by Alexa Davis
Mom would have been so proud of me if she could see me now, taking action to make things better. Of course I wasn’t happy with myself that it had taken such a soul destroying tragedy for it to happen, but I didn’t want to dwell on that. I was trying not to let myself get dragged down by anything negative at all, it was a hole that would claim me if I let it. I just wanted to imagine her smiling down on me, encouraging me to do what was right for us.
“That’s amazing…” Lindsey bit down on her bottom lip, looking incredibly guilty. “But I’m filming today. I won’t be able to be there to support you.”
“I know, that’s okay,” I reassured her. “I don’t need you to be there. This is something that I think I need to be by myself while I tackle this.” I kissed her gently. “But thank you.”
She looked a bit blown away, but in a good way. I was impressed by myself, but it was nice for her to feel the same way. I was taking a bit step today, and to be honest, it could go either way, but it needed to be done. “Well, that’s good.”
I stepped away from her and moved into the hallway so I could make the call in private. I wanted to do all of this by myself. Including this part. I also didn’t want Lindsey to see how nervous I was. As the phone rang and I waited for Dad to answer, I paced up and down.
“Hello? Adam, is that you?” Dad still sounded sad and broken which killed me. I should have done this sooner. “Is everything okay?”
“Erm, yeah. Look, are you and Brandon busy today? I was hoping we could all meet up at the house?” All of a sudden I felt like the timing was all wrong. “Unless you’re busy?”
“No, no, we can meet up. Is something worrying you?”
“I think we just all need to talk…clear the air a bit. If that’s okay?”
We were both dancing around the subject like we were too scared to tackle this directly.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Let’s do it. I’m not going into the office today anyway and I don’t think Brandon is, either. Can you make it over here in the next hour?”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll see you in a bit, Dad.”
As we hung up the phone, I felt a smart burst of positivity as things were finally about to move forward. One way or another, things were finally about to change.
***
It felt strange to be sitting across the table from Dad and Brandon, especially when it felt so formal, but this was what we all needed to happen, and I felt certain that once the ice was broken, it wouldn’t be so hard. I just didn’t know how to break it.
“I have something to say,” Brandon said thickly, shattering the tension for me. I gave him a wide eyed stare as I waited for him to continue. “Adam, I’m sorry.”
Woah. I was not expecting that. “You’re sorry?”
“I am.” He nodded and continued. “I haven’t always been the best brother to you, and that’s only gotten worse recently.” His eyes fixed on the ground but I spotted his face going red all the way to his ears. “But that’s because I’ve bee going through some stuff.”
Uh oh, was Lindsey about to be proven right? Did she manage to see something in Brandon that I’d missed out on? I couldn’t believe it! I was the worst!
“It’s…Helen.” Oh God, of course. It would be that horrible woman that he’d stupidly decided to marry. “As it turns out she’s been cheating on me for a very long time, with a guy that I considered to be a friend.” Holy fuck. I didn’t know what to say. Brandon looked like he might be about to cry. “It’s been going on for ages, which just confirms that I made a mistake marrying her.”
The tears started falling, and me and dad both sat their awkwardly. Guys didn’t hug in emotional times, and especially not when it came to family drama. I needed to just stay where I was and let him get over it…
Oh fuck it!
I jumped up and threw an arm awkwardly around him. It wasn’t the best comfort in the world, I knew that, but it was better than nothing. “I’m sorry, Brandon. That really sucks. No one deserves that. She should never have done that to you.” I could believe it though, she was just the type. She clearly never cared about Brandon at all.
“Yeah, son,” Dad joined in, sounding as uncomfortable as I felt. “You can do so much better than her. You don’t deserve that. She was never good enough. I know I might have liked her at the start, but it quickly became obvious that you were leagues above her.”
