisted on walking with his arms around Jason in a show of support as we moved from one location to the other. I loathed it. I loathed watching him speak softly to Jason and hearing his little giggle or full-bellied laugh.

  “Are you sure this boat is sturdy enough?” Becca asked, eyeing the canoe-like boat in the water. No more than two people could fit in it at any one time.

  “We just had a shoot with it last week,” Zach replied. “The bride was probably twice your size and it didn’t sink, so I’d say you’re in the clear. Besides, you’re not wading out far either. Just enough to get some great shots of you on the lake.”

  “Okay, that seems fair enough,” she conceded, and I held her hand, helping her in. I climbed in after her and sat facing her, grabbing the oars.

  “Excellent,” Zach remarked, the shutters of the camera going off. “Now row on out a little. Becca, this is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you. Let me see your eyes reflecting that, sweetie. Yes, that’s it. Perfect!”

  I glanced at Becca to see what was so perfect about her appearance. I thought she looked ridiculous the way she was gazing at me, but what the hell did I know? I wasn’t the man behind the camera.

  “Now pull in those oars and let Becca come to you, Lucas,” Zach instructed. “I want her in your arms, sharing a kiss that tells each other just how much in love you are.”

  Becca’s head whipped around, and she gasped as if just realizing how far we’d drifted from the water’s edge. “You want me to move?” she asked nervously, taking in the space between us.

  “Right. Go into your man’s arms, honey.”

  “Oh my God, why did I agree to this?” Becca murmured as she slowly climbed to her feet. She had her arms out, shuffling across the bottom of the boat. She was halfway to me, not a great distance at all, when something bumped the bottom of the boat, and she screeched. “Something’s beneath the boat!” she yelled. “Oh my God, there’s something beneath the boat!”

  “Becca, calm down,” I tried to reassure her as her frantic movements shifted the boat unsteadily.

  “But what if it’s a shark?” she cried. “Or a crocodile! Fuck, Lucas, bring us back now!”

  She dived for one of the oars when I didn’t immediately comply because I was trying to get the boat steady. Her sudden movement caused the boat to lurch.

  “Becca, stop! We’re going to—”

  My words were drowned out by her bloodcurdling scream as the boat tipped over and we were dumped in the lake. I went under and swam deeper to get around the boat that turned over onto us. Once I cleared the surface of the water, I searched for Becca.

  “Becca!”

  Splashing up ahead got my attention, and I shook my head to see her swimming for dear life to get to the water’s edge. I sliced my arms through the water, catching up with her and staying by her side.

  “Oh my God, are you okay?” Jason asked, running to the edge of the water to help Becca to her feet. Her hair was ruined, her dress soaked through.

  “There was something in that water,” Becca cried, hanging on to Jason.

  “Probably just fish, Becca,” I replied, grimacing at the squishing of my shoes with each step I took.

  “I guess we have enough shots to make this work,” Zach said on a sigh and walked away, peering at his camera. “We’ll have to get someone to retrieve the boat.”

  “Rebecca, dear, are you okay?” Miranda asked, standing close enough to inspect Becca without getting wet.

  “I will be now that I’m out of the water,” she replied with a grimace. “Thanks for showing some concern.” She glared at me like I was to be blamed for her capsizing us.

  “Great.” Miranda clapped her hands and turned to the two cameramen. “Please tell me you got that shot when the boat overturned. This is even more exciting than I’d have thought. Imagine the fun this will be when it is aired.”

  I barely bit back a retort that as long as she was having fun, everything else was fine. Like the fact that I was wet, dripping, and had ruined a perfectly great pair of designer shoes I could no longer afford.

  Yes, this was definitely fun.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Jason

  “Why am I here again?” I asked as I trailed after Lucas up the paved walkway to his stepmother’s house.

  I’d been surprised when he’d stopped by our apartment earlier to pick up the invitations for the wedding. I had no idea if he’d initially planned to ask me to go along with him, but I was relieved he had. Otherwise I would have probably ended up knocking out Becca with cough syrup. Her little fall into the lake yesterday had left her sneezing and coughing with a case of the flu, and she was a pain in the ass when sick.

  “I just thought it would be good to get you out of the house,” Lucas answered wit
h a shrug. He seemed so nonchalant about everything, but I grabbed onto his arm before he could press the doorbell.

  “You don’t think your stepmom is going to wonder why you’re bringing me here when you’re marrying Becca?”

