Lorraine stopped her, shoving Tupperware at her.
“Here, some leftovers for you,” she said with a smile.
“Thank you so much, Lorraine. For everything. I had a really great time today, and I’m so glad I met you all.”
Guilt settled in the pit of her stomach. For the first time in hours, cold-hard reality came crashing down on her. She wasn’t really Luke’s girlfriend. She would probably never see any of these wonderful people again. Lorraine would never get her Tupperware back, and she’d be known as “that girl who crashed our reunion and stole our Tupperware.” They would talk about her at Thanksgivings for years to come.
After all, she had made an agreement with Luke. Their fake relationship came to an end after tonight. She may never see him again, either. The thought gave her a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Maybe that was better anyway, she tried to rationalize. She and Luke were so different. He was a charming, sociable guy who liked to go out with his friends while she was much more content to stay in and watch a movie in her PJs. He was extroverted, and she was a clear introvert. He was a party animal, and she was a bookworm.
Yet somehow when their lips met, all of those differences disappeared.
Lola wanted to blow out a frustrated breath.
Lorraine offered a knowing look. “A million thoughts crossed your mind just now.”
“Well…”
“Want to talk about it?” she asked softly, kindly.
“It’s that…I mean to say…I had a really nice time today with you and your family,” she said.
Lorraine stepped closer, cupped her cheek, and looked deeply in her eyes. Her mother used to do the same thing. Lola had to swallow down a huge lump in her throat.
“Luke told me about your parents, sweetie. I’m so sorry.”
Tears threatened but Lola clamped down on those, too. “Thank you.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
“I understand your dad passed away when you were in high school.”
Lola nodded. “He was in a bad car accident on the Beltway.”
“How horrible.” Lorraine was shaking her head. “And then your mother, too.”
“It was ovarian cancer.”
Concern coated Lorraine’s face. Sadness, but not pity. “Was it a long struggle?”
“No, it was diagnosed late. There wasn’t much time after that.”
There could have been more time. Lola pushed the familiar anger to the back of her mind. Still, fragments of it remained. It always did.
“At least you were with her during that time.”
Again, that anger threatened to boil up and explode. The truth was she hadn’t been with her mom. Not the whole time; only at the very end. A decision that had been taken out of her hands. A lie that had been sustained as long as her mother could before Lola finally learned of the cancer.
Luke’s loud laugh traveled over the warm summer air. He was messing around with Oliver and one of his cousins.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that their pretend relationship was almost over. She knew from personal experience with her mom how much a lie could hurt. How it could damage a relationship and make a person feel unimportant.
Lorraine had been nothing short of wonderful today. Lola didn’t want to hurt this woman. She didn’t want to hurt anyone she’d met today. She would have to say goodbye to Luke tonight.
“I think you are a very strong woman, Lola.” Lorraine squeezed her hands and then nodded firmly. “Now, onto other things. We’re having a little cookout at my house next Saturday. It will be smaller than today’s affair. Just the immediate family and some of their friends. I would love for you to come.”
Hope swelled in her chest at the same time as regret washed over her. “Really?” She would love nothing more than to hang out with Luke’s family more. But she couldn’t keep up with this lie. She just couldn’t.
“Of course. I’m surprised Luke didn’t invite you already.” She wagged a finger at Lola. “I’ve seen the way my son looks at you.”
“Really?” she repeated, this time with disbelief in her voice. “Oh, well, um…”
“I’ll see you Saturday.” Lorraine hugged her again.
What was she going to do now?
As she and Luke walked to his car, two things stuck out in her mind. One was how great Luke’s family was. The other was something she had to bring up.
“What did your sister mean back there?”
“Which one?”
“Mia. She said you hadn’t gotten over something.”
He sighed and stopped walking. “It’s stupid.”
“What is it?”
“Just a thing about my dad leaving us. Mia believes that I’m not over it and I never will be. Blah, blah, blah. She loves therapy. Even though she’s a baker, she likes to think she’s a shrink.”
Hm. Lola had a feeling that Mia was probably right on the money. From everything Luke had revealed to her, she had to admit it did sound like he had major daddy issues. Not that she blamed him one bit for them. After all, she had her own mommy issues to deal with.
They continued to the car. Luke held her door open and she slid in. He got behind the wheel and started the car, but he turned to her.
“Did you have fun today?”
“I did. It was…interesting.”
“I hope my family wasn’t too much of a pain in the ass.”
“I think they’re great. Really, really amazing.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “I mean, it’s great that you have them.”
And it was. He had an amazing, wonderful, kind, loving family. Something that she didn’t have. Something that she desperately wanted.
How great would it be to have kids one day and be able to bring them to something like this? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have traditions like the water fight? Or traditions at all.
She’d pretended to be someone’s girlfriend today. That much she knew going into it. What Lola hadn’t realized was that she’d also pretended to understand what it was like to be part of a big family.
