A Cowboy's Fake Fiancée

by Savannah McCarthy

  Constance smugly sipped her morning tea and kept her eyes on the newspaper. Heather figured she probably looked horrible if her mother still thought she was trying to get over her first ‘date’. Well, her mom was right, she wasn’t over it. Being called out in public like that by some complete stranger was more horrifying than she could have ever imagined. And she’d done that to Nash. Was she just as bad as that guy from town hall?

  Heather didn’t want to give her mother the satisfaction of being right about what she thought was her romantic life, but she was too tired from three straight restless nights to do anything about it. “It wasn’t that bad,” she mumbled, as she made herself some toast.

  “Oh, are you going to see this man again?” her mother asked, gracing Heather with a sly glance.

  Heather sighed. She knew she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. She’d signed her freedom away. “I think so.”

  Constance sucked her teeth and abruptly turned back to her newspaper. “Know your worth, Heather,” she preached.

  Heather leaned against the kitchen counter and thought about that. Was she worth a million dollars? After what had happened over the past week, she felt like she might be worth far less.

  She let her mother ignore her while she finished up with her breakfast and then headed out to work. “Love you, mama,” she made sure to say before she left for the day.

  “Love you too, dear,” Constance didn’t hesitate to respond. And with that, Heather was off.

  She pulled up to The Horseshoe somehow early for work. I guess that’s what not sleeping will do for you, she thought, as she unlocked the front door and shuffled into her backroom office.

  Heather was looking forward to burying herself in mundane work again. She hadn’t heard back from Nash since their date and she wasn’t sure what that meant, all she knew for certain was that her job at The Horseshoe was clear and simple: manage. She could only hope she would do better at managing the restaurant than she was at managing her personal life.

  She was also glad that no one around her knew what was really going on. It might have felt like a burden if things were going better, but after her scare at Fort Lupton’s town hall, she just wanted to forget and try to move on.

  It had been business as usual since that night. Stacey and Lola obviously had no idea about what she had been up to and she wasn’t looking forward to eventually having to let them know. Would she even get a chance to let them know first? Nash and his people were supposed to leak info about their relationship to the press eventually. Would Heather be privy to when that would happen before it happened or was she just a helpless pawn who would have to blindly go along with whatever her masters had in mind?

  She shuddered at the thought, just as the bell at the front door chimed for the first time in the day.

  “Heather!?” called Stacey’s voice.

  “In the back!” Heather shouted back, after taking a deep breath to try and steady her nerves.

  Stacey skipped into her office with a curious look on her face.

  “What’s up?” Heather asked, not expecting to hear anything worse than what she was already going through.

  Stacey hesitated, before opening up her phone. “Um, well, look. I don’t mean to be disrespectful or anything... but is this you?” The college-aged waitress turned her phone around in her hand and held it out to Heather

  Heather looked at the screen and squinted to try and make sense of what she was being shown. Some gossip site was opened up. Heather’s eyes wandered over the page until her gaze landed on the title.

  She nearly fell through the floor from shock.

  Who’s Nash Winfield’s New Mystery Girl?

  Heather touched her chest and tried to slow her racing heart. She suddenly remembered that Stacey was watching her reaction, so she tried to play it cool, but when she saw the picture posted just below the title, of her and Nash at town hall, she couldn’t contain her nerves.

  She stumbled backwards until the edge of her office chair forced her to sit. A million jumbled thoughts tumbled through her mind.

  Nash’s team had already started leaking. There was no going back now. She was truly stuck. Would a million bucks even be worth it all in the end? Could she handle this?

  As crazy as things already were, they were about to get a whole lot crazier.

  “Are you alright?” Stacey asked, her face full of concern.

  Heather gulped and tried to nod, but she didn’t imagine it helped much. She was probably as white as a ghost.

  “So, um, I’m taking that as a yes, then,” Stacey said, tucking her phone back into her pocket. The waitress hurried over to the backroom office’s bathroom and poured Heather a glass of water from the sink.

