The (Not So) Perfect Fiancé

by Dallen, Maggie

  The kiss had only confirmed it. There was no way either of them could fake that sort of connection.

  This isn’t real.

  He groaned, forgetting all about his friend on the other end of the line.

  “Uh, you all right there, buddy?”

  He cleared his throat. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just great.” He muttered that last part under his breath.

  Just great. The woman he was rapidly falling for was avoiding him like the plague. Not only that, but she seemed determined to remain devoted to a man who was so unworthy of her loyalty, it would have been laughable if he wasn’t ready to scream.

  “Want to tell me what this is really about?” Tyler asked.

  Cole turned his glare to the phone beside him. “No.”

  He heard Tyler’s sigh. “Is whatever is going on here going to affect the show? Should I be worried?”

  Cole bit back another growl. Of course that was all Tyler worried about. The show. This stupid show with its happily ever after charades and its well-edited romantic montages.

  “Cole?” Tyler prompted.

  “No. It won’t affect the show.”

  Tyler was quiet for a long moment. “If Callie’s being difficult, I could talk to her—”

  “She’s not being difficult.” Just obtuse. Cole slammed his mouth shut to keep from saying any more. He and Tyler might have been work friends, but he was hardly the guy to talk to about this new development. As far as Cole was concerned, there was only one person in the world more jaded than he was, and that was Tyler.

  “Is she there?” Tyler insisted. “I’d like to talk to her. Maybe she’ll tell me what’s really going on over there—”

  “She’s not here.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Out.” He wasn’t being vague; he honestly didn’t know. This morning over a stilted, awkward breakfast he’d told her that he’d ensure she had the whole weekend off from filming. Her smile had been kind. Polite. But he’d seen the wariness there, the cagey look in her eyes—the same look she’d worn after that epic kiss.

  She’d been spooked. He got that. Heck, he wasn’t exactly cool and collected about the fact that he’d gone and developed actual feelings for a woman who was only supposed to be in his life for a matter of weeks. He’d sworn he’d gotten over all those romantic notions about true love and long-term relationships.

  And then along came Callie.

  “Do you know when she’ll be back?” Tyler’s voice cut into his thoughts.

  “No.” That was also the truth. Callie had left shortly after breakfast saying she had some errands to run. Not long after she’d left, she’d texted to say that her new friend from work had invited her out for lunch so he shouldn’t wait on her to eat.

  That was it. That was the last he’d heard from her.

  He’d thrown himself into work after that, trying his best not to let suspicion and doubt get the best of him.

  Tyler’s weary sigh rang out in the bare room, still covered in sawdust and drop cloths that his crew had left behind. “I can’t give you forever.”

  Neither can Callie.

  He bit back another groan, but this one in self-disgust. He hadn’t just gone and ‘developed feelings’ for Callie—he’d fallen hard and fast.

  Hadn’t he learned his lesson? Hadn’t his ex taught him what happened when he went and fell for someone who was only faking it?

  A sick feeling made his gut twist mercilessly. Guilt. He couldn’t lump Callie in with his ex, much as he might like to try. It would be all too easy to give Callie her time and space—heck, he could just move on altogether if he thought she was anything like his ex-fiancée. But she wasn’t, and that was the problem. She was so dang loyal to her ex that it was keeping her from seeing what was right in front of her face—something real. Something lasting.

  But only if she chose him.

  “Look, Cole, if she’s having second thoughts—”

  “She just needs some time,” Cole said, although he felt like he was talking to himself more than his producer. “Give her some time and she’ll see this through.”

  “She made a commitment,” Tyler said, as if it was Cole who needed that reminder.

  “And she’ll see it through,” he said again. If there was one thing he didn’t doubt, it was that. She wouldn’t leave him or the show in the lurch, because that just wasn’t how she was built.

  But she hadn’t made any commitments to Cole. She had no loyalty to him beyond this show. Other than responding to his kiss, she hadn’t given any indication that she felt the same way that he did.

  What he was feeling, what he was risking… It could all lead to the same sort of heartbreak he’d sworn to avoid.

  Tyler either didn’t hear Cole’s head bang against the wall in frustration or he ignored the sound. “All right, well…keep me updated.”

  His friend ended the call without a goodbye—Tyler never did have time for the niceties. The resounding silence, in this room and in the house, left Cole restless. He couldn’t even drown his nagging fears in work, because this was her house…a house that was starting to feel way too much like a real home. Like his home.

  For one brief, terrifying moment he let himself go there. What if this could truly be real? What if the cameras left and he remained?

  What if he truly was engaged to Callie?

  It was an odd sensation when one’s entire life flashed before one’s eyes. Not his past, but his future. After years of living day to day, of keeping his head down and focused on the path directly in front of him, he felt like he was just now looking up to see the sky.

  A vision of him and Callie, starting a family, fixing this house, supporting one another’s dreams. In a heartbeat he’d seen it all—how it could be.

  Easy enough to imagine since he’d been playacting the role for a week.