  “I’m not planning to lie to her,” he replied. “She already knows the situation I’m in. Given what she knows of us, she wouldn’t believe me if I tried to hide it from her anyway.”

  He turned to press the doorbell, and I stared at him in disbelief. Had he just admitted he talked to his stepmother about me? A grin split my face in two. Yesterday I’d survived while he and Becca acted all in love. I hated him smooching up to her for the camera, but his words almost made me forget about it. Almost.

  “You told your stepmother about me?” I asked just as the door opened.

  “Hello, ma’,” Lucas greeted, but the woman who answered the door did not answer him. She kept her eyes on me as she measured me up from head to toe.

  “You bet he’s talked about you if you are who I think you are,” she answered with a smile. She smacked Lucas on the arm. “Didn’t I tell you to let me know when to expect company?”

  “Sorry, ma’, but this was last-minute.”

  “Always last-minute with you.” She stepped aside and beckoned to us. “Come on in. Where’s that uppity cat of yours?”

  “She was sleeping when we left,” Lucas replied, pulling me to his side. “I’m not sure if formal introductions are necessary, but ma’, this is Jason.” He nudged me in the back. “My stepmother, Nadine.”

  From the little that was said between them already, I could sense the affection. I stretched a hand out to her, relieved that at least our first encounter wasn’t with me naked especially since it seemed Lucas had been talking about me. What a pleasant surprise.

  “Nice to meet you,” I replied.

  “Oh honey, no need to be so formal.” She pulled me into a warm hug, the kind that involved a bit of rocking from side to side. Wholesome.

  “So Lucas has been talking about me?” I asked, grinning at her. I’d spent all of thirty seconds, if that much, in her presence, and I already liked this woman. I could see why Lucas had opted to stay with her after her divorce from his father.

  “Like you’d never believe it,” she replied and swept ahead of us. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been cooking. Come along, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  “Ma’,” Lucas groaned. “Can we try not to tell any embarrassing stories? And any conversation I’ve had with you about Jason stays personal.”

  I hurried after his stepmother. “Now I’m intrigued.”

  She laughed, the sound infectious and heartwarming. Her kitchen reminded me of Lucas’s. Not because they had the same style and décor, but because it looked the same when Lucas was cooking. Lots of ingredients on the counters, measuring instruments, pots, pans, and bowls taking up considerable space.

  Neither Becca nor I cooked. Very rarely and mostly because I never learned.

  “Now if you’re in my kitchen, you’re going to have to help,” Nadine announced. “Lucas, son, you know the routine.”

  “Come on.” He nudged me in the direction of the sink. “We need to wash our hands and dry them, then she’ll put us to work.”

  I was skeptical about what work they wanted me to get involved in, but I followed Lucas’s lead. When I was finished, Nadine patted the area at the counter next to her. “Here you go, Jason.”

  I ended up with a knife and a bowl of half a dozen potatoes. “Don’t they have potato peelers for this sort of thing?” I asked, reaching for the knife.

  Lucas swooped in like a guardian angel, plucking the knife from my hand. “I’ll take that.”

  “He has two perfectly fine working hands,” Nadine said, staring at Lucas.

  “Yeah, he has two, all right, but I don’t know how well they work when they come to food.”

  I gasped. “I can peel potatoes.” How hard could it be? It didn’t take rocket science to figure it out.

  “Well, you have to do something,” his stepmother insisted. “In this house, if you plan to eat, you can plan to cook as well.”

  “I don’t have to eat,” I piped up.

  “Trust me, you’ll want to eat,” Lucas replied. “You think I cook well? Wait until you try her run dung.”

  I couldn’t fathom what that was, but by now I was used to strange food names from Lucas. I no longer asked him what I was eating when he handed me something. I dug in and prepared to be amazed.

  “Of course, that’s not what I’m cooking today,” Nadine replied. “So you must come back.”

  “That’s up to Lucas,” I replied, dropping my eyes to the countertop. I didn’t want her to see the vulnerability there. I still questioned where we would end up after the wedding to Becca.

  “Oh, he’ll take you back of course,” she stated. “I must say you’re exactly as he described.”

  I grinned at her, ignoring Lucas’s groan. “I want to hear all about it.”

  She stepped away from the counter, opened one of the lower cupboards, removed a bowl, and poured a bag of green pods inside. They looked almost like green beans but bigger.