  Heather took a long, deep sip. “Thanks,” she said when she was finished.

  “What are you doing with Nash?” she asked, without giving Heather a moment to relax.

  Heather could tell she was just being curious, and not malicious, but she really didn’t want to talk about it. “I’ll explain later,” she managed to say.

  Stacey pouted at that answer. “I thought we were friends,” she teased.

  “We are, I swear. It’s just... complicated,” Heather answered.

  Suddenly, the bell at the front chimed again. Heather took a deep breath. She knew it could only be Lola. It was Melany and Ava’s day off again, and the cooks always came in through the back entrance.

  “Heather!?” came Lola’s voice, in the exact same tone as Stacey’s had been earlier.

  Heather sighed, exacerbated. This was going to be a long day.

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s her” Stacey announced to Lola, before the youngest waitress could even get her questions in.

  “No way! I knew it!” Lola screamed. Heather covered her ears. She already had a headache. “I told my mom, ‘hey, I swear I know this girl!’ What were you doing with Nash Winthrow in Fort Lupton!?”

  “She doesn’t want to talk about it,” Stacey said with a wink.

  “Unfair,” Lola whined. “I thought we were supposed to be friends.”

  Stacey laughed. “I already tried that on her. Didn’t work. She’s way tougher to crack than Caroline.”

  “Wait,” Lola’s eyes suddenly went wide. She waved her phone in the air. “Is this why he called you up to his office last week? To ask you on a date!? After you cussed him out at Chacho’s!? Wow, the guts on that man...”

  “He’s got a lot of other things too,” Stacey twirled her hair and smacked her lips.

  Heather gave Stacey a desperate look.

  “Oh, come on. I mean he’s got a lot of money. You have such a dirty mind, Heather!”

  The two waitresses giggled and Heather couldn’t help but smile just a little bit. It was actually nice to share a little bit of her secret with some friends, even if she wasn’t going to tell them the whole truth just yet.

  “I thought you hated Nash Winthrow,” Lola said. “Why would you ever go on a date with him? You don’t seem like the gold-digging type...”

  “Lola!” Stacey interrupted, giving the younger girl a playful wallop to the arm. “Rude!”

  Heather shook her head. “It wasn’t a date,” she assured them, and it was technically the truth. It was supposed to have been a business meeting.

  “Sure looks like a date,” Lola said, looking down at her phone screen. “So romantic.”

  “Yeah, tell me this isn’t a couple right here,” Stacey said, shoving her phone back towards Heather.

  Heather flinched at first, but then gathered the courage to look again. Sure enough, Nash and her looked like a full-fledged couple. He was so much bigger and taller than her, yet they seemed to look so right together. Lola was also right. The soft lighting of the streetlamps, coupled with the cobble stone street of old town hall, combined to make a very romantic photograph. Well, at least Nash’s people knew how to set a scene.

  Heather let herself appreciate the picture for what it was, until her eyes fell upon the space
between her and Nash. They were clearly holding hands. Heather groaned and buried her face in her palms. There’d be no explaining that away.

  “That’s definitely a date, liar,” Lola teased, after studying the photo some more for herself.

  “Lucky...” Stacey whispered, before covering her mouth with her hand.

  Both Lola and Heather immediately shot her a look. Stacey’s cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

  “I knew you liked Nash!” Lola exclaimed with a big smile. Her smile quickly dropped though, when she realized the implications. “Wait, but Heather’s seeing Nash. Are you jealous?”

  Stacey immediately shook her head. “No, no,” she insisted. “Things are going well with Austin, and, honestly, I don’t really like the idea of all that attention... no offence Heather.”

  Heather just shrugged. Stacey wasn’t missing out on much. She had been going steady with a Winthrow ranch farmhand who she had met that night they’d all gone to Chacho’s. Heather hadn’t met him yet, but Lola had insisted that he looked a lot like Nash, just smaller and nicer.