  And what he saw…it was a dream come true. Better than any of the dreams he’d once held of becoming a pro football player, better than his pragmatic dreams of making enough money to support himself and his family in the way they deserved. This dream…well, it made him feel like maybe his whole life had been steering him here, to this moment, to this woman. This woman who was…not here.

  He looked around the empty room like a man coming out of a coma.

  He let the tool in his hand drop to the floor as he headed toward the hallway. One afternoon would have to be enough time and space for Callie, because he couldn’t let one more moment go by without telling her exactly how he felt.

  He stopped by his room to change into a fresh T-shirt and clean himself up a bit, but his heart was racing ahead of him, already thinking about what he could say, what he could do to make her see that he deserved a chance.

  She didn’t need time and space, she needed him to make the first move.

  He glared at himself in the mirror as he hurriedly got ready to…what? Track her down? Go to every lunch spot on Main Street until he came across her?

  He slowed his movements as he set down the hand towel he’d been using to dry his hands.

  He needed to think. He needed a plan. What he was going to say, what he was going to do…how he was going to convince her that what they had deserved a chance.

  More than anything, he had to open up to her. He’d let his own fears of rejection and heartache keep him prisoner for far too long. Oh, he might have kissed her, but he hadn’t told her how he felt. And after what she’d just been through, it was up to him to be brave, to put himself out there and take a chance on them.

  His harried motions slowed as he continued to change, but now he knew he wasn’t going to rush this. He’d wait patiently. He’d give her the time and space she needed, and when she was ready to talk…well, hopefully by then he’d have come up with the perfect thing to say.

  He was still sorting through his thoughts on how exactly he would broach this topic—how to make her see what they could have without scaring her off—when he heard the front door open.

  He picked u
p his pace so he was jogging down the front stairs to meet her in the foyer. “Hey honey, you’re home,” he called out in a playful tone that always made her laugh.

  Despite his nerves, he was grinning. He couldn’t help it—his world had flipped upside down. It had opened up. The future looked bright, and he couldn’t wait to convince Callie to be a part of that. Sure, they had a lot to discuss, but he knew he hadn’t been imagining their bond this past week. It was there, and it was real. He just had to help her see that.

  That smile faded fast as he reached the bottom landing and saw who was standing there.

  “Who are you?” the man asked.

  Cole straightened, his muscles tensing for a fight. “Who are you?” But even as he asked, he knew. He looked exactly the same as he’d looked in Callie’s audition video.

  The other man’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh wow. You’re…you’re Cole Harding.”

  Cole crossed his arms and leveled him with a glare. “And you must be Brent.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Callie toyed with the stem of her glass of mimosa. She’d never been much of a drinker, but Leah had insisted that this was her celebratory lunch. Celebrating what? She wasn’t sure.

  “You finishing your first week of classes,” Leah had said promptly when she’d asked.

  Angela had chimed in on her other side. “You getting over your ex and moving on with the rebound to end all rebounds.”

  Angela’s friend Ellie sat across from her and she lifted her glass along with Leah and Angela. “I know I just met you and all, but I’d say having your house restored for free and by Cole Harding himself…that deserves a celebration.”

  Callie smiled reluctantly. She’d tossed and turned all night, and when she woke this morning she felt just as confused as she had the night before. She’d rather hoped that taking Leah up on a girls’ day out would help her take her mind off Cole and that kiss, but instead her new friends seemed intent on bringing him up at every turn.

  Not that she could blame them—having a celebrity in town was big news, and the fact that she was supposedly involved with him made the gossip that much juicier. But she wasn’t in the mood to lie, or even to be evasive, not when her head was in such turmoil, and her heart…

  Oh, who knew what was going on with her heart? Certainly not her. All night she’d tried to figure it out, and where had it gotten her? More muddled than ever and facing three new friends who expected to hear all about her lie of a life.

  She sighed in the face of their expectant smiles and took a sip.

  Angela and Ellie exchanged a quick look before Angela spoke up. “Um, Callie, is everything all right?”

  “Yes, why?”

  Leah’s brows drew together in concern. “You’ve been awfully quiet since we got here.”

  She forced a smile. “Just feeling a little off, I suppose.”

  That was the truth. An understatement, but the truth.

  The other ladies seemed to take that at face value—or at least they didn’t press the topic. Instead, Leah turned to Ellie. “Angela told me you just got back from your honeymoon. How was it?”

  Ellie’s face lit up with a glow as she gushed about her trip with her new husband. It really wasn’t fair. The blonde was already too pretty by far. With her elegant clothes and perfect posture, she looked like a princess who’d stepped out of a fairytale. The last thing she needed was a glow to make her even more radiant.

  Leah sighed, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand as she listened to their new friend gush. Leah had given Callie a ride to lunch and on the way she’d told her that she and Ellie had just started to become friends through the ever extroverted Angela. Apparently, Leah’s ex wasn’t big on socializing and up until recently she’d had almost no girl friends in town. Maybe that was why she’d been so eager to embrace Callie as her new bestie.

  Leah sighed again, and this time the sappy sound made Ellie laugh. “Sorry, I’m going on too long, aren’t I?”

  “Not at all,” Leah said, straightening in her seat. “I love hearing about epic romances.”

