Chapter Five #2
This one conversation was such a direct opposition to my family I had to fight back tears. How was it that this strange turn of events didn’t even phase him?
Glamma stood. “I’ll create a cheat sheet on how your love began tonight and distribute it to our immediate family only. Everyone can study up on it before her relatives,” Glamma’s mouth twisted in disgust, “get here.”
Drew cleared his throat. “I’m sure we can figure out how to come up with our own backstory. You feed the town the information that we’re together and you loved getting to meet Ellie.”
“I did love meeting Ellie.” Glamma leaned over and kissed my cheek.
“And I love her! This is going to work out better than anything I could’ve planned myself.
” With an odd twinkle in her eyes that I didn’t want to unpack, she blew us all kisses and left in a blur of fuchsia.
How was I just noticing she had on a taffeta ball gown?
After Glamma left, Robert took her seat on the other side of me. Was he going to judge me? Or tell Drew he was being ridiculous to go along with Glamma’s crazy ideas?
I squirmed as I thought about how I was practically sitting in Drew’s lap. And how his dad might think that wasn’t appropriate, since we were fake dating. But the second I tried to create space between us, Drew laid his hand on my knee. “We need to practice.”
I gaped at him.
Robert glanced between us, his lips twitching.
“Sorry to interrupt this brainstorming session,” he said, as if trying to figure out a pretend relationship during work hours was normal.
He chuckled, endearing him to me more. It seemed his mother’s scheming was a regular thing around here.
“But you might want to fill me in on what’s going on sooner rather than later. ”
My throat tightened as tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.
I took a deep breath and looked up to get them to go away.
He wasn’t angry. He was supportive without even knowing the full story.
Without even really knowing me. He trusted that whatever his son and mother were up to, it was his job to help.
This right here was what I’d always wanted. Family that supported me; no questions asked. And a group of people that I’d known less than twenty-four hours were filling in that gap in ways I didn’t know I needed.
Drew, as if sensing I didn’t want to relive the situation, rescued me from explaining.
“I’ll let Ellie tell you whatever she’s comfortable sharing about her family dynamics, you just need to know that she needs us.
And while Glamma is the one who started it, I’ve agreed to be Ellie’s fake boyfriend leading up to her sister’s wedding.
We have to really sell it to them so they believe without a doubt that we’re together.
That’s where you all come in. We need you to corroborate our story, especially since Ellie works for me.
We want them to believe this is a love match.
Not one of convenience or worst case, not true. ”
His dad gave a thoughtful nod and stared at me.
Under his perusal, sweat gathered at the base of my neck and in my palms. I let go of Drew’s hand and rubbed mine against my skirt.
I couldn’t just sit here anymore with all the reasons we shouldn’t do this blaring in my head.
I jumped up from the couch and began to pace, waving my arms frantically because I had the unfortunate habit of talking with my hands.
“Drew. This is a terrible idea. I can’t expect you to do this for me.
You have a business to run. How will it look to the employees here to know we’re dating?
You’re my boss! I’ve put you in such an awful spot.
Let’s just forget about all of this.” I sped up and muttered, “Yes, let’s forget. It’ll be better for everyone.”
I stopped rambling when I realized how quiet they both were, sitting there, listening with kind interest and polite silence. Had they even been able to absorb anything I said?
“Are you done?” Drew asked, a hint of a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.
Was he taking this seriously at all? “Well yes, but I don’t think you’re considering the ramifications of this … this fake relationship.”
Drew stood, reached out to me, slowly, like he was working with a skittish animal.
He placed his hands on my shoulders, and the pressure of his palms sent tiny waves of calm through me.
And when his thumbs rubbed back and forth soothing me further, I finally drew in a deep breath.
It was like I’d been drowning and finally reached the surface. “Better?”
I nodded. “But—”
“By not following through with this, it won’t be better for you. We’ve been chatting for three months. Do I give you the impression that I make decisions lightly?”
I stared at him, looking for any sign within the depths of his eyes, the lines of his face, the curve of his lips, any part of his gorgeous face to indicate that he was being guilted into this.
“No,” I responded hesitantly.
“Glamma was right. We take care of our own here. And I’ve been brought up to protect those that can’t protect themselves. You need our help whether you realize it or not. And while I can’t do much, I can at least be your buffer during the time your family is here and at your sister’s wedding.”
I glanced at his dad to gauge his reaction. His thoughtful expression hadn’t changed. And it was so unlike the judgy stare of my own father that my breath caught.
