Chapter Nine #3
“Your sister and I will be arriving in Ruby River tomorrow afternoon.” My mother sniffed.
“Since you haven’t gotten back to us about possible venues, your sister called around.
We have an appointment with the only place that isn’t a total backwoods location.
Apparently, The River House had a last-minute cancellation, and if all goes well, your sister’s wedding will be in two weeks.
I need to call and reserve a room at a local hotel.
” Now was not the time to tell her the only place to stay was the B&B.
“You’re kidding? How can she plan a wedding in two weeks? What happened to a few months?” My index finger and thumb dug into my forehead to soothe the low-grade headache my mother’s voice induced and threatened to brew into a full-blown migraine if I wasn’t careful.
“Her fans are demanding it all now. And you know Celia. She wants to give them what they’re asking for.”
Or, more likely, my social media darling sister wasn’t getting the views and likes she craved—or her sponsors were pushing back on her, but I held my tongue.
“And that’s why she has you, Eleanor. We’ll divide and conquer.”
I loved how my mother just assumed I would drop everything and help.
I wanted to throw my phone to the floor, stomp on it, and have a good old temper tantrum like I was two years old.
Divide and conquer translated to me doing most of the legwork.
Celia would take videos and pictures of what she wanted to show her fans, then she’d take credit for the work I was doing.
“Mother, I’m here to work. Not to plan Celia’s wedding. That’s impossible given the workload I’ve taken on during this trip and too much to ask of me.” I shouldn’t be surprised that they had no respect for my job.
My mother then launched the weapon that always worked to wipe me out and surrender. “Having her dream wedding is at the top of her must-do list. What if she was sick again and couldn’t experience it?”
My stomach twisted just like it had every time we waited to see if a particular treatment had worked for my sister, only to learn it hadn’t. We’d created her ‘must-do’ list to keep her occupied. To encourage her to have hope. Yet, as she got better, the importance of that list never changed.
“She’s not experiencing symptoms again, is she?” My voice rasped at the implication. I might not always get along with my sister, but I also didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.
“No, but it could happen, someday.”
Relief hit me hard knowing my sister was okay. My hands were tingling like I’d been sitting on them. Then it was like a quick adrenaline crash. I leaned against the nearest wall, my legs weak from the residual fear.
And my mother, completely oblivious to the havoc she’d caused with her response, kept talking. “We’ll need you to come with us to The River House. And since we don’t have much time, we need to plan pre-wedding activities along with the wedding itself. There’s so much to do in the next two weeks!”
By the time I was able to get her off the phone, I had her flight information and was expected to pick her up. There was no way Mother would sit in a car for six hours driving here when a flight would take forty-five minutes.
“Everything okay?”
I lifted my head to see Drew had turned the corner and was now standing a few feet from me, a worried expression on his face.
“I’m sorry I missed the rest of what Theo needed to share with us,” I apologized. I didn’t want to lose this job because of my family.
He stepped closer, and I wish I could say that the frown on his face made him any less handsome, but I’d be lying. And right now, with my defenses low, I just wanted to ask him for a hug. To lean into his strength while I took a minute to regroup.
Which would be totally appropriate if he were my real boyfriend.
But he wasn’t.
“Not important,” he replied. “What can I do to help?”
I gave a half-hearted shrug. “I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t seem fine.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t like how they dismiss you.”
He must have heard most of our conversation to realize that.
I didn’t like how they didn’t care what I wanted either, but they were my family.
I didn’t have anyone else. And even though they weren’t acting like it now, they hadn’t always been like this.
There had been more good days between us all at one point.
His grumpy harrumph on my behalf almost made me laugh.
Then he surprised me. He slid his hand behind my neck and tugged me forward until my forehead was resting against his chest. Then his other arm went around my waist.
Oh how I needed this hug! My eyes slid shut as I relaxed against his strong chest, and wrapped my arms around his waist. I drew in a deep breath, inhaling his scent into my lungs.
Sandalwood, cedar, and vetiver tickled my nose, and I wanted to stand here for as long as I could.
The smell was calming, it was sexy, and while it was soothing me, it was also turning me on.
“That’s better,” he said softly, his breath tickling the top of my hair. “You were too tense.”
Part of me wondered where Theo was and if he thought it was weird we were huddled together in a side corridor.
And the other part said screw it.
I have no idea how long we stood there, but by the time I pulled away, I was already feeling better and was mentally in a good enough place to handle the bomb my mother dropped on me.
“Our fake dating/wedding performance is happening much earlier than expected,” I finally admitted.
“Looks like you’ll be off the hook sooner rather than later.
” My stomach pitched and an overwhelming sadness settled in my chest weighing me down.
“And I might need to take random hours off in the middle of the day leading up to it. I’m so sorry, Drew. ”
“Hey,” he said in that low soothing tone that eased my mind and set off my pheromones, “No need to apologize. Please let me help you with this. Otherwise, what kind of boyfr-fake boyfriend would I be?”
He’d almost said boyfriend. Could there be even the tiniest chance he could think about me as more than an employee or friend?
I wasn’t ready to think about this ending between me and Drew. Which was silly, really. We’d been pretending for two days. Two days! Logically, I knew we couldn’t be more than what we were. That it only made sense to go back to being boss/employee when this charade was over.
I reminded myself that he was only being a really good guy to go along with this and even if I was swooning over him he didn’t feel the same.
The longer our fake relationship continued, there would be more of a chance we’d have a falling out or he’d get tired of pretending.
Or not, Bad Eleanor interjected.
Shut up, Bad Eleanor!
But then, where would I be? Fired and having to live with my parents again?
No. Absolutely not. Never again.
My fake relationship with Drew had an expiration date, and ending it sooner was definitely the better choice.
Right?