  “It’s weird,” Heather said, pursing her lips.

  “... But exciting!” added Lola.

  “Tell us all about it,” asked Stacey, framing her face with both hands.

  Suddenly, the bell at the front door chimed and what sounded like a group of people entered the restaurant

  Heather thanked the heavens for the distraction.

  “To work,” she nodded.

  “Aw,” both girls pouted, before dutifully following orders.

  Heather was alone again and feeling the full brunt of all the stress. She both knew and liked Lola and Stacey and, still, that interaction had been completely draining. How would she ever deal with the press and the paparazzi?

  She didn’t have long to think about it, because her cell phone suddenly buzzed alive from her office desk.

  She checked the caller ID before answering.

  It was Nash.

  Chapter 15

  Nash

  Heather’s voice was small and distant. She sounded exhausted.

  “I’m sorry about how we left things off the other night,” Nash apologized. “I think we both got too emotional. We probably shouldn’t have gone on that walk.”

  “It’s my fault,” Heather said. “I just wasn’t expecting that. I still get angry when I think about it, and then I feel ashamed to think I did the same thing to you just last week.”

  Nash sighed, looking at the paparazzi picture of the two of them up on his computer screen. “It’s fine. We both learned a lesson. Are you having second thoughts?”

  Heather blew air out of her nose on the other end of the line. “Of course, I am... but I’m not the type of girl who just gives up. I have a job to do, and I’m going to see it through.”

  Nash felt a heavy weight lift off of his chest, only to be replaced by a sinking in his gut. He imagined seeing Heather again and his heart started to flutter. He needed to compose himself. “We’re going to have to speed things up,” he said, flatly.

  “I saw,” Heather responded.

  Nash furrowed his brows. Heather hadn’t seemed like the tabloid-reading type. “You follow these things?” he asked.

  “Some girls I work with showed me. How horrifying,” she let out a forced little chuckle. “I wish you guys would have let me know what was coming.”

  Nash pursed his lips. “This wasn’t planned. Like I said, we shouldn’t have gone out on that walk. It’s my fault, I was feeling too comfortable. These are high-stress times. I’m sorry to have put you through that.”

  Heather didn’t respond right away. Soft white noise crackled between them as Nash waited, thinking of how to proceed.

  Finally, Heather spoke again. “I’m sorry to have put you through that too,” she said, soft and anguished. “Even if I’d had a few drinks, it’s no excuse. I feel like a monster.”

  Nash couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sucks feeling like a monster when you know you aren’t one, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Heather sighed.

  Nash shifted in place. “Listen, we need to have a second ‘date’ as soon as possible. Something a little more public than our first one. I have an idea... if you’ll hear me out?”

  “Shoot,” Heather responded.

  “Do you know Bennett Hill?” he asked.

  “The country singer?” Heather asked back.

  “Yeah. He has a concert at Mile High stadium in Denver tomorrow night. I’ve already reserved a private booth. I’ve been before, and the windows are just tinted enough that any paparazzi probably won’t be able to catch your face, while also being clear enough that people will be able to tell you’re the same person from Fort Lupton. If we go together, we might be able to force some sense of control back into this narrative before we have to release your identity to the press. Are you in?”

  More soft white static filled the space between them “Yeah,” Heather finally said.

  “Okay, I’ll call Caroline and get her to replace you at work tomorrow. We’re going to fly you into Denver tonight. We have a really nice hotel room booked for you, so you don’t have to rush anything.”

  Nash could almost hear Heather’s nose scrunch over the phone. “That seems excessive,” she said.

  It really wasn’t, not to Nash at least. “Consider it a nice little vacation. They have a mean masseuse at the hotel, get yourself a massage, order some room service, have a drink or two and relax. Things are about to get pretty serious; you should enjoy your time out of the spotlight while it lasts.”

  “Where will you be?” Heather asked, with a touch of naivety.

