It’s Only Make Believe

Chapter 33

Chapter

Thirty-Three

LUKE

I ’m going about my afternoon when there’s a knock on my office door and when I shout come in, Mel comes in.

“Sorry to bother you,” she says. “But there’s someone here to see you. He doesn’t have an appointment, but he says he’s a personal friend and it’s important.”

I can’t think of which of my friends would drop into my place of work to tell me something, even something important, without at least calling me first.

“Did you get this person’s name?” I say.

“Justin Martin,” Mel says. “Should I send him away?”

My first instinct is to say yes, but for Justin to have made the effort to come here, I must admit he has my interest piqued. What does he possibly have to say to me at this point?

“No, I’ll see him,” I say.

“Ok,” Mel says.

She ducks out of the door, leaving it ajar and I hear her walking away. She returns a few minutes later and opens the door wider.

“Mr Martin to see you,” she says, and she gestures with her hand and Justin steps into my office.

“Thanks Mel,” I say, and she nods to me and closes the door. I turn my attention to Justin. His face is a mess and I almost wince when I think about how painful it must be, but then I remind myself he did this to himself and tried to frame me for it and any empathy I was feeling for him disappears. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I would have called, but I didn’t think you’d answer,” he says.

“You’re probably right,” I concede. I nod at the chair opposite mine. “Why don’t you take a seat and tell me why you’re here.”

Justin walks over and sits down. He clenches his hands together on my desk in front of himself. He smiles at me, an awkward smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“I’m not sure where to start or even if I should be here,” he says.

I shrug one shoulder. I don’t particularly want him here and I don’t want him to feel encouraged to keep dropping in, but I do want to know why he’s here.

“Start at the beginning,” I say.

“Her. She was the beginning. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. I know that sounds crazy, but I did. I couldn’t believe it when I asked her out and she said yes. I thought we were good together, but she had other ideas, and I see now that she manipulated me into loving her and then she dumped me like trash but kept me on her hook. She’s toxic Luke. That’s what I’m saying. I see it now. I wish I had seen it earlier, and I wish that someone she had destroyed before me had warned me. So here I am warning you,” he says.

I feel myself starting to get angry. This pathetic little man has lost Louisa, and this is his last resort. To try to ruin things for us so she feels as empty as he does. Maybe he even thinks that she will go back to him eventually if I’m out of the picture.

“That’s enough, Justin,” I say.

“No, it’s not, because you don’t believe me,” he says.

“Does it matter?” I reply. “You’ve done your bit by telling me. Your conscience is clear.”

“She’s lying to you, you know. About everything,” he says.

I know I shouldn’t bite, but I can’t help it.

“I think there’s only one liar in this and that’s you,” I say.

“She didn’t tell you I’m her ex-boyfriend, did she? Not until I let it slip at the restaurant that night,” he says.

“No,” I say. “But not because of any reason except it’s irrelevant. Do you think I have sat and told Louisa about every girl I ever dated?”

“Tia,” he says. “Her name is Tia, not Louisa.”

“No, that’s your little pet name for her,” I say.

“No, it isn’t. That’s the cover story I used when I slipped up and called her Tia in front of you. She …” he is still talking but I talk over him.

“That’s enough,” I say. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“Because you’re starting to wonder, aren’t you?” he says. “Come on. Do you really think that girl is a Sanchez? She is about as Latina as I am.”

I want to tell him he’s being ridiculous, but is he? I mean he’s certainly not wrong about her not looking like a Sanchez.

“So what? This is just some girl off the street that heard Louisa had an internship here and decided to take over her life and her job? So where is the real Louisa in all of this?” I say.

“She’s not just some random girl. Tia and the real Louisa are best friends, and this is some scheme they cooked up between them. Honestly, I said Tia is manipulative and she is, but she isn’t near as good as Louisa,” Justin says.

I don’t want to believe him, but little things are starting to add up. Like how she told me Sophia wouldn’t acknowledge her in the board meeting. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to draw attention to them being sisters, it was because Sophia isn’t her damned sister. She probably doesn’t even know her. And all of the times someone has called her name, and she hasn’t replied and then pretended she was miles away. Is that because Louisa isn’t her real name, and she didn’t realize they meant her. It even happened on her first day when I called on her in the meeting to stand up. And that time Enrique wanted to talk to her on the phone and she ran from the room rather than speaking to him. Did she really have to use the bathroom, or did she just not want the ruse to be up?

