Single Dad Fake Fiancé

by Brooks, Summer

  Sitting on my living room couch, I bounced my knee while typing my message.

  - Hey. I was wondering if you wanted to meet. -

  I ran my hand through my hair and groaned, then deleted it.

  - Hey. You want to get a cup of coffee sometime? -

  I deleted this one too, then took a deep breath and replaced coffee with drinks. It just sounded more grown-up, way more mature than what we’d been doing up until now — texting each other like we were in high school.

  - Hey. You want to a grab a drink sometime? -

  I saw the bubbles appear underneath my text and my fingers tingled in anticipation. But then, the bubbles disappeared and I locked my phone screen after two-long minutes of waiting. I leaned back into the brown velvet couch and shook my head, feeling like a complete idiot. Why did I have to rush things? She was probably trying to figure out a way to block my number at the moment.

  “Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath while staring aimlessly at the floor lamp before me, and then my phone buzzed. I jumped at it like I was some sort of wild cat.

  - Where are you thinking? -

  I had to do a double take before I could believe that she, too, was into this idea. I opened my browser as quickly as my fingers allowed me to, then scrolled through a bunch of places that I thought would be a good fit for a date as awkward as this one. I wasn’t sure if we were even on the same page with the word “date” because up until now, she’d only been talking to me like I was her friend. There had been no signs of flirting or insinuating at something other than what it seemed to be at face value. Maybe she’d been waiting on me to get the ball rolling, but the last thing I wanted to do was fuck it up and scare her away, so I’d been playing it safe.

  But now that I knew she wanted to meet me, it changed everything. It didn’t seem like I had anything to worry about. She liked me as much as I liked her. We were crushing on each other - hard, and I intended to keep it that way.

  The adrenaline was running through my veins when I finally zeroed in on a bar in the village that would be classy and not too loud. It would allow for us to talk without having to yell into each other’s ears. Talking is what we needed to do and it was what we were clearly good at, though things could go either way when we were sitting face to face.

  I tried to not worry about it much when I sent her the address, asking her to look it up to see if she liked it.

  - It’s perfect. -

  My grinned widened, and we agreed to meet Saturday evening.

  5

  Jessica

  I was not prepared for his question. Of course, the thought of meeting him in person had crossed my mind after the first day of exchanging countless texts, but I didn’t really think that it would ever happen. I didn’t think he’d maintain an interest in me for as long as he already had, and now he wanted to meet me. All of those things that I shared with him were coming back to haunt me now. I felt embarrassed when I thought about standing in front of him, knowing that he knew such private details about my life, my relationship with my daughter, things about my job, and so much more. The only reason why those things had come spilling out of me so effortlessly was because I didn’t think that this text-friendship would go anywhere. We would talk for a while and then he’d get bored of listening to a loser complaining about her life and that would be it.

  I’d given up on trying to act seductive after day one of discovering him on the website. I simply had no clue how to do it, how to mention that I drooled over his biceps all day long without sounding desperate or needy. I hadn’t done this sort of a thing in a long time, and somewhere along the way, I ceased to think that a man could be attracted to me. Much less, a man who looked like him.

  I chuckled at the thought. I didn’t even know what he looked like, but I was dying to know if he had a dimple underneath his stubble. That would turn me on to no extent, especially if he also had a mischievous smile and full lips. My lips turned downward when I pictured his face and I was in awe of my own imagination. Keeping it mysterious had been real fun, but I was ready to see him in person. That, however, didn’t translate into any real action.

  My phone stared back at me and I glanced at his message again. I’d wanted to desperately reply back with a "yes" but then made the decision to hold my horses and think it through. All the thinking had only revealed one thing, which was that I wanted to say yes.

  I picked up my phone but instead of responding to him, I called my best friend. Deb would know what I should do. If she could get past the craziness of it all, that is.

  I tapped my toes on the mattress, waiting for her to answer. “Pick up pick up pick up.”

  Jumping right into the gist of the story, I told her that my pen pal wanted to meet me.

  “Hold on,” she said with skepticism. “Take a deep breath and back up a little. I have no idea what you’re talking about and I don’t want you to get murdered by a random stranger.”

  “So, you wouldn’t care if it weren’t a random stranger who murdered me?” I joked, sidetracking a bit.

  “Yes, only I have the right to murder you,” she laughed. “Now, if you’re done playing around, then I would like to more know about this mystery man with mountainous biceps.”

  “Mountainous is not the word I used,” I corrected her, pointing a finger at the ceiling.

  “You didn’t have to… just like you didn’t have to tell me that you wondered if his dick was as big as his biceps.”

  I rolled my eyes with a smile. “Gross.”

  “Dicks are not gross.”

  “I know,” I smirked. “But you are.”

  “Anyway…” She sang.

  “Yes, anyway… So, like I was telling you. I met this guy online in a dating group and we just clicked. We’ve been…”

  She paused me there. “In an online dating group, you said? How in the world did that happen? I’ve been trying to convince you to get back into the game since fucking ages ago.”