  “You do them like this.” She demonstrated splitting the pods into two to reveal the beans inside. “Now your turn.”

  I was pleased when I got it done right. “I did it!” I cried, glancing at Lucas, who smiled back at me.

  “Congrats,” he said. “You know how to split the pods of gungo peas.”

  “Oh, shut up!” I threw the beans I had removed from the shell at him, and he ducked.

  “Missed me.”

  “Are we cooking or wasting my food?” Nadine asked, but I heard the affection in her tone.

  I had been skeptical about helping out in the kitchen, but it felt good working alongside Lucas and his stepmom. Even during moments when I couldn’t contribute anything because I had no idea what they were talking about, I felt honored to share in mealtime with them. I knew this meant a lot to Lucas. He always spoke so highly of his stepmother and all he had learned from her in the kitchen.

  He had shared the most intimate dream of his with me. And I was in love with him. Really in love with him.

  “I told you to add a teaspoon of salt and you added a tablespoon,” Nadine said to him, and I gathered I had caught the tail end of a story.

  Lucas groaned, leaned forward, and kissed his stepmother’s cheek. “Technically that was your fault, because you hadn’t yet taught me the difference between the two.”

  “Well, I wasn’t about to let good food go to waste, so we had it just the same.”

  “And Dad complained the whole time,” he added on a laugh.

  I smiled, watching him. He was relaxed and without a care in the world of the pressures of getting married and producing an heir for his father. It was just him and the woman who had raised him. I was a stranger looking in, but surprisingly I didn’t feel that way.

  After cooking and cleaning up, Lucas’s stepmother brought us to the backyard where we sat together overlooking her vegetable garden. I poured the lemonade she had brought out for us, making myself useful. She shared rock cakes with us, and I sank my teeth into the coconutty goodness.

  “Hmm,” I moaned. “Between you and Lucas, I’m going to need a gym membership soon.”

  Nadine beamed at me. “I’m so glad my boy here is treating you well, then.”

  My cheeks burned as I sipped from my lemonade and glanced at Lucas. “He is.”

  “Now I can tell you two are up to something,” she stated. “I’ve been waiting for you to come out and say it, but it seems you’re going to need some push getting the words out, Lucas, so why don’t you tell me now?”

  “You’re right,” Lucas replied, and I squirmed in my seat. He fished into his pocket for the small envelope there and handed it to his stepmother. “I’m getting married, and I came to invite you of course.”

  “You’re getting married?” she asked, getting to her feet. She wrapped
him in a hug. “This is good. I suspected when I saw you two together today, but I didn’t dare hope. I’m so happy for you two.”

  Lucas and I exchanged frantic looks. I groaned, putting down the rock cake that I no longer had an appetite for.

  “I told you,” I murmured.

  “No, ma’, you got it wrong,” Lucas responded. “Jason and I aren’t getting married. Hardly. We just started seeing each other.”

  Nadine stepped back, hands akimbo. “Now you’re just confusing me. Are you getting married or not?”

  “I am, but it’s complicated.”

  “Try me.”

  I stuffed my face with rock cake, listening to Lucas explain to his stepmother why he was marrying my mother. He made it sound good, and I was surprised he left nothing out. He clearly told her the purpose of the marriage, and I was impressed at their closeness. I’d never asked him what happened to his birth mother before, but I would definitely inquire on our way home.

  When Lucas finally stopped speaking, Nadine sat back in her chair, glancing from me to Lucas.

  “Let me get this right,” she said, cocking her head to one side. “You two have admitted to how you feel about each other. Finally, I might add. But you—” She nailed Lucas with a confused look. “You are marrying his mother instead because of the financial nightmare you’ve found yourself in?”

  “That’s right,” Lucas replied while I listened.

  “And you think this is going to work?”

  “It will. We’ve all agreed to this.”

  “And in the meantime—” She gestured to me “—you expect this sweet boy to wait a year on your annulment?”

  It was Lucas’s turn to squirm. “It will give us time to work on our relationship.”

  Nadine shook her head and shifted her attention to me. Up to this point, I hadn’t uttered a word. Save for breathing and eating, hoping to stay under the radar, I hadn’t uttered another sound.

  “And you agreed to this?” she asked me.

  “I—” The words stuck in my throat. I couldn’t look at Lucas. “It does solve everybody’s problems,” I ended up saying.