I hate to think badly of her, especially after Justin set me up and I felt the pain of having Louisa – Tia? – only half believe me, but it does all make sense. And why would Justin come up with such a ridiculous lie if it isn’t true? If he wanted to say something to make me think Louisa is a bad person, surely, he could have chosen a less far out there lie.

“I can see that you’re starting to believe me. Do you want more proof? I can call the real Louisa right now,” Justin says.

“Just get out,” I say. “Get out of my office. Get out of my building and never come back unless you want to leave in handcuffs.”

Justin stands up and he has the sheer audacity to smile down at me.

“I’ll leave,” he says. “You were right earlier. My conscience is clear now. If you’re cool with going along with someone who has done nothing but lie to you, that’s on your head now.”

He turns and walks away, and I quickly call through to Mel.

“Make sure that man leaves the building. Follow him. If he doesn’t go straight out, don’t approach him, just call me,” I say.

“Is everything ok?” Mel asks.

“Just go,” I say.

I wait a few minutes and the knock I’m expecting comes. I call to come in and Mel comes in, her face a mask of concern.

“Who was that guy? Are you alright? You look … I don’t know. Shocked!” Mel says. “He left by the way.”

“Sit down,” I say.

Mel sits down and I find myself telling her everything that’s happened with Louisa and me and where Justin fits into it all, and then his accusation about her not being who she says she is.

“What do you think?” I ask.

“I don’t know what to think,” Mel says. “There have been occasions where Louisa hasn’t responded to her name the first time to me too, and that time Enrique called and she ran from you, she put him through without going through me and I went to remind her not to do that, but then she said the caller was Enrique. I was surprised because I never would have suspected the caller was her father the way she was so formal. She gave me the line about separating family and business, but it struck me as odd. But her pretending to be someone else all seems a bit too Twilight Zone for me.”

“What do you think I should do? Hire someone to look into her background?” I say.

Mel thinks for a moment.

“How serious are you about her?” she asks.

“I’m in love with her,” I say.

“So will this make any difference either way?” Mel asks.

I nod.

“Yes. I can’t see myself being with someone who has lived a lie the whole time we’ve known each other,” I say.

“But assuming Justin is lying, you want to stay with her?” Mel says and I nod.

“Yes, of course,” I say.

“Then don’t hire anyone. Ask her yourself. You’ll know by her reaction whether she is lying or not. And if she’s not, you two can have a laugh about it and you won’t lose her. If you hire someone and she finds out, you’re done,” Mel says.

“Thanks Mel,” I say. “That’s sound advice.”

“I have my uses,” Mel says with a grin. “Do you want me to call down and have her come up and talk to you?”

“Yes please,” I say.

I wait until Mel has left the room and closed the door behind her and then I start pacing back and forth in my office while I wait. I have a really bad feeling about this, but I have to know for sure if it’s true or not, and I do think Mel was right about the problem with hiring someone to find the answers for me. Also, that takes time, and Louisa would know straight away that something was off with me.

I stop pacing and go and sit back down when there’s a knock on my office door. I want to look like I’m calm and in control of this situation, even though I feel like I’m the complete opposite of both of those things.

“Come in,” I say, and Louisa comes in and smiles at me.

“Sit down,” I say, and her smile turns into a frown I presume because of the cold tone of voice I used on her.

She sits down.

“What’s up?” she says.

“I’ve just had Justin in here telling me how you’re toxic and he wished someone would have warned him to stay away from you right from the start,” I say.

“The same Justin who beat the shit out of himself and blamed you for it,” Louisa points out.

I nod.

“Yes. And at that point, I told him to get out of my office, but then he said something else. Something so crazy I should have just laughed him out of the building. Except I have to admit that parts of it made sense … Tia,” I say.

I wait for her to ask who the hell Tia is, or why I’m using Justin’s pet name for her, but she doesn’t. Instead, she just stares at me for a second and then her face crumples and she covers it with her hands as tears spring from her eyes. I hate the fact that she’s crying, and I really hate the fact that I’m the one who made her cry, but I guess it’s confirmation of what Justin told me being true.

I give her a minute to get herself under control and when she sniffles and uncovers her face, I hand her a tissue. She takes it and wipes her eyes and then blows her nose. She looks more like herself again except for her red nose and blotchy cheeks.

“Start talking,” I say.