  She shot Callie a teasing look. “Some people I know have been a little too tightlipped about their love lives.” As if that wasn’t enough, she arched her brows and gave Callie a meaningful stare. “Hint, hint.”

  Callie shifted, heat rushing to her cheeks as Angela rushed to her defense. “Give her a break, Leah. She’s only just met us, she’s new to town…let the girl ease in before you bombard her with questions.”

  Leah rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re not dying to get the details.”

  “Of course I am,” Angela responded promptly. “But I’m also certain that our patience will be rewarded.” She fluttered her eyelashes at Callie, making all three of them laugh. “Isn’t that right, Callie?”

  Callie laughed at Angela’s antics, but then she bit her lip. “There isn’t much to tell, really.”

  “People in town are saying you two are engaged,” Angela said. “Is that true? I mean, I know you and your ex just split and—”

  “Not that anyone would judge,” Ellie interrupted, leaning over the table to place one of her perfectly manicured hands over hers. “Trust me. I literally swapped out one fiancé for another in the course of twenty-four hours. If you’ve gotten engaged again, no one here will judge.”

  Callie blinked. She had no idea what to say to that. Two fiancés in twenty-four hours? And here she’d thought no one would believe her quick rebound.

  “Of course no one will judge,” Angela said, her voice filled with shock at the very idea.

  Callie smiled at her three newfound friends—this was exactly what she’d hoped to find when she’d moved here. A group of women she could talk to, who she could be herself around.

  And now here she was, about to tell them some giant whopper. Because she had to tell them that she and Cole were engaged, right? If she didn’t they’d only hear about it when the episode aired, although by then she could probably say that they’d made a mistake…that it was over between them.

  The thought had her insides deflating like a popped balloon.

  She didn’t want it to be over. But…but it wasn’t real. She couldn’t expect their amazing relationship to go on indefinitely when it was all just for show.

  And it was just for show…wasn’t it?

  She rubbed a hand to her temple as she faced the three women, whose expressions showed varying degrees of concern. Callie opened her mouth to say yes, we’re engaged, but then she clamped it shut just as quickly. She just couldn’t bring herself to lie right now.

  “Callie,” Leah said softly, her voice laced with kindness. “You know you can talk to us, right? Anything you say stays right here between us.”

  Callie nodded. Oddly enough, she did know that. She might not have known these ladies for long—heck, she’d only just met Ellie today—but she trusted them.

  Just like she trusted Cole.

  She took a sip of her mimosa. Her instincts told her that Cole was trustworthy—that he would never break her heart the way Brent had, at least not intentionally. But what did her instincts know?

  If she’d been wrong about Brent, then how could she trust herself? How could she know for certain that what she felt for Cole was real?

  She did have feelings for him—that she couldn’t deny. It was pointless to try.

  But her friends were still waiting for her to speak, so she said the only truth she could manage. “I’m sorry, I just can’t talk about this right now.”

  They all nodded but they still seemed to be waiting.

  Callie shifted uncomfortably. “It’s just…it’s just…” She threw her hands up. “How do you know?”

  Their eyes widened in surprise at the outburst, but no one seemed confused by what she meant.

  Leah sank back in her seat with a sad sigh. “Girl, don’t ask me.” She took a sip of her drink and gestured to Ellie and Angela. “Talk to the ladies who aren’t permanently single.”

>   “You’ll meet the right guy one of these days,” Angela said to Leah. When she faced Callie, her expression was gentle. “Love can be confusing, huh?”

  Callie nodded, too choked up to speak. The word love threw her for yet another loop. Was this love? Was the connection she had with Cole actually love?

  Or could it be if given enough time?

  All she knew was, it didn’t feel like what she’d shared with Brent. With Brent it had all been so easy, so simple, so smooth…right up until it wasn’t. Their relationship had progressed the way she’d always seen in the movies or on TV. First dates, followed by commitments, followed by an engagement.

  Had she ever been overwhelmed with emotion?

  No. Not that she could remember.

  Had his kisses ever made her lose herself, or had their conversations ever made her lose track of time, and had he ever looked at her like she was the only woman on the planet?

  No.

  Ellie leaned forward. “I wish I had a better answer for you, Callie, but I think you just…you just know.”

  “But…” Callie swallowed. “I thought I knew before and I was wrong.”

  Ellie lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Trust me, I get that. But I think sometimes you have to make some mistakes so that you recognize the real deal when it comes along.”

  “Or when it’s been standing in front of your face for two decades,” Angela muttered to her friend.

  Ellie stuck out her tongue. “I figured it out eventually, right?”

  “Yes,” Angela said with a patronizing pat on her friend’s head. “You did. And I have every confidence that Callie here will figure it out eventually too.”

  Callie smiled at her friends. “Thanks, you guys. This…this helped.”

  She was met by three understanding smiles before Leah seemed to grasp that this was all Callie was willing to say on the topic. Turning to the table at large, she threw out her hands melodramatically. “So, if I understood Ellie right, kissing some frogs is necessary so we recognize Prince Charming when he comes along, yes?”