  “I’ll get there just before the concert,” Nash explained. “I think we should keep our distance for as long as possible, less we get sick of each other before we’re able to see this whole thing through.” There was no way that Nash was going to tell her the truth: he was already falling for her, and if he didn’t keep himself away, he might screw everything up by letting her know it.

  “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Heather responded. “I don’t know how comfortable I am with taking work off tomorrow, though...”

  “If it’ll make you happy, I can just close down the entire ranch tomorrow. I’ll come up with some excuse, like there’s a leak that needs to be fixed or something. That way you won’t have to worry about anyone having to do your work for you.”

  Nash could hear Heather grinding her teeth on the other end of the line. “But then everyone would lose a day of pay. Most of your workers can’t afford that.”

  “I’d make sure everyone got a full day’s pay,” Nash assured her.

  “... Stacey and Lola would definitely like that,” Heather said, more to herself than to him.

  “Consider it done. I’ll also send out a notice that all establishments will have to close up by 6pm tonight, due to whatever excuse I come up with to shut the ranch down tomorrow. That way you’ll have some time to pack and pick out whatever you want to wear to the concert.”

  “That sounds like a lot of extra work for you and your people,” Heather answered.

  “It’s just a snap of my fingers,” Nash said.

  Heather sighed, then after a moment of silence, gave him the “okay.”

  “Great. I’ll send my driver over to get you at around 8pm tonight. He’ll drive you to the airport and chaperone you onto the plane.”

  “I don’t need a chaperone, Nash,” Heather chuckled. “I’ve ridden a plane before. I’m middle-class, not a peasant.”

  Nash couldn’t help but chuckle back. “Oh, I guarantee you’ve never ridden on a plane like this before,” he teased. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Frenchie came into the office just as Nash was hanging up. “We’re all set up for tomorrow,” the agent started. “We’ll have a couple of stealth photographers in opportune spots along the lower bowl of the stadium. They’ll be able to get perfect shots of you two—close enough to be able to tell that Heather’s the same woman from Fort Lip
ton, and far enough away that her actually identity will still be concealed.”

  Nash bit his lip. “Heather said her co-workers already figured out it was her from the Fort Lipton picture.”

  Frenchie took that news in stride. “Well, make sure they don’t tell anyone. I’ve had my ears to the press and people are scrambling to discover Heather’s identity, but no one seems to have figured her out just yet. Let’s keep it that way until we’re sure she’s ready. How did she sound on the phone?”

  “A little shaken, but she’s not backing out. She’s a tough one.” Nash’s skin tingled as he thought about being close to her again.

  “Good. Maybe we made the right choice after all.” Frenchie poured himself a drink at the office bar. “Oh, by the way, Amanda’s been briefed. She knows her role and she’s assured me she’ll be preparing in case we end up needing her. You know, she used to be an aspiring actress before she became your secretary? Maybe we should have just chosen her instead of Heather, she was right under our noses this whole time—I just didn’t know about the whole actress thing.”

  Nash considered Frenchie’s words. Sure, this all might have been easier with Amanda. His secretary was elegantly beautiful and wonderfully personable, and if she had been an aspiring actress before, then she’d probably have less of a problem with the spotlight. Still, her thin frame and tall, lanky model-like figure wouldn’t have fit into Nash’s needs. Amanda looked like a movie star; how could anyone relate to that? Plus, Nash had a habit of dating girls who looked more like Heather, and he couldn’t leave any room for scrutiny. If people got even the smallest whiff of deceit, this whole plan would be over in a heartbeat.

  “We made the right choice,” Nash said. “Heather will see this through.”

  “And if you two get too close, we have Amanda,” Frenchie added.

  Nash didn’t want to think about that. “Call up Bruno and tell him we’re going to shut down the park tomorrow. Also tell him to send out a memo making sure every shop and restaurant is closed by 6pm tonight. I don’t care about the excuse he comes up with, as long as it doesn’t hurt our image any further. Everybody gets paid for the full day today and tomorrow. Understand?”