Brandon didn’t say anything. He just nodded and wiped a tear away, but now I could see a different, more vulnerable side to him. He tried to put me down because he felt so bad himself, he was jealous of me because I wasn’t saddled with his horrible wife, he probably didn’t like what I had with Lindsey because it was much more genuine…even if it started out fake. It didn’t make any of it right, but I felt like I understood him so much better. We’d all done things wrong anyway. In this, we were all to blame.
“I’m sorry, too, Brandon. I’ve been an asshole as well, but that’s why I wanted us all to get together today. I think…”
I breathed loudly as I prepared myself for what I needed to say next. I could understand now why Lindsey didn’t talk about her family much, it dragged up the pain all over again. “For Mom’s sake, we need to try and work this out. All she wanted was for all of this to be over and done with and although it might be too late, we should give it a try.”
Dad and Brandon nodded slowly. They wanted this just as much as I did. Now it was just time to take the rest of Lindsey’s advice and to be honest about myself. It wouldn’t be easy, but this road wasn’t going to be.
“There’s something else.” They both stared at me like there couldn’t possibly be more. “I haven’t been doing nothing all the time, like it seems.” Why was this so difficult? This was something that I was proud of. Why did I feel like a child around these two? “Erm, instead of working for a company or whatever, I’ve been volunteering for an orphanage instead.”
“Volunteering?” My dad looked completely stunned. His hands gripped around the edge of the table so tightly his knuckles went white. I wasn’t sure how bad a sign that was. “Really?”
“Yeah, I work with kids, cooking for them, playing with them… I brought some new equipment for the place.” I felt silly saying all of this now. It wasn’t big stuff was it? Just a bit of help here and there. “Nothing major.”
“I can’t believe it.” Brandon shook his head vigorously. “All this time I’ve been saying these horrible things and you’ve been doing something amazing.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that…”
“Don’t be modest, Adam. You have.” Brandon smiled and patted my arm. “That’s incredible. Maybe I’ll have to come down one day and help out, too.”
Woah. I wasn’t expecting that! As I looked at Brandon I had a feeling that maybe we were going to be able to build something after all. I hadn’t ever been his friend before and I wasn’t sure how to do it, but I was willing to give it a try.
“That is great,” Dad jumped in. “Of course, I wish you had just told us, but that’s fabulous. It’s good to know that you’re giving back. Maybe I will have to donate some money to this charity, too. Help out the kids. I’m sure anything will be useful. Do they need a new playground or something? Maybe a library. I suppose the details don’t matter now, but yes, I’ll definitely do something, if that’s okay?”
I nodded in shock, glad that my family had taken my news so well. Lindsey was right. I should have just told them. It was silly of me to shut myself off for so long. I wasn’t even sure why I’d done it.
We all sat there for a few moments looking at each other. The urge to giggle built up inside me at how awkward we all were, but I didn’t want to wreck what we had just built up.
“You know what?” I banged my hands down on the table as I stood up. “Let’s go out. We should go and hit a bar or something, do something fun together.”
“Yes!” Brandon’s face lit up, he clearly needed that as much as I did. We hadn’t ever gone
out for drinks before but we could change that. “That sounds awesome. You coming, Dad?”
He looked hesitant for a moment, but finally agreed. He was cold and shut off, clearly that had only got worse since Mom died, but I hoped this could change that. “Fine. Let’s do it why not.”
It was all thanks to Lindsey and her advice. If she wasn’t around, none of this would ever have happened. I would still be a secret and I wouldn’t know about Brandon. Bit by bit, she was repairing the fracture within us.
Epilogue
Lindsey
2 years later
“It’s been so lovely to have you guys over for dinner,” I cooed once the dessert was all eaten and everyone felt good and stuffed. “It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”
“I know, I know. It’s mostly our fault,” Denise answered while smiling up adoringly at the man who’d surprised us all by becoming the love of her life. It seemed that second chance love was a possibility after all. “What with the baby and everything…”
“It’s still crazy to think of you two as parents,” Adam chuckled as he shook his head. “Especially you, Max. I never thought the day would come along.”