“Look at me. Not him. We’re making this decision.”
My eyes snapped up to lock onto Drew’s. Holy moly. When he spoke like that tingles ran all through me and my nether parts took notice.
Which was not appropriate.
Not at all.
“The rest of my family is just as incredible as my dad. If Glamma and I are determined to help you, they will too. The real question is, do you want our help?”
To have an entire family that had my back during a time in my life when I really needed it was more than I could hope for. I didn’t have any close girlfriends of my own. The ones I hung out with started as my sister’s friends or were girlfriends of Kyle’s friends.
I didn’t have anyone in my corner anymore … until now.
“Yes, I would.” The worry I was pushing Drew into something he didn’t want to do, the guilt that I was asking an incredibly nice family I’d never met before to step up and support me in this insane plan eased just enough for me to recognize that a kernel of hope had taken root. “Thank you.”
Hope that I could get through this wedding intact.
That I could survive my family.
That I’d still have a job when this was over.
Drew smiled at me and I couldn’t help but feel that all was right in the world. That with him by my side, I could do anything. Which was admittedly strange since this was only the second time we’d ever been in each other’s presence.
How could I feel closer to him than a guy I’d dated for two years?
His dad cleared his throat, and we both turned toward him. “So, let me get this straight … Ellie’s family is … challenging, and she needs help navigating them before they descend on our town. And while they’re here, we pretend you two have been dating for …”
“The past few months,” Drew filled in.
“Got it.” His dad slapped his hand down on his knee and chuckled. “Well, I was just saying to your mom that things were getting a little boring around here. Little did I know.”
I wanted to say, be careful what you wish for, but I didn’t want to jinx anything.
Robert stood. “We have our weekly family dinner coming up in a few days. Why don’t we hash out the details then? Make sure you come, Ellie.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Thank you so much, Mr. Kingsley. I can’t begin to express how grateful I am to you and your family.”
“You should probably call me Robert if you’re dating my son, don’t you think?” His sweet grin continued to put me at ease.
“I will. Thank you again.” Heat gathered in my cheeks and quickly spread at the reminder of my fake relationship. One that I wasn’t so opposed to being in. Especially not when Drew and his entire family were this amazing. And it didn’t hurt that I was definitely attracted to him
Even without Bad Eleanor’s help, I could admit it.
When his father reached the doorway, Drew shifted away from me and stood. “Hey, Dad. I forgot to ask what it was you wanted to talk about? That was the reason you came by, right?”
Robert stopped. His fingers tapped against the door frame as he thought.
“Ah. Yes. I almost forgot, what with this new scheme of your grandmother’s.
” He chuckled. “I’ve been thinking a lot about how the company is viewed by Ruby River and our community of Rhode Island at large.
We’re highly regarded in our field, but our community engagement could improve.
I had our team poll our employees on local causes we could assist and one in particular popped up numerous times.
There’s an animal shelter in town. It’s close enough we can be there physically to help and we can work on fundraisers to create a steadier stream of money for them. ”
“And the publicity could help our upcoming expansion, too. Are you thinking of this as a permanent charity we support or a one-time thing?” Drew mused.
While they chatted, I grabbed my notebook from my desk and jotted down reminders about the community service project and who we might need to reach out to for support.
“Permanent,” Robert said. “I don’t think it’s fair to take on a project like this, promise the hours and additional funding and then walk away.
This is a place that will constantly need support, not just a one-off donation.
And even when our news-related interest has died down, we’re still there to support them. ”
Drew agreed. “It can be another place for our employees and their teams to connect with each other. I’ll be sure to run it by HR so that we can pay for time spent there and what needs to be put into place moving forward.
If it goes well, we can consider other places to help support in the same way. ”
That was one of the things I liked about working for the Kingsley’s—they actually cared about their employees: their well-being, compensating them well for the jobs they did, and they appreciated our work and ideas.
It wasn’t surprising that we had such a low turnover rate here in the office and the manufacturing facility.
With a final goodbye, Drew’s dad left and the two of us returned to work.
It was easier than I thought it would be to slip into our normal routine, especially after the conversation we had this morning.
It was like Drew sensed I needed this normalcy instead of rehashing or discussing our fake relationship.
But no matter how easy it was, a small fissure of fear wormed its way into my thoughts. I liked this job. I needed this job. At least until I could start making money writing romance novels. And that was at least five to ten years in the making.
What would happen if things went to crap between us during our fake dating charade? How could I keep working for him if it went south?
And where would that leave me?