by Amy Vastine
Before Piper could answer, there was a knock on the door and Whitney Hansen popped her curly-haired head in. “Hi, everyone!”
Whitney was one of America’s most beloved talk show hosts. She had been a child star through her teens before disappearing from Hollywood for a while. When she tried to make a comeback about ten years ago, she’d struggled to find work on another sitcom, so instead of acting, she went into the talk show business. Her humor and charisma had won viewers over immediately.
“I am so excited to hear your new song today. I’ve been waiting for the new Piper Starling album to come out ever since the last one was released!”
“That’s what we like to hear,” Heath said.
Piper introduced Whitney to everyone in the room, saving Sawyer for last.
“Sawyer Stratton? Why do I feel like this confirms the rumors are true?”
“Rumors? What rumors have you been hearing?” Piper purposely held up her left hand to show off her ring.
“Oh my goodness! Is that what I think it is?” Whitney grabbed her hand and gave the ring a closer look. “Are you—you are! Can we tell everyone?”
“I was hoping you’d be okay with me making a small announcement on your show today.”
Whitney grabbed her tight brown curls with both hands. “Oh my, oh my! This is amazing! I am so honored that you want to do this on my show. We have to bring you out, Sawyer. I want the world to see this happy couple.”
Sawyer seemed extremely displeased with that idea. Piper knew it was because it meant they would really have to sell the romance. Everyone was already watching them to see how they acted around each other.
“Do I have to? My hair is not really TV ready.” He took off his hat to prove his point.
“Oh, come on. The ladies love a guy in a baseball hat. We’ll mention you’re here and maybe have you standing stage left. I can invite you to join us, and you two can play it cool for a little bit before you tell the world the truth!”
The truth. Yeah, that was not happening. Piper gave Sawyer a pointed look. He needed to do this.
“Sounds perfect, Whitney,” he said, probably cringing inside. “Can’t wait.”
* * *
SAWYER HAD GONE along with this plan to announce their engagement on the Whitney Hansen Show, but he hadn’t banked on having to help do the announcing.
Almost worse than having to go on television and lie was hearing Heath lecture him on all the ways he had better not screw this up for Piper. The man acted like Sawyer intended to walk out there and admit to being part of a hoax.
“Let’s practice looking natural,” Heath said once all of the show’s people had left them alone. He had Piper and Sawyer sit on the couch next to one another in the dressing room. “Pretend Lana is Whitney.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about you two being a couple. True or not?” Lana asked.
“I guess you could say that our fans figured out our secret before we were ready to tell it,” Sawyer replied. “Piper and I are together. We’re a couple. We’re in love.”
“With each other,” Piper added in case it wasn’t obvious. She rested her head on his shoulder. He reached up and patted the side of her face. The awkwardness was epic. He could feel the heat of her cheeks as they turned a vibrant shade of red.
Heath’s eyes were bulging from his head. “You two are trying to convince the world you’re actually in love. Not convince me that you can’t pull this charade off! No touching. She’s not a pet, she’s your fiancée.”
“Maybe you should do the talking and I’ll just smile and nod,” Sawyer suggested.
“So how did you know Sawyer was the one?” Lana asked.
Piper straightened up. “I fell in love with Sawyer while we were writing songs for my album. He was charming and hilarious. He made me think about how I feel and what I wanted to say. It was kind of refreshing. Plus, you should see this guy ride a horse wearing a cowboy hat.” She fanned herself with her hand.
Sawyer’s chest tightened. She sounded so sincere. Heath frowned as he glared at Sawyer. “Better,” he said. “Piper should definitely do the talking.”
* * *
“NOW, THERE’S BEEN a lot of talk lately about you and a certain someone,” Whitney said to Piper almost as soon as the interview started.
“Has there?”
Much to Sawyer’s embarrassment, pictures of him shirtless flashed on the big screen behind them. “Do you recognize this man?”
Piper glanced over her shoulder and her smile widened. She was getting better at this game. “He looks vaguely familiar. What’s his name again?”
The couple hundred people in the audience were eating this up. Whitney and Piper shared a laugh.
“Ah, I think you know. I believe you brought him with you today. In fact, can I get a camera over there on stage left?”
That was Sawyer’s cue. He stepped out and waved to the screaming crowd. This was not the way he’d imagined his first television interview would go. He joined Piper on the guest couch.
“Well, well. Look who’s here! Hello, Sawyer. Piper, have you met? This is Sawyer Stratton. Sawyer, this is Piper Starling.”
The two of them shook hands and pretended to be surprised. “Nice to meet you,” Sawyer said.
“Aren’t they adorable. Come on now, Sawyer. I have to ask,” Whitney continued. “What brings you backstage at my show today?”
“I heard you had that dancing dog on today, and I’m a big fan, so...”
“You’re a big fan of the dancing dog, huh?” Whitney turned to her audience. Several of them shook their heads and shouted their disbelief. “They don’t believe you, Sawyer. They know why you’re really here.”
He reached for the mug of water on the oval-shaped coffee table in front of them. He took a couple sips to kill some time.
“Okay, okay,” Piper said, joining in the fun. “He came with me. I brought him to LA because he needed a little break before we head out on tour together in a couple weeks.”