  This was clearly going to be a long conversation. Deb wanted to know every single detail, and I felt bad for the guy who was probably waiting on the other end, thinking that my silence was an answer in itself. Probably thinking that I had a zero interest in meeting him and I wouldn’t return a single one of his texts in the future.

  But, if he was worth it then he would be patient.

  I began telling Deb about my parents’ doing, how they’d tricked me into the world of online dating. She seemed thoroughly impressed with them and I dismissed her ridiculous appreciation for their sneakiness.

  “Just because it worked out, does not mean that it justifies their actions,” I told her, then sipped on my glass of water. I swore I heard the sound of her eyes reaching the back of her head when I said those words.

  “All hail the queen of honesty,” she teased. “Makes me wonder why you haven’t asked the guy for his name yet. Is this all a part of your obsession with mysteries?”

  “Maybe,” I said quietly, continuing to look down and scratch the bed sheet with my long nail. “Or maybe it’s because all men are liars, anyway. So, what would be the point?”

  Her tone softened after she heard me say that.

  “Oh, sweetie…”

  I jerked my head and swallowed, regretting my choice of words.

  “So back to what I called you for… Is it a yay or a nay?”

  I might have changed my tone but hers remained hung up on the fact that I told her that all men are liars.

  “I think you should go for it,” she said softly. “It’ll be good for you to get back into the dating world.”

  “This is not about what’s good for me, Deb.”

  I wasn’t shy about letting my frustration peek through. I was quite tired of everyone in my life telling me what I “needed” to do if I wanted to be happy. Everyone except for my sister, Heather.

  She’d kind of been in my shoes due to the Clayton Sister Curse and would know better than to push me in any direction, unless I felt completely ready to jump into the
love gutter on my own.

  I’d have easily called Heather instead of Deb to talk about this, but I didn’t want any of this to reach my family. Neither my parents nor my sister could know that I was into someone, and especially in the weirdest way imaginable. This had to remain a secret, and I trusted Deb to take it to her grave unless told otherwise.

  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” She snapped. “It’s not about what’s good for you. It’s about what’s fun for you. My answer still remains the same. I think you should go for it. And by that, I mean stock up on some condoms and go for it. Though, I think the bicep guy would bring some along if he has the brains.”

  I had a tight-lipped smile on my face when I said, “Thanks. I’m going to go now.”

  “Alrighty, Jess the mess.”

  I hated that she called me that, but I’d started ignoring it after the first few times of getting irritated and still not succeeding at making her stop.

  I pulled up my text thread and asked him what he had in mind.

  He responded almost immediately, along with the address of the bar that he wanted to take me to. That flattered me, knowing that he was that excited about our meeting.

  Neither of us had used the word “date” and kept calling it “grabbing drinks” but we both knew what it really was.

  * * *

  I heard my heels clanking on the hard wooden floor when I entered the bar in the village that had taken me forever to get to. It was a little away from Brooklyn, but most posh places were. I didn’t blame the mystery bicep man for picking a semi-fancy place for our first meeting. The bar had an old-world charm to it, so it was quiet and way more casual than the other places on the street. AB had done a good job and it was clear that he’d remembered the things that I’d told him about myself. The fact that I wasn’t fond of loud and obnoxious places was one of those things.

  I held my hands together as I stood at the entrance. Once I’d flashed my ID that I was surprised was even necessary, since I was sure that I looked well over the age of twenty-one, I surveyed the place further. My attempt was quite fruitless since my mind wasn’t registering anything. I kept tugging at my short black dress, feeling the goosebumps that had made an appearance on my thigh due to the cold chill in the air, but also the nervousness.

  I moved my head around, garnering the attention of a few people who probably thought that I was lost. They weren’t wrong, because I was. AB knew what I looked like, but not the other way around. The mystery- obsessed idiot in me had told him that he should wait for me to spot him at the bar, so it was possible that he was already staring at me and waiting for me to recognize him. I cleared my throat and intertwined my fingers as I continued the search. The seats at the bar were dark purple and tall, and I didn’t bother to walk across the room to scan every face. I was certain that the man had enough brains to not get seated until I arrived. So, I pulled out a bar stool and placed my arms in front of me on the counter. The bartender approached me seconds later to take my order and I showed him my hand with a little head shake, indicating I wasn't ready yet.

  There were a few men standing around at the bar, along with two couples who were deep into their conversations. I bobbed my head back, trying to scan every face. Then a man at the extreme end of the bar turned and my gaze fell over his back. I had stared at that back and those arms long enough to be able to recognize them from a mile away.

  Balling my hand in a fist, I brought it to cover my lips as I slowly stood.

  “Shit,” I murmured under my breath as each step that I took toward him felt like a year. I was about to make a serious fool out of myself if I was wrong about this.

