by Claire Adams
“I remember that,” I said with a faint smile. “It was supposed to be lemon flavored, but it ended up tasting like sour heads. I didn’t even know that was a possible flavor for cakes.”
“We all had a good laugh,” mom said. “But I knew she was special. Granted, I thought she was going to end up with a good-looking senator. She sure has the look of a senator's wife.”
An image of her bent over my bar popped up, and I forced it away.
“She does,” I agreed. “I’m glad you like her.”
I parked the car toward the front of the aviation museum.
“Like? Gavin, I love her. She has the perfect sense of humor, she’s beautiful, your children would be beautiful, and do you see the way she looks at you?” mom asked.
“The way she looks at me?” I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Mom shrugged. “She just looks at you with such devotion. Like she can’t even believe she’s with you. Poor girl has no idea you’re the lucky one.”
I tried recalling a look from Maddie, but I realized that I barely even paid any attention to her face the entire night. I only bothered with her words and her body.
“You sound like you’re the one who wants to marry her,” I said with a chuckle and helped her out of the car. She leaned against me as we entered the museum.
“I just really think she might be the one,” mom said. “The woman for you.”
She was smiling so much that it pained me to keep the truth from her. I wanted nothing more than to tell her that I wasn’t in love and that Maddie wasn’t the one. But I wanted to keep her happy.
“She really might be, mom,” I said.
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” she said. I purchased our entrance tickets at a booth in the middle of the giant museum. “Have you talked about children? Does she want any? Or maybe she wants one of each?”
I pocketed the tickets and helped her up an escalator. Posters of exhibits surrounded us as we went up a floor, and she picked a few that she wanted to look at. I knew it was impossible to see them all within three hours, so I had her pick a few particular ones.
“We haven’t even talked about marriage yet,” I answered her question from earlier when she reminded me of it. I realized my mistake and corrected it. “I mean, we’ve talked about it in the sense that we know we both want to get married. And soon. But I think the kid talk might come a little later.” I would never tell her I wasn’t interested in children at all, it would have crushed her.
“Well I can just imagine how beautiful my grandchildren would be,” she said. “Hopefully they’d take after her.”
I tuned out the rest of the conversation while still giving her the answers that she wanted. She truly believed Maddie was the one for me. I supposed she was an incredible actress after all.
Chapter Sixteen
Maddie
I couldn’t believe how quickly he had kicked me out of his house. He had the right, I supposed, to be so angry. But a part of me hoped our night together might have softened him up. The irony wasn’t entirely lost on me.
I stopped by a fast food restaurant on the way home and ate a quick, greasy breakfast. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping in almost a week, and with Nancie’s absence, it was hard to cook for myself. We had a good routine set up; she shopped for groceries, and I cooked the food. Now, without her, I had no idea what I was doing.
Gavin’s money had arrived in my account at the perfect time, at least. I had asked Ron to move into his house in case Nancie ended up moving; there was no way I would have been able to afford the rent on my own. But now I wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.
I still messaged Martin every now and then asking if he had any more photoshoots. The last one had been a quick shoot, with barely 50 pictures taken. The money wasn’t bad for the length and work involved, and I wouldn’t have minded more like that. I was even given 100 umbrellas afterward, and they all sat in my closet waiting to be gifted to friends and family for Christmas.
The fast food breakfast rumbled in my stomach as I arrived home. The apartment was empty now that Nancie was in California. I hadn’t realized just how little I owned.
She left the TV, thankfully, and the couch for me. I didn’t need a dining table, which made the kitchen look just a tiny bit bigger.
I sat on the couch in my empty apartment with a blank screen on the TV and the windows shut. It couldn’t have been past 11 in the morning, and yet my world was dark and sad. Nancie had been my only friend, I realized, and without her, I didn’t have anyone to talk to.
I rummaged through my purse to call Nancie and found a folded-up wad of paper at the bottom. I took it out and pressed it flat against the couch.
Gavin’s name was sprawled on the top with marker, and the rest was the typed-out story that had given me nightmares as a little girl. I smiled; had he left this?
I read a little of it.
It was perfect and sad all at the same time, and I wondered if his father had been sick when he wrote it. A little boy lost in a haunted hospital, looking in every room but finding only nightmares instead of hope. Gavin had always had a way with words, and they flowed easily to create the story in my head. I thought I remembered most of it, but I realized I had forgotten about the owl that tries to help the child but only dies in the end.
So maybe Gavin had also been a troubled teenager.
I read the story twice over before setting it down on the kitchen counter. I sent him a quick message to thank him, and didn’t expect a reply. Instead of waiting on, I dialed Nancie’s number and returned to the couch.
“Please don’t tell me you’re sitting by yourself in an empty apartment,” Nancie said.
I laughed and laid my head into the cushions of the couch.
“I won’t tell you that,” I said. “But then I can’t tell you anything else.”
“Ugh, Maddie, you need to fix yourself and get out there! Live a little, and do some promoting while you’re at it,” she urged.