“Louisa is my best friend. Her father wanted her to do this internship. She didn’t want to do it. I needed a job and so we came up with the idea of me pretending to be her,” Louisa, sorry Tia, says. “It sounds so silly now, but at the time, it made perfect sense. I’m so sorry for lying to you about who I was, but I had never even met you when we concocted the plan. I never would have dreamed we’d end up dating and I did try so hard to stay away from you that way. I hoped I could finish my internship, then come clean with you and see where things went from there.”

“So, our whole time together, you’ve been someone else,” I say, trying and failing to get my head around that.

“No,” Tia says, shaking her head. “No, it’s not like that. I have been using someone else’s name, but that’s it. The rest of it is the real me. I’ve never actually pretended to be Louisa. You know that yourself because Enrique warned you what Louisa would be like, and I am nothing like that.”

“I don’t even know what to say,” I admit.

“Say you’ll forgive me,” Tia says. “Even if you can’t do it right now. Say you’ll forgive me in time, and that we can get past this.”

“As much as I would like to say that I can’t, because it’s not true,” I say. “I just … I can’t even look at you,” I say and that’s the truth. The thought of her not being in my life hurts like fuck, but the idea of staying with her and knowing she lied to me all of this time is too much. I can’t do it.

“Luke, please …” Tia says, and tears are running down her face again, but I can’t let them sway me. I shake my head.

“I’m sorry Tia. Really, I am, but we’re done here. Don’t make it any harder than it needs to be,” he says. “And don’t bother coming back to work tomorrow either. I will see that you get your last paycheck.”

She opens her mouth to argue with me I assume, but instead, all that comes out is a sob. She slaps her hand over her mouth and gets up and practically runs to my door. She opens it.

“I really am sorry,” she says and then she leaves and closes the door behind her, and I feel as though my whole life has fallen apart with the closing of the door.

The imagery of her closing the door to me as I closed my heart to her isn’t lost on me and it does nothing to make me feel better. I have to keep myself under control because I have a feeling Mel will be along in a minute to see if I’m ok, and then once I’ve dealt with her, I’m going to leave early and maybe go for a run or go to the gym or something to get rid of all of this pent-up anger and upset.

Mel has been in, and I gave an Oscar worthy performance of convincing her that I am totally ok. She finally accepted it and left my office. My leaving early is probably going to set her off again, but I’d rather that than sit here stewing. I stand up and go to grab my jacket when my desk phone rings. I almost ignore it, but I just can’t do it – it must be something important for Mel to have connected the call, especially now - and I find myself picking up the receiver.

“Hello,” I say.

“Don’t you hello me you fucking clown,” my caller says.

I’m taken aback for a moment. I mean how else would I answer their call but with a hello? And why the rudeness? It hits me that the caller is Enrique, and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I guess I’m not the only person Justin has dropped a Tia shaped bomb on today.

“Enrique,” I say, and I have no idea where I’m going after that. I don’t want to say too much in case something else has happened that I don’t know about, and I drop this on him myself. I’m actually grateful when he interrupts me, although I’m not happy about what he has to say.

“I ask for one simple favor, and this is the best you can do. You’re a fool and I will be calling an emergency board meeting as soon as I’m back in the country and you will be fired, I guarantee it,” Enrique says.

“But …” I start, but the dial tone sounds in my ear. Enrique has ended the call. I sigh and replace the receiver.

I would love to know how the fuck Enrique has decided this is my fault, but I guess he needs someone to blame and it’s not going to be his precious princess, and it wouldn’t be a good look for him to go after Tia either. So, I get the shit. Me, who built this company from the ground up, going to be removed from my position at the helm of it. We’ll fucking see about that.

I grab my jacket and put it on and grab my things and get out of my office before anything else can stop me. I pop my head around Mel’s door and tell her to hold my calls and that I’ll see her tomorrow. I don’t give her a chance to start asking if I’m ok again. I say goodbye to Rachel on the way past and she replies and then I’m in the elevator and then I’m down to the lobby. I cross it and get in my car, and I feel safe here that I won’t have to talk to anyone else. I slam my hands on my steering wheel.

“Fuck,” I shout as I do it. I do it again. “Fuck.”

I pull my cell phone out and send a text to Tia.

“Congratulations. It’s not just you getting fired because of this mess you caused. You’re taking me down with you,” I write.

I don’t even know why I sent it. It’s not like she wanted to get me fired. I guess I’m just being a bit petty. I feel bad because of something she did so I want to make her feel bad too. Her reply comes in fast.

“I’ll fix this. I promise,” it says.

I don’t bother to reply.