“You two are going on tour together. How interesting.” Whitney gave her audience a knowing look.
“Yep, I just thought since Sawyer’s been so busy rehearsing and buying me coffee and an engagement ring, he deserved a vacation.”
The audience immediately began to freak out. It was mass hysteria. Women were cheering like they had just won the lottery. Many were wide-eyed in disbelief.
“I’m sorry, I think I misheard you on that last one. He’s been busy rehearsing, buying you coffee and doing what else?” Whitney asked over the din of the crowd.
Piper held up her left hand to show off the ring she’d purchased online a week ago. Sawyer felt kind of bad that she had to buy her own fake engagement ring, but not bad enough to part with the amount of money she’d spent on it.
It didn’t seem possible for the audience to get any louder, but they somehow managed. Sawyer realized in that moment how popular his fake-fiancée truly was. Whitney pretended this was the first she’d heard of this news and threw to commercial break before hugging both of them.
“Great job, you two. That was perfect!” she said as they group-hugged.
The two people assigned to crowd control attempted to settle the audience and remind them to follow their cues. The show’s director called for the next segment to start. The spectators managed to follow directions, clapping and quieting when told.
Whitney stared into the camera. “We’re back, and in case you’re just joining us, I’m here with my guests Piper Starling and Sawyer Stratton, who nearly gave this poor woman in the front row a heart attack. Are you okay, ma’am?”
One of the cameras turned to get her in the shot. The woman nodded and assured Whitney she was fine. She was still wiping tears and breathing heavily. “I’m just so happy for them. I’m the biggest Piper Starling fan. I knew after the Country Artist Awar
ds that they were together, but I wasn’t expecting this.”
Sawyer was shocked at how emotional complete strangers could become over this. It made little sense that people would get so invested in two people they didn’t even know.
“I wasn’t, either, my friend! Did that really happen? Did you just announce on my show that you’re engaged?” Whitney asked.
“We are,” Piper confirmed.
Sawyer put his arm around her, hoping it made them look more like a real couple. The audience cheered for them again but quieted quickly.
“Oh my goodness, I am so happy for you two, but I feel like you just met. Are you sure you know each other well enough to take the plunge?”
Sawyer noticed a tic in Piper’s jaw.
“I sure hope so,” Sawyer answered, garnering a laugh.
“When you meet the right person, you don’t need a lot of time to know he’s the one for you,” Piper said. “I think I knew it almost as soon as I met him. We just clicked.”
“I am a huge believer in love at first sight,” Whitney said. “At the end of their very first date, my father told my mother he was going to marry her. He said he just knew.”
“Did she feel the same way?” Sawyer asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Oh, heck no. She told him he was nuts and asked her roommate to screen all her calls after that. Lucky for him, the roommate never did as she was asked and my mother gave him a second chance. They were married six months later.”
“Sawyer wasn’t so sure at first, either,” Piper said after the audience stopped clapping for Mr. and Mrs. Hansen’s love story. “But apparently I wore him down.”
Piper gave his knee a squeeze. He pretended to laugh and pulled her closer. “She’s lying. Who wouldn’t fall head over heels for this woman?”
“No one,” Whitney agreed. “I think it might be fun to test you two, make sure you’re ready to take this next step in your relationship. How do you feel about playing a little game with me? It’s a bit like The Newlywed Game but with a Whitney Hansen twist. Are you two up for it?”
Piper stiffened but kept the smile she was wearing firmly in place. “I guess so. What do you think, babe?” she asked Sawyer.
Every fiber of his body wanted to scream no, but he was in full fake-engagement mode, so he threw his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer. “Let’s do it.”
Whitney had a member of her staff run out with two Ping-Pong paddles, “Piper” written on one side and “Sawyer” on the other. While they waited for Whitney to scan her game cards, Piper fidgeted with the paddle and her bracelets.
Sawyer needed to calm her down. He leaned over and whispered, “We got this.”
She nodded, but the worry in her blue eyes didn’t fade. Without thinking, he gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
Whitney sighed. “You two are so darn cute. I can’t stand it.”
She went on to explain the game. The object was to show the name of the person who most closely resembled whatever was asked. To get a point, they both had to show the same name.
“Okay, here we go. This person will kill all the spiders in your house.”
Sawyer had no idea how Piper felt about spiders, but he had lived with a sister who once duct-taped the bathroom door closed because she had seen one in there and no one else was home. He raised the paddle with his name showing. Leaning forward, he could see Piper had done the same.
“Oh, one point! Good job. Who is likely to steal all the covers at night?”
Sawyer lifted the side with Piper’s name on it for the laugh.
“He’s always complaining he’s hot, so it has to be me,” Piper said.
“He’s hot, all right,” Whitney added with a wink. “Two points. Who’s the better driver?”
Sawyer raised his name and felt the need to explain. “She never drives herself anywhere. I bet she doesn’t even have a license.”
Glancing at Piper’s sign, they matched again. Piper cringed. “I don’t. I never got it,” she admitted with a shrug.
“Seriously?” Whitney shook her head and flipped to the next question. “Oh, I love this game. This one could get ugly. Who...is the better singer?”