But she didn’t really know. She could only wish and hope and dream that someday she would get a family of her own.
Chapter Eight
“What kind of girl do you think I am? And how could you tell so fast.”
-Blanche Devereaux
Luke had really enjoyed himself today. He always did when he was around his family. Sure, they were intrusive and nosy and kind of annoying. But when push came to shove, he knew that he was lucky as hell to have them.
Seeing Lola in that pavilion had been interesting. He hadn’t anticipated how natural it would feel to watch her laugh with his sisters, hug his mother, and interact with his cousins.
At times, it had felt like she’d always been one of them.
He overheard his mom invite her to their barbeque the next week. That would be fun, too. They were also planning to go to King’s Dominion in July. The whole family enjoyed amusement parks. He wondered if Lola did…
His thoughts trailed off as the gravity of what he’d been thinking sunk in. He was contemplating seeing Lola next week. Maybe even next month, too.
Then what? What would be next? Would he see her next year? In two years? Did he want that? Did she? It wasn’t like they could keep this ruse up for that long. Besides, they weren’t supposed to. The deal was that Lola would pretend to be his significant other until the end of his family reunion. When they got back in his car and drove out of the park, the reunion was officially over.
He snuck a peek at her as he drove through the streets of Arlington. Would she even want to go to the barbeque next week? And what was one week anyway? It wouldn’t be a big deal to keep pretending for seven more days.
He shook his head. This had to stop. Which shouldn’t be hard because it wasn’t even real. She was his pretend girlfriend, and the jig was supposed to be up. Although, he did like hanging out with her. Maybe they could remain friends. He slipp
ed a glance at her in the car. How would she feel about that? How would his family?
Damn, this had gotten way too complicated. And besides, Lola… He turned to her as he pulled up at a red light. That’s when he realized something. Lola had been insanely quiet on the ride back. Eerily and completely silent.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Tired?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Do you feel okay?” They’d all had a ton of food. His stomach was sure to start hurting at some point.
“I’m fine.”
Uh-oh. A woman saying she was fine never boded well in his opinion, although he was glad she wasn’t sick. He didn’t know what to ask next. But he wanted to know what was wrong. He needed to know. Finally, Lola broke the silence.
“Don’t you feel bad?”
“About what?”
“For deceiving your family. Your mom and sisters are so nice and you’re…really lucky. You know, lucky to have them.”
A pit formed in the center of his stomach as her words sunk in. Not only the words, but the meaning behind them. He felt like a first-rate insensitive idiot. He’d brought Lola to an event with a million family members. That had to bring up issues for her.
Luke wasn’t sure what to say. How could he make this better for her? As he continued driving toward Lola’s apartment he struggled to come up with something to say.
She angled toward him. “Your mom hugged me before we left. Really hugged me.” Her voice broke.
“Lola?”
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
But clearly she wasn’t. Luke was happy they’d reached her place. He didn’t want to continue this conversation in the dark car.
He found a parking space across the street from her apartment building. Before he could even get his seatbelt unbuckled, Lola had opened her door and sprung from the car.
“You don’t need to walk me inside.”
“Lola, wait.” Luke quickly exited the car, then ran back to grab the leftovers his mom had put together for her. He sprinted across the street. She was fast.
“Lola,” he called again. When he reached her, he wrapped his fingers around her arm, forcing her to face him. His breath caught. Tears had pooled in her eyes.
“Hey,” he said gently, “it’s okay.” He pulled her in for a hug, attempting to balance the leftovers as he did.
“You don’t understand,” she mumbled against his chest.
He realized she was right. Obviously, this was about her family, or lack thereof. How could he fathom what she went through? What she was still going through.
“Tell me,” he whispered.
“I can’t keep lying. I despise lying.”
Luke nodded at a couple passing by on the sidewalk. They eyed Lola with concern, and he tried to convey that everything was okay. He pulled Lola to a bench next to the steps that led up to her building.
“I know lying is difficult for you. You’re so sweet.”
She made a sound that was somewhere between disgust and annoyance.
“But you are, Lola. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”
She pushed a finger against his lips. “Shh. That’s not it. I hate lying because of what a lie did to me when my mother was dying.”
He froze. Out of all the things he expected her to say, bringing up her mother’s death was definitely not one of them.
“What happened?” he asked.
She twisted her fingers together. “My mom was the worst about going to the doctor. She’d always make a joke about it or brush it off. To be fair, she didn’t get sick very often. But still. My dad and I used to argue with her about going for a normal checkup. She was always so concerned about everyone else.”
Lola closed her eyes, taking her time before she continued. Luke tried to give her the time she so obviously needed.
“She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when I was in college. It was…too late.” Her voice faltered.
“I’m so sorry, Lola.” His words sounded hollow and inadequate. But it was all he could think to say.
She smiled briefly. “She didn’t tell me about the cancer.”