Max took Denise’s hand and he gave her a really loving look. “It’s funny, isn’t it? The same thing that brought you two together reconnected us as well.”
Brandon gave a bit of a confused look and for a moment I feared he might ask what Max meant. Despite the fact that Adam was being much more honest with his family these days, he still hadn’t told them that I was a fake girlfriend to start with…just because they might treat me differently, he didn’t want that at all. Luckily, before he got a chance to do so, Serena wrapped her hand around his and she gave him a sweet smile.
Serena had been around for only a year, but the effect she had on Brandon was incredible. She brought him out of his shell, which he’d retreated into during his messy divorce with Helen, and made him a much calmer, happier man. Now he also volunteered at the orphanage one day a week, giving he and Adam some much needed brother bonding time, and the rest of the time he worked on his own company: a website optimization business that was successful, but allowed him to be happy, as well.
“Could you get me another glass of wine, please?” she asked him in her soft spoken way. “Thank you.”
I stretched my arms up as a wave of weariness hit me. It had been a long week for me since I was currently in an off Broadway play, and I couldn’t wait to get some rest. Ever since my mild success in the Victorian movie, I had a steady career that allowed me to work just enough to be happy and pay the bills. It was perfect.
“You aren’t tired, are you?” Adam teased while nudging me playfully. “You’ve been trying to organize this get together for ages and now that it’s happening, you’re too tired for it.”
“No, no,” I insisted while shaking my head rapidly. “I’m not too tired. Maybe just no more wine.”
He pursed his lips together thoughtfully, and I tried my hardest to read his mind. Sometimes, despite being together for over two years, I found him a bit of a mystery. He just got this look on his face that was impossible to read, and he had that right now.
“I think we should go and get some fresh air,” he finally said in a voice that was much too serious. His tone didn’t match his words at all, which made me feel a bit mystified. “Don’t you think? Wake you up a bit.”
“Erm.” I glanced around the table in confusion. On the one hand, I wanted to see what he had to say, but on the other, we couldn’t just leave. “We’re in the middle of a dinner party here. We can’t just go.”
He gave me a guilty look, but didn’t say anything to agree with me. He was being so weird.
“Let’s all go.” As Denise jumped upwards, I eyed her suspiciously. Something was definitely going on now. “We could all use some fresh air,” she finished weakly. She averted her eyes away from me as she could sense my gaze burning holes into her.
I had two options. Either I went along with it to find out what was happening, or I could remain in my seat and demand to know. It wasn’t long until curiously won out and I allowed Adam to guide me towards our beautiful garden area. As we moved I darted glances at everyone, waiting for someone to crack, but to be fair to them all they had their poker faces firmly on. This was interesting, very interesting indeed…
“Oh my goodness,” I gasped loudly as soon as we got outside. My thoughts had been confirmed, there was definitely something going on. “What is all of this?”
Strings of lights twinkled through the trees, rose petals were scattered along the path, as if from nowhere some romantic music began playing…it was like a scene from a romantic movie and seemed to be all for me.
I twirled around to look at everyone in turn but none of them looked as surprised as I felt. Clearly, this was something that they’d been in on all along. It was only me who didn’t know anything.
“Okay, what is going on?” I demanded.
As I turned back all became clear. Adam was no longer standing in front of me, towering over me. He’d collapsed to one knee on the ground with his hands outstretched and a small ring box clutched between his fingers.
“Lindsey,” he started with a smile playing on his lips. “I think this has been a long time coming really, I don’t want to drag my heels any longer when it comes to making an honest woman out of you.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that one. “We’ve been together now for such a long time and during that whole time I’ve loved you desperately.” As he clutched onto one of my hands with his my heart fluttered with unbridled excitement. “I want our love to bloom and grow, I want us to start our own family like Max and Denise, but I want us to do it in the proper, traditional way…”
“Hey!” Denise cried out, but she didn’t sound offended at all.