Sawyer held up the side with Piper’s name on it. He was nothing if not a gentleman.
“Did you all see how quick she was to raise her own name?” Whitney asked the audience with a laugh.
Sawyer nudged her with his elbow. “Thanks a lot, hon.”
Piper’s face flushed. “Honestly, I’m just trying to win, and I knew you would pick me.”
“Aw, so sweet. You two are proving that you know quite a bit about each other. Let’s see if you can get a perfect score. Last question. Get this right and you win. This one is almost too easy. I’ll forgive my writers since they had to throw these questions together last minute.” Sawyer relaxed, thankful for a simple one. “Who said ‘I love you’ first?”
Sawyer hesitated. If they were a real couple, this would have been the easiest question. Only, they had never said those words to one another. Sawyer had never said them to any woman. He held up his sign, hoping they had both picked the same sign.
Leaning forward, he saw Piper had chosen herself. He had picked himself. His stomach dropped.
“Okay, hold on a second. One of you forgot who said ‘I love you’ first?”
Piper pretended to hit him with the paddle. He held his hands up to protect himself. Trying to save face, he asked, “Wait, what was the question again? I thought you asked who fell in love first.”
“Who said ‘I love you’ first?” Whitney repeated.
“Oh,” Sawyer said, playing dumb. He turned his paddle around. “She said it first, but I was in love first.”
“I’ll give it to them. Perfect score. You have my blessing to get married,” Whitney said before thanking them for coming on and congratulating them once more on their engagement.
They cut to commercial break and announced they would be filming out of sequence so Piper could be done for the day. She would perform before Whitney’s next guest instead of at the end of the show.
“Good save,” Piper said to Sawyer as they waited for the crew to set up the stage. “I know you were worried, but I think we fumbled through that pretty well.”
“I was worried? You were worried. I could tell. You fidget with your jewelry when you’re nervous.”
Piper tilted her head. “I do?”
Sawyer nodded. “I’m very observant. I guess I know you better than we thought.”
A stagehand came over and handed Piper a microphone. Sawyer told her to break a leg and headed backstage, where he watched her perform on the monitors. She really was the better singer.
Piper was a lot of things—beautiful, talented, funny, generous. He hadn’t been lying when he said any guy would fall head over heels for her. Someone would fall for her and sweep her off her feet in the process. Some guy would tell her he loved her and marry her for real, without any hesitation. For some reason, that was as troublesome to him as the fact that this same man would also be another father to Sawyer’s child.
A strange sensation came over him. He was jealous. Jealous that he couldn’t be that guy because Piper’s father hadn’t deemed him good enough, and Piper never did anything without her father’s consent. Sawyer had to pretend they were perfect for one another, knowing Piper had never really felt that way about him. But she would eventually feel that way about someone else. How ridiculous, to be jealous of some guy who didn’t even exist yet.
Of course, someday he would.
CHAPTER NINE
“DO NOT TOUCH those cookies, Sawyer, or I will chop off your hands after I finish chopping these onions.” Faith held up her knife like someone out of a horror movie.
Sawyer put his hands behind his back. His chocolate Lab, Scout, gave them a sniff like he might be hiding som
ething back there. “Someone should taste one to make sure they’re acceptable for Heath Starling.”
Thanksgiving was usually one of Sawyer’s favorite holidays, mainly because he loved to eat and his sister was an incredible cook. The farmhouse smelled like warm apple pie, savory turkey that had been roasting all morning and her famous salted whiskey chocolate chip cookies.
Dean waltzed in, looking like he’d just rolled out of bed. He snatched one of the cookies right off the cooling rack. It was in his mouth before Sawyer could protest.
“Mmm-mmm. Heath will definitely approve.” Dean gave Faith a kiss on the lips.
“How come I get threatened with bodily harm and he gets a cookie and a kiss?” Sawyer complained, grabbing a banana and taking a seat at the kitchen table. Scout lay at his feet.
“Advantages of being her soon-to-be husband, little brother,” Dean said. “Too bad it doesn’t work that way in a fake engagement. Bummer for you.”
Sawyer rubbed the back of his neck. This year he was dreading Thanksgiving because of the lies he had to tell. He had invited the Starling family to Grass Lake for the holiday with the plan being to convince his friends this engagement was real.
“What time are our guests of honor arriving?” Dean asked, taking another cookie off the rack. This time Faith took it away and set it back down.
The Starlings had two estates in a town about twenty minutes north of Nashville while Grass Lake was a little over an hour south of the city. “I told Piper to come on over around two o’clock.”
“Then I better jump in the shower and make myself presentable.” Dean started to leave but sneaked back to grab another cookie and ran.
“You ready for today?” Faith asked.
“I cannot wait to lie to all my friends, deceive Piper’s mother and brother, and listen to Heath tell me I’m not good enough for his daughter.”
“I really don’t like him,” Faith said. “And I usually like everyone.”
“He’s so condescending. He treats us like we’re two kids who don’t know what we’re doing. He thinks he needs to throw in his two cents all the time. Maybe when Piper has the baby, he’ll accept that we’re capable of handling this on our own.”