“What?”
“She didn’t tell me. She was diagnosed with a fatal disease and given a very short time to live, and she kept it from me. Her only child. Her only living relative.”
Oh holy shit. Luke couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This certainly put a different slant on things.
“Every time I called from college, which was like every single day, she was all, ‘I’m great, nothing to worry about.’” Lola shook her head. “I get it. I do. She didn’t want me to worry, and she didn’t want me to leave school.”
“Would you have?”
An exasperated expression crossed her face. “Of course. I would have done anything to spend every single second with her that I could. But she took that away from me.”
Lola ran a hand through her hair. “By the time I learned what was going on it was almost too late. I had two weeks with her. Two short weeks.” Her gaze flicked up to meet his. “Do you know how hard it is to cram a lifetime of memories and love into a two-week goodbye?”
He tried to swallow down a large lump, but his throat had become very dry.
“I was angry. Really angry. But it wasn’t like I could say that to my mom.”
“So you’ve kept all that anger bottled up all these years?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I don’t know. All I can say is that I realized back then how important it is to be honest, especially with the ones you love.”
Luke felt like such an ass. “And here I’ve made you lie to my whole family.” He stifled a groan.
Lola shrugged. “I went along with it. It’s bothered me from the beginning, and I could have backed out at any minute, but I didn’t.”
“Why?”
She studied something on the ground. Her feet, her sandals, the sidewalk. Luke wasn’t sure. Finally, he pressed. “Lola? Why did you go along with my plan if you’re so against lying?”
“I guess because I wanted to be with you.” She coughed and bit her lip. “I mean, I wanted to get to know you.”
He pulled in a deep breath at the admission.
Lola had hit him with such a myriad of information and feelings today. It had to be hard for her to be around his big, loud family, especially when she didn’t have any family to speak of. Then, to learn more about her mother’s cancer and her dislike of lying, really made his heart hurt for her.
Not to mention how he’d felt watching her with his family. How nice it was to see her interact with his sisters and mom. Now, having her admit that despite having a deep propensity against lying, she’d simply wanted to be with him, it was almost too much to take.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.” He took the key from her hand and let them in the outer door. They made their way to her apartment, and he unlocked that door as well.
Once they were inside, he put the leftovers away in the kitchen. When he returned to her, Lola was wringing her hands.
“Thanks for…well, thanks. You don’t have to stay. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
It was as if all the air left her body. She crumbled into a nearby chair. “It’s hard to see such a big, loving family. To know that I don’t have that.”
She cast her eyes downward, and Luke’s heart broke for her.
“You’re not alone, Lola. You have Frankie and all your friends from bocce. You have your coworkers. And anyway, look at The Golden Girls.”
Her gaze snapped up to meet his with a distinct are-you-kidding-me expression. “Oh no. Not that again. Have you been talking to Frankie?”
“Well, she followed me on Instagram and Snapchat. She snapped the two of you watching an episode the other night.”
Lola sighed. “She’s ridiculous.”
“Hey, it’s a pretty good show. Ahead of its time.”
“What do you know about it anyway?”
“I used to watch it with my grandma,” he said proudly.
She sighed. “Me too. What’s your point?”
“But it’s been years so I started watching it again. Frankie sent me some of her favorite episodes. My point is that The Golden Girls made their own family. Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia weren’t related.”
“Dorothy and Sophia were.”
“Stepping on my point here. The rest weren’t related, and they didn’t let that small detail stop them from being a family.”
He saw her acceptance of his point. But she remained silent. He crouched in front of her chair. Grabbed her hands.
“I repeat, you have Frankie, the bocce league, your coworkers. And you have me.”
Behind her glasses, her brows furrowed. “Do I?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you didn’t get close to people.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what are you doing?”
What was he doing? He just told her that he didn’t get close to people, and yet that was the one thing he wanted to do with her.
“With you, I can’t seem to stop myself. I try to put a wall up, and I find myself wanting you more.”
She stood up. “This isn’t going to end well.”
Probably not. But right now, Luke couldn’t think further than the end of tonight.
“I can leave,” he said, but even as he did, he stepped closer to her.
Lola closed the distance between them. “I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered.
He gulped. His heart was pounding hard, reverberating throughout his body. Even after the long day, the heat, the water battle, he could still smell her intoxicating scent. Her chest was rising and falling, beckoning him to focus his attention there.
“What do you want?”
She fiddled with her glasses before meeting his gaze. Strongly, confidently, she said, “I want you.”
That was all he needed to hear. Luke grabbed her and crushed his mouth to hers. Finally, he was getting what he’d craved all day long.
The kiss was heated and heavy, soaking into his very being. He felt sated in a way he never had before.
Luke told Lola multiple times that he didn’t do relationships. But when she kissed him like this, it was hard to remember that tiny detail.
Her Super-Secret Rebound Boyfriend Page 10