CHAPTER 8 #2
Great. Turns out all Jackson family members adore Katie. Better keep her away from George. Speaking of…
“Anyway, this non-date of ours was leaked to this garbage tabloid magazine. Luckily, they don’t identify Katie. The photo is just of her from behind, but Mother seems to think this solves all our problems.”
“How so?”
I get up and pour another cup of tea. “In her twisted mind, if I’ve finally started dating someone new, that negates everything that George and Victoria did. It means I’m over the betrayal and will attend their wedding.”
Her cheeks redden with her telltale sign of anger. “She actually said that?”
“She said it’s time for me to move on, to step up for the family. How is it going to look if I skip my own brother’s wedding? The scandal! What will society think?”
Rosie frowns fiercely. “That’s so out of order. That anyone expects you to attend your brother’s wedding to your ex-girlfriend is mind-boggling. These people are bonkers.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, sis.”
She twirls her hair around her finger, her expression thoughtful. “However…”
My shoulders inch up around my ears. Surely my one ally isn’t jumping ship on me now?
“However, what?”
“Now, hear me out.” She puts up a hand to stop my reaction, and I tense for what’s coming. “Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn up to their wedding with someone else? To show you’ve moved on and what they did doesn’t matter to you anymore.”
“But it still does.”
Her face gentles, and she reaches over to squeeze my hand.
“I know. What they did is pretty unforgivable. But aren’t you sick of being the man scorned?
The way the press paints you, it’s like you’re the pathetic one who can’t move on from Victoria.
When in reality, it’s got little to do with that and everything to do with how what they did hurt you. ”
I nod. It’s true, Victoria broke my heart when she dumped me.
But if it had just been that, if she’d gone on her merry way and married a random Joe-Blow, I wouldn’t have been as upset about it.
It’s what she did next, with my brother, that cut me deep.
They not only announced their relationship mere days after we broke up, but they were engaged a few months after.
In any sane person’s mind, there had to be some crossover there.
Some cheating on her behalf. Some ultimate betrayal on George’s.
“I don’t care what the media are saying,” I argue.
She hums, pulling her phone over and squinting at it while she scrolls. “You don’t care about this?”
I take it from her shaking hands and read the article she’s found.
AS YOU LIKE IT: THE BATTLE OF TWO brOTHERS
“As you like it?” I raise an eyebrow.
“It’s actually brilliant, referencing the Shakespeare play about two rival brothers, constantly battling it out.”
“Brilliant? Or lazy?”
“Whatever it is, the article is suggesting that, in this battle, you are the loser.”
My ego smarts. I’ve always been the brother in the spotlight. The winning F1 driver whom the motor racing world adores. To have my older, some would say duller, brother seeming to win by stealing my girlfriend rubs me all kinds of the wrong way.
“So, what do you suggest I do? Date one of his ex-girlfriends?”
Rosie shudders. “Dear God, no. I would never suggest that. His exes are the worst. Almost as bad as yours. I was thinking more along the lines of what Mother said. About you moving on.”
The image of me as the wronged, scorned, sad, pathetic brother dances in front of my eyes and because of this, I don’t shut her down. In fact, I urge her to continue.
“What if”—she’s standing now, her entire body animated with her ideas—“What if you turned up to his wedding with someone new? Someone better. And you’re all in love and couldn’t care less about those two cheaters?”
I mean, that sounds great in theory. But—
“Rosie, you’re missing one minor detail. I’m not in love, and I don’t have a new girlfriend to bring to the wedding.”
She grins, a tad manically. “Mother thinks you do.”
My stomach flips. “You mean, Katie? But we’re not even dating.”
“Details, details,” she waves this away.
“Wouldn’t that be amazing? You showing up with Katie at the wedding?
She’s so gorgeous in a way that will have Victoria foaming at the mouth.
The invited press—because we know they’ll invite the press—will be so focused on you and your new beau, they won’t pay her a lick of attention.
And that’s all that she-devil ever wants. She craves the spotlight.”
“I’m not disagreeing, Rosie. But how is any of this even possible?”
She gets up and rummages through my fridge, emerging several minutes later, triumphantly holding a block of fancy cheese. No wonder she has a kinship with Katie; they’re both little cheese addicts.
“You could ask Katie to go with you, as a favour.”
I ponder this. It’s not a small ask. My brother’s wedding isn’t some throwaway event. It’s a week-long festival in St. Lucia. Complete with over-water bungalows and helicopters. It’d be a big ask. Not to mention…
“I’m not sure she’s interested in dating me in any way. Even as just a favour.”
She smiles knowingly. “Somehow, I doubt this. You two had chemistry, even back at school. But even if that’s true, you could ask her to be your fake girlfriend? Sweeten the deal with an all-expenses paid trip to a tropical oasis.”
“Wait. Hold up. A fake girlfriend? Is this a thing?”
Her sigh is long-suffering. “Yes, big brother. Of course it’s a thing. There are like a million romance novels devoted to just that.”
“So, fiction? Like when Lucy pretends to date Peter in While You Were Sleeping?”
She gapes at me. “You watched that?”
My face heats. I’m so busted. “Maybe?”
Her giggle is delighted. “Your secret is safe with me. And no, that wasn’t fake dating. That was dating without consent. The poor man was in a coma, for goodness’s sake.”
I rub at my throbbing temple, wondering how this conversation ended up here. “Back to the fake dating. Do you think Katie would go for it?”
She pauses, staring off into the distance while she nibbles on her cheese like a little mouse. “I mean, she may do it as just a favour if you ask. She’s that kind of person. But if you’re worried she’ll get scared off by the idea of dating you, add the fake part to it, and she’ll be sweet.”
My stomach tightens at the idea of dating Katie in any way. Fake or not.
“Do you think I should do it?” I ask somewhat redundantly, given she suggested it.
“Yes, do it now before you lose the nerve.”
I look at my smartwatch. It’s 7.30 a.m. “Isn’t it too early?”
“It’s never too early to go after what you want.”
I give her a wary glance, and she reads it well, toning down the nutty.
“What I mean is, you should do it now, before you can talk yourself out of it.”
We sit in silence while I weigh it all out in my head.
Asking Katie to be my fake girlfriend. Seeing the looks on my family’s face—Victoria’s face—when I bring her to the wedding.
Spending a week alone with the woman who’s got me feeling all the things.
It’s a no-brainer for me just to ask. The worst that can happen is she’ll say no.
I hope she doesn’t say no.
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
My sister whoops with glee, standing back up to do a jig. She’s so cute when she’s like this.
“Do it now. Go now. And take food. Women love men who show up with food.”
I nod, taking instructions carefully. Last week, when we’d gone Christmas tree shopping, there had been a lot of talk about bagels. That will be my second stop. First stop, shower and get dressed. I’m now a man on a mission. Off to go make it happen. Off to ask Katie to be my girlfriend.
My fake girlfriend.
Must remember that.