“How many new followers have you had?” I asked and realized I hadn’t even checked on my accounts. I needed to post that picture.
“Literally 10,000 a day since I’ve arrived here,” she gushed. “It’s amazing, Mad. You need to come here. It’ll change your life, I promise.”
“I know it will,” I said. “It’s that great though?”
“Well, I used to come here all the time when we both were in high school, so it’s not that different for me,” she said. I remembered her stories of spending summers in beach houses, with Jacuzzis full of other hot teenage boys and enough hormones to go around for all. “But it’s always hot. And I mean always hot. You could walk outside at nine in the morning in shorts and a tank top. And the beach is almost never more than 30 minutes away. Well, 45 with traffic. An hour with really bad traffic and the public transportation is pretty bad, to be honest. I’m going to have to buy a car soon. But the food! Maddie, the food is amazing. Everyone here cares about their health, and everything is fresh and delicious. You would love it.”
“I already do love it,” I said. “How’s your apartment?”
“Smaller than ours, if you can believe it,” she said. “And double the rent. Which means when you get out here, we’ll have to split the cost of a studio or a tiny one bedroom. Which I don’t mind; there’s always so much to do that you hardly spend any time inside anyways.”
A chorus of laughter and giggled erupted on the phone, and I realized that I could hear the cries of seagulls and the roar of the ocean in the background.
“You’re at the beach?” I whined. “I would do anything to be at the beach!”
“Then move!” she cried. “Come here. You belong here, I swear it.”
“I know I do,” I said. “It’s just not possible right now. Maybe in a few months, though.”
“A few months?” she asked. “Not a lot changes in a few months.” She had no idea how wrong she was, but I couldn’t tell her that.
“You’re right; I meant a few years. I’
m going to start auditioning for more commercials, and I’ll make my way out there soon,” I said.
“Good luck,” she said. Someone called her name from afar. “I have to go, but I’ll call you when I get the chance, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. We exchanged goodbyes, and I hung up. In six months, I could leave my lonely life here, and start a new one beneath the sunny skies of Hollywood. Until then, I would just have to pretend to love Gavin, fake marry him, and sit on my couch waiting for his phone call.
I knew I couldn’t just spend an entire Sunday sitting on my couch, especially when he wasn’t going to call me, so I texted my mom and asked if they had plans for dinner.
An hour later, I was on my way toward my parent's house.
My dad greeted me first with a giant lopsided grin.
“Someone’s excited,” I said and pulled away from our hug.
“Someone just got a brand spanking new television!” he said and gestured at a giant flat screen TV hooked on their wall. It was a huge improvement over their last TV, and as far as I could tell from the soap opera they had been watching, there weren’t any dead pixels.
“This looks expensive,” I said and greeted my mom. “Can you guys afford it?”
“My new credit card can,” Mom said. I groaned and asked how much credit she was approved for. “What does it matter?”
“Because it’s another credit card that I’ll most likely be paying off for you guys,” I said. Mom shrugged and walked away from me.
“It’s not eating away at our money,” she said. “And it makes your dad happy. When’s the last time you remember us buying anything new for the house?”
I glanced at the house. She had a point, I supposed. They almost always refused to spend more than required on anything, so it was nice to finally see them splurging a little on themselves. Kind of.
“So, it’s for Dad then?” I asked.
“Early birthday present and late anniversary gift,” he said and hugged my mom. “Thank you, honey.”
“You’re welcome,” she said and kissed him.
I groaned and sat in front of the TV.
“Anything new with you?” Mom asked as she started on an early dinner.
“Actually,” I started and turned around on the couch. “I do sort of have an announcement.” They were going to find out soon enough anyways. I had posted the photo of Gavin with a caption thanking him for the past three lovely dates, and I knew Ron’s mom was going to have a field day with my mom eventually. I could tell them about us dating, but maybe there was a way to keep the fake marriage thing to myself.
“Oh?” Mom peeked from around the corner as Dad on the other end of the couch.
“I’ve actually been seeing Gavin for a week now. Last night we agreed to be official,” I said.
Mom gasped, and Dad chuckled at the same time.
“Gavin Hayward?” Mom asked. “For a week? Why did you wait so long to tell us?”
“And when exactly are we going to have dinner with this young man?” Dad asked. I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying he’s not that young.
“We both wanted to wait to tell anyone,” I said. “And I don’t know, Dad. Hopefully soon.” I wondered if the agreement included having dinner with my parents as well, just to make it look as real as possible.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” Mom said. “Really, I can’t believe it. We were just talking about how great of a guy he was a week ago.”
“I’m starting to regret that,” Dad said. “Listen, Maddie, I know he’s a rich, somewhat older man, but if he’s using his status to influence you at all, well—”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” I said. “He’s not coercing me into anything.” It was quite the opposite, but I kept that thought in my head.
“Does everyone know?” they both asked. I nodded and then realized that I hadn’t told Nancie.
“Well, mostly everyone. It’s been a little hard talking to Nancie, she’s still in the middle of her big move and everything,” I said.
