“I don’t need all that. This is for Maisie.”
I shifted so I could look at her. “Is this hard for you?”
She shrugged. “I’m uncomfortable about lying, especially to my family. But spending time with Maisie, that isn’t hard.”
“What about with me?” It was weird how much it was important to me that she enjoyed being around me too. I didn’t want this to be repulsive to her.
“That isn’t hard either.”
I moved so that I faced her, pressing my hand to her cheek like a man would if he were in love. “I know this is awkward, and I’m sorry for that. I don’t want to make you feel that way, but if this is to work, people need to believe it’s real.”
She nodded. “It’s okay.” She put her hand on my chest. I flashed back to when she’d done that the night I took her on the couch. For a moment, I wondered if maybe we could include sex in our little farce, but immediately I shook that off. It wouldn’t be fair to her to ask.
Still, we were in public. “If this was real, I’d kiss you.”
Her breath hitched. “If it was real, I’d let you.”
I leaned forward, and gently brushed my lips across hers. Like the first time, her sweet taste filled my senses, and a rush of happy endorphins flooded my blood stream. If only it was real, I thought.
That night after we put Maisie to bed, Tessa and I hashed out our plan in greater detail. Our story would be that we were seeing each other on the downlow, but that I’d asked her to marry me a few weeks back. We hadn’t announced it because we’d been distracted by Veronica’s return. We’d planned a large wedding, but decided to speed things up and have a small ceremony in the back yard. We’d honeymoon in New York City the weekend Maisie was to spend with her mother again. Although the petty angry part of me wanted to end visits, I knew that would look bad, and in this case, it would support my scheme to make the world think this marriage was real.
On the one hand, it felt deceptive and it bothered me to have Tessa lying. But on the other, spending time with her wasn’t a hardship. She was wonderful with Maisie, which was the most important to me. When it was just us, and we weren’t thinking about fake marriages, we were our old selves, talking and joking. One night I was so into our ruse that I kissed her as she headed out the door to head home.
“Is someone watching?” she asked as she looked over to her house and down the walk to the street.
There hadn’t been. Or at least I hadn’t seen anyone. The truth was I kissed her because I wanted to. If I was honest with myself, I’d wanted to ever since the night she gave me her virginity. Hell, even before that if my morning jerk offs in the shower were an indication.
“You never know,” I said, not wanting her to know I was acting on impulse. This was supposed to be fake, and I didn’t want to muck it up by muddying the waters.
On the day of the wedding, my backyard was filled with people who worked for me at the gym and a few friends. I had no family to speak of except Maisie, who looked adorable in her pretty pink dress.
Tessa’s parents were there. They were good people, which heightened my guilt at our deception. I promised myself that no matter what, I’d treat Tessa well. Her father was a cop and he’d have every right to shoot me if I hurt her. Her roommates, Maisie’s teacher, and a few of her classmates were there as well. For a fake wedding, it was fairly well attended, and everyone seemed genuinely happy, albeit surprised by our relationship.
I stood near a makeshift arbor and looked toward the back door as Tessa appeared and the real ruse began. Jesus, she was beautiful. She wore a simple ivory dress that made her skin look like peaches and cream. Her hair was pulled up in a loose twist with soft tendrils of her red locks blowing naturally. She looked so real compared to Veronica, and I hated that this had to be fake. She deserved so much more.
“I got the ring, daddy,” Maisie said to me holding up the little pillow as she reached me just before Tessa did.
“You do, baby. Thank you.” I didn’t deserve her either, I realized. What sort of father would engage in this behavior?
Tessa smiled, but I could see in her eyes she was wondering what the hell she was doing as well. I took her hand and squeezed it, hoping it reassured her.
As the minister went through the ceremony, I felt even worse. I was making vows I didn’t intend to keep. Why God hadn’t struck me dead I didn’t know.
“You may kiss your bride.”
Already? I looked at Tessa, hoping to hell I wasn’t ruining her life. She was so young and sweet. I was an asshole for putting her through this. I couldn’t promise to love her forever, but I did make a vow right then to be good to her. To make sure this didn’t hurt her.
I smiled, and was pleased when she smiled back. I leaned forward, pressing my lips to hers, and then trailing them along her cheek until I reached her ear. “I won’t hurt you, Tessa. I promise.”
We had a small reception, and then we were packed into the car and heading to New York City to drop Maisie off with Veronica, while Tessa and I were to go on our honeymoon. I wasn’t going to touch her. This marriage would never be consummated. But it had to look real, so I booked us a suite in a luxury hotel, and ordered champagne