  When I finally stood in front of him, he lifted his head with the light of his phone screen illuminating his face. His eyes had some confusion in them, then his lips formed a smirk and I spotted a tiny dimple underneath his drool-worthy stubble. The man was tailor-made for me, though, I literally had to look toward the sky before I could get my eyes to meet his.

  He was so tall, and I loved that.

  “Jessica,” he said, confidently, because he’d recognized me. I looked like a completely different woman than I did in the photo that he’d seen of me, so I was wondering what he was thinking at the moment. I wanted to know if he liked what he was seeing, because I certainly was.

  His green eyes were a bit sunken and his eyebrows thick. I sensed the depth in his personality, feeling an instant connection just like I did when we first started to text each other.

  “You look,” he paused as he looked me up and down. “Beautiful.”

  I smiled, looking away as I blushed. It’d been a while since anyone had used that word to describe me, and Deb didn’t count. It was okay if he didn’t mean it, and I was happy nonetheless.

  “Thanks,” I said quietly.

  He nodded with pursed lips and looked toward the tall purple seats. Soon enough, I found myself following him as he took the lead and got us seated.

  The waitress handed us the drinks menu and it looked as if I was carefully studying my options, but in reality, nothing was being registered in my brain. I might have been reading the words, but my attention was solely on him.

  He already knew what he wanted, so he set the menu down as quickly as he’d opened it.

  “So, am I allowed to tell you my name now?”

  Biting my bottom lip, I smiled.

  “You were never not allowed to.”

  He leaned back and touched his ear.

  “I wouldn’t want to spoil the mystery of it all.”

  “It’s not a mystery anymore. You’re in front of me, so the mystery is getting solved.”

  “Arthur,” he said.

  I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my eyes at him, trying to remember where I’d heard the name before.

  The waitress pulled me out of my thoughts when she arrived to take our drink order. I picked up the menu and set it on my lap, then pointed at the first drink on the list.”

  “Peachy peach,” she grinned and turned toward Arthur. “Got it, and for you sir?”

  He ordered a whiskey on the rocks and I shook my head.

  “What was that for?”

  I shrugged.

  “Oh, you know, the place is fancy and I would think you’d want to try some of their signature cocktails.”

  He gave me a half-smile. “I like to stick to what I know.”

  I scratched the side of my forehead and shifted my weight to one side of the seat.

  “Do you, now?”

  He nodded. “And I know a lot about you now.”

  I looked down, unable to meet his eyes. I suddenly regretted telling him so much. There was something weird about meeting a stranger that you were hoping to impress, but who also knew that you were going through a rough time in all the aspects of your life.

  “Tell me more about Lily,” he said, sensing my discomfort. Somehow, he could tell that talking about the one subject that was closest to my heart would do the trick.

  “She’s a…” I shook my head. “She’s a force of nature.”

  I laughed and so did he.

  “Yep, I hear ya.”

  I turned my cheek at him with raised eyebrows. “You do?”

  He flashed his ring at me, and for a second, my heart dropped thinking that he was married.

  “The M stands for Megan. My eight-month old daughter.”

  “Your daughter…”

  He nodded, and my palm reached to cover my eyes. How could I have not asked him anything about his life? I didn’t even know that he had a daughter… a baby.

  That explained a lot — the way he’d just be so understanding when I told him stories about Lily’s earlier years. My baby talks had held his attention and I hadn’t figured out why until this moment.

  I was also secretly smacking myself in the head for not jumping in with both feet and inquiring him about his life. He must think I’m so self-centered.

  For now, there were only two real things that I knew about him. One, he was a si
ngle dad, and two, he was a hot as hell.

  His eyes lit up when I asked him about Megan. He told me that she was a handful but a complete blessing. His smile dropped and I noticed him staring blankly at the floor.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Hmm?” He took the first sip of his drink. “Yeah. Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

  I drew in a long breath, knowing better than to question him about whatever it was that he was feeling. He would tell me if he really wanted to. I found myself wondering how I’d resisted wanting to know everything about the irresistibly hot man sitting across from me. I’d only known him for six days, but now, I wanted to know each detail about his life.

  My tension eased when he broke the silence and asked me what was going on with that job of mine that I’d told him about earlier.

  “Oh, that?” I waved my arm. “Forget about my stupid job. It’s too annoying to even think about that right now.”

  The alcohol had started kicking in by now and my glass was almost empty.

  I wasn’t huge on drinking but I’d been biting down on my straw since I’d sat down, which led to me draining the whole thing pretty quickly.

  “Want to get another one?” He asked, and raised his arm to summon our server.

  Tapping the edge of my glass, I told her, “I’ll get another one of these.”

  “Sure thing,” she chirped, and hurried away.

  “So, what do you like to do for fun… Arthur?”

  I was aware of the fact that I’d already started slurring slightly, and I quickly blamed it on the strength of the drink.

  “For fun…,” he started.

  “If you have to think about it, then you don’t really do much for fun.”

  He laughed, then ran a hand across his face.