“She’ll be happy for you, I’m sure,” Mom said. “I love the idea of the two of you together. He’s a great role model, has a huge influence in our community, and he’s been taking care of his mom for so long. It gives me hope that you would do the same for me.”
“Of course I would take care of you,” I said. “You don’t have to be a saint to take care of your parents.”
“Your mom has a point,” Dad said. “Gavin’s had a lot of shit thrown at him in his life, and he still seems to be a decent guy. But I’ll reserve my full judgment until we have dinner with him.”
“Speaking of dinner,” Mom said and started setting the table. “It’s ready. I know it’s a little earlier than usual, but your father and I have been going to bed a lot earlier these days.”
“Are you guy sick?” I asked and took a seat. Dinner was a cooked rotisserie chicken with a giant bowl of mashed potatoes and a platter of bread.
“No, just more time for nighttime activities,” Dad said and grinned. Mom winked at him, and I stuffed a bread roll into my mouth.
“Not at the table,” Mom insisted. “She’ll throw up.”
“We’re all adults here,” Dad said and dug into his plate.
“Really? Then would you like hearing about what I do with Gavin?” I asked and immediately regretted it. These topics were definitely not safe for parental talk.
“You have a point,” Dad said and raised a hand. “Nothing happens between any two people except innocent kissing and hand holding.”
“In all seriousness,” Mom said as she looked at me. “I’m happy for you, really. It’s been so long since you’ve dated anyone that we were starting to get worried.”
“Worried?” I frowned. “Why?”
“You just get a little down when you’re alone, and with Nancie gone, we were worried about you. But with Gavin around, you’ll be fine, right?” Dad asked. I took a heavy gulp and finished it with a glass of water.
I did have a tendency to become a hermit without the help of others. The year before Nancie and I had moved in together had been the worst. I’d spent nearly an entire summer inside my room until Nancie forced me out of the house and into apartment hunting.
But Gavin wasn’t doing my any favors, that’s for sure. Our agreement was one dinner a week, in front of his mother, and eventually at a wedding chapel. I realized that just waiting on him wasn’t going to work and that if it was going to be believable, I needed to put in an effort as well.
“Yeah,” I said. “He’s great; I love spending time with him.”
“You are so lucky,” Mom said again. “He’s a wonderful man.”
I desperately wished that I had a glass of wine instead of water as Mom continued her praises of Gavin. She had no idea just how “lucky” I was.
Chapter Seventeen
One Week Later
Gavin
The sky was clear for the first time in more than a week when I met Ron on the boat. We both wore short-sleeved shirts and khakis and kicked back with a beer as we relaxed on the lake during a sunny afternoon. Ron started the conversation about a woman he had been sleeping with, a red-head that he picked up from our regular bar after a night of drinking.
“She’s wild, man,” he said with a grin. “Doesn’t care about emotions, only wants the sex. I never knew sex without strings could feel so good. I don’t have to worry about awkward morning-afters or dumb little texts to make her think I’m still interested. We just text each other when we’re lonely, and fuck each other when we’re horny.”
I was somewhat happy for him. I knew he was hesitant about getting into a real relationship with a woman after what his ex did to him, but I also knew he had been craving the affection for one for so long. I contemplated the same type of relationship with several women I had met over the years. Just a purely physical one, where we would only call one another when we needed something. I couldn’t ever go through with it though.
“That’s quit
e the arrangement,” I said. “How did you get her to agree to it?”
“She’s the one that suggested it,” he said. “I went into it thinking it might turn into an actual relationship, but she was really clear about it only being a physical one.”
“Women like that are hard to come by,” I said. I was beginning to sweat slightly from the sun, despite it being in the high 50s. I started steering the boat back toward the dock as I opened a new beer and took a sip.
“Some of us just get lucky, I guess,” he said and turned to me. “How’s your mom doing? I considered stopping by earlier but wasn’t sure if she was feeling okay or not.”
Surprisingly enough, Mom had been in a great mood lately. She had loved every minute of the aviation museum and had wanted to visit a different museum nearly once a day since then. We went to a few special exhibits at a garden festival where she mentioned I should take Maddie, and she begged me to take her to watch a marathon downtown. She’d been out of the house every day, talking about Maddie and my love life, and her energy level had been through the roof. She was happy; it was so obvious.
“She’s doing great,” I said finally. “Constantly asking to go out, and she’s been eating more lately. Like, actual meals and not just pudding and shakes.” Although I had restocked all of her protein shakes, and added a few more flavors for variety.
Ron glanced at me. “Is it because you’re dating Maddie now?” he asked.
I nodded automatically before realizing I hadn’t told Ron about us yet. “Wait, you know?” I leaned forward and tried to remember if I had given it away somehow.
“I’ve known for a few days now. I was pretty fucking surprised to hear it, to be honest,” he said. I winced, expecting a lecture. He hadn’t ever said Maddie was off-limits, but their relationship had always been more of a brother-sister one, and I wasn’t sure if I had crossed any boundaries.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have told you when it first happened.”