“You make me so happy, Lindsey,” Adam continued as if he hadn’t even heard Denise at all. “Everything you do just blows me away, and I want to be able to spend the rest of my life making you just as happy, as well.” He paused for a second and gave me that loving look I adored so much. The one that made me feel like maybe I was worthwhile. “So, what do you say? I know that wasn’t the best speech in the world, but you know I’m not great at saying how I feel.”
“Here, here,” Brandon jumped in, making all of us laugh. The improvement in their relationship was the best thing of all. I loved that they were now so much more honest with one another.
“Do you think you might do me the honor of being my wife?”
I wanted to play with his feelings a bit, to act like I might actually say no even though we both knew I wanted nothing more than to be his wife, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t because I was so damn emotional myself that I thought I might fall apart if I tried to do anything silly. I wanted this, I’d wanted this for a very long time. Now I was just so over the moon that the moment was finally here.
“Of course I will,” I gushed happily. “Nothing would make me happier than to be your wife.”
He leapt up with glee and wrapped his arms around me. As his lips crashed into mine I could feel a wetness on his cheeks. Adam was so emotional that he’d actually started crying… I never thought I would see the day. As we embraced afterwards, I glanced up to the sky, as I often did when big events happened in our lives, and I hoped that Debbie was up there watching us with my parents. It sucked that they couldn’t be here for the big things that happened to us, but as long as we remembered them, their spirits lived on.
“I get to be maid of honor, right?” Denise demanded from behind me. “I mean, that’s just a given, surely?”
“Yes,” I answered breathlessly, but in all honesty, I wasn’t totally focused on her at all. Adam was slipping my ring onto my finger, and I couldn’t thick about much else. It was sleek and elegant, gold with a small diamond embedded into it. Clearly expensive, but in a very understated way. I felt like it suited me perfectly. “You can be maid of honor.”
“And, I expect to be best man,” Max joined in. He kn
ew he would be, he and Adam had been best friends for as long as I could remember. “But you already knew that right?”
I turned to Serena and Brandon, needing those two to be a part of our big day as well. We were so close to them now, the past was long forgotten. They were as much a part of our love story as anyone else.
“Serena, you will be bridesmaid, won’t you?”
“Of course I will!” Her cheeks stained pink as she pulled me in for a hug. “That’s very kind of you, thank you.”
Then I turned to Brandon and took his hands in mine. “We’ve had a rocky road, me and you, haven’t we?” He laughed at that, unable to deny it. “But we’re in a good place now, right?”
“Right,” he agreed quietly. His furrowed eyebrows suggested that he was a little confused about what was going on. I could feel Adam’s eyes boring into my back, too, but I didn’t turn to face him. I had something to say to Brandon alone and nothing else mattered.
“So, since my father isn’t alive anymore, do you think…and don’t feel like you have to say yes…do you think you might be able to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day?”
“Are you serious?” he gushed happily. “I would love to, that would be such an honor.”
I knew it probably seemed strange considering how things had once been but he was the closest thing that I had to family now. I really wanted this of him. He was like my brother, and it was only right.
We circled everyone for a while, sucking in their congratulatory remarks, but soon I ended up with Adam once again. I collapsed into his arms and drank in his wondrous embrace.
“That was an awesome thing that you did for Brandon, you know.” He kissed me on the top of my head. “That’s why I love you so much; that’s why I know you’re the perfect person to be my wife. Everything about you is just so wonderful. I hit the jackpot.”
I tilted my head up to grin at him. “You’re just lucky I love you, too, then, aren’t you?”
As he kissed me hard and passionately, in the delicious way I was so incredibly used to, I finally felt like I had it all. I had my career, my now fiancé, my brand new family. I was the luckiest woman alive. And all because I agreed to some crazy scheme where I pretended to be the girlfriend of a stranger. Who would have thought it? My life was crazy, but crazy wonderful, just how I liked it.