Chapter Ten
DREW
Iglanced over at Ellie. Her chin was propped up on her fist as she stared out the passenger side window. After talking to her mother, she’d withdrawn into herself, and nothing I said seemed to shake the melancholy that had settled over her.
I hated the defeated look in her eyes as she ended the call. I especially hated the reference to the early demise of our fake relationship. And I really hated that I hated that last one.
No matter how easy it was for me to slip into the role of Ellie’s boyfriend, I had to remind myself that none of this was real.
Having a fake relationship was probably the best I could do as far as relationships went. I worked long hours and was hardly ever home. There was no way I could prioritize a partner the way I’d want to—and the way she deserved.
And Ellie deserved the very best relationship. Someone to take care of her and support her. For now, I’d do as much of that as I could. She wouldn’t like it, but I was bringing her back to the B&B instead of the office. I wanted to give her time to regroup before tomorrow. A chance to relax.
If she’d take it.
She turned to me in confusion. “Wait, the office isn’t this way.” Ellie’s voice was laced with concern as I bypassed the road to the office and continued down Main Street.
“I’m taking you to the B&B.”
“Why?” She touched my arm. “Drew, I can deal with my mother. I don’t need to leave work early today.”
“It’s not that,” I lied. “I have a doctor’s appointment.”
She shifted in her seat to face me. “You do not.”
“I, uh, forgot to put it on the calendar.” Shit. I hated not being truthful with her. And out of all the lies I could’ve told, I never should’ve used one when she had complete access to my calendar.
“Right.” I knew she wasn’t convinced based on her skeptical tone.
“It’s just, after everything with your mom … I—”
“I know, my family is a lot. If you don’t want to deal with them, you could’ve just said so.” She crossed her arms.
“What? That’s not what I was saying.” Damnit. I just wanted to make things easier for her.
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I never should’ve agreed to our fake relationship. It’s not fair for you to have to put up with all of this.”
I pulled into the circular driveway in front of the stately, historic B&B and set the car in park just inside the property.
Not ready to drop her off quite yet, I placed my hand on her arm to emphasize what she needed to hear.
“Ellie, No matter how crazy things get when your family is here, I’m not backing out. ”
Ellie pulled away. “Seriously, it’s fine.
It would be better for both of us to go back to normal.
And honestly, the longer we pretend, the more I’m afraid …
” She paused and cleared her throat. “I’m afraid it’ll make things weird between us.
I don’t want that Drew. And I need this job. I like this job.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. There’s no one else I’d want to work with,” I reassured her. “We won’t let any of this get weird or affect our working relationship.” She opened her mouth but I continued before she could protest. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t. Remember, open communication.”
She scoffed. “Open communication?”
I nodded.
“Like your doctor’s appointment?” she challenged.
She had me there.
I tapped on the steering wheel. She was right. And if we were going to make this work between us, I couldn’t lie, even if my intentions were good. “You’re right. There’s no doctor’s appointment.”
The triumph in her gaze mixed with undisguised hurt had me wishing I’d been truthful from the beginning.
I attempted to explain and hoped she’d forgive me.
“I wanted to give you the chance to take a second and breathe. Tomorrow your mom and sister will be here and I thought you might need to decompress before that happens. I sure would. And I know if we go back to the office, you’ll get lost in work and not let yourself deal with whatever it’s bringing up for you. ”
Her shoulders slumped the tiniest bit. “That’s the best way for me to forget how hard it is to love them,” she said in a broken whisper.
“For so long now, I’ve buried my head in the sand and pretended that I was fine with how they treated me.
Throwing myself into work is a way to forget they don’t like me as I am.
They prefer the version they can boss around and not respect. ”
“I’m sorry you have to deal with that,” I said.
She shrugged. “It sucks, but I’m starting to realize that I don’t deserve it. It’s just hard for me to stand up to them after all this time of being their doormat.”
I wanted to offer to do it for her, to battle her family, but I knew that wouldn’t help Ellie long-term. Especially once her sister’s wedding was over and we went back to our previous relationship as boss and assistant. My gut churned at the thought.
“What can I do to help?” For now, the least I could do was my part as her fake boyfriend.
She gave me a small, tired smile. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Just be there for me.”
Being there for her was the easy part. But I wanted to help in ways that were bigger than that.
I just didn’t know how yet.
Ellie let out a sigh. “Maybe you’re right. I should probably mentally prepare myself for their visit.” She put her hand on the door handle.
“Wait a second.” I lifted my foot off the break and eased the car further along the driveway to the front of the entrance.
Her eyes softened when I jumped out to open the door for her and held out my hand for her to take.
After a slight hesitation, her fingers slipped into mine and once again I marveled at how right it felt.
“Drew! You’re being ridiculous. We’re not really dating, so you don’t need to do stuff like this.” But a soft smile played on her lips, telling me that what she was saying didn’t line up with how she actually felt.
Judging by her reactions over the last couple of days, I was fairly certain she loved when I did boyfriend things like this.
Which only made me want to do more of it.
But our moment was interrupted all too soon.
“Oh thank goodness you’re here!” Glamma bounded across the porch and down the front steps of the B&B with Martha right behind her. They were both dressed in neon track suits with rhinestones bedazzled over at least half of the fabric.
“Nice to see you too.” I hugged her when she reached us, wincing as a sparkly gem scratched at my cheek. “What’s going on?”
My grandmother ignored me and took Ellie’s hands in hers. “Now Ellie, please know that we tried to come up with another solution.”
“Okaaaaay.” Worry lines appeared around Ellie’s eyes, She drew in a deep breath and glanced my way. I didn’t like the way her chest barely moved on the exhale. It was like she was bracing herself for a physical and mental blow.
It made me want to wrap my arms around her and tell Glamma she could keep whatever it was to herself.
Before I could give in to my base instinct, though, my logical side reminded me that I couldn’t keep Ellie free from pain.
What I could do for her was to be there and help her through whatever Glamma had to share.
“Your mother called, dear.”
Four words had never sounded so menacing.
Ellie’s shoulders lost their tenseness. “Oh, that’s alright. I already spoke with her. She mentioned reserving a room so that she and my sister would have a place to stay when they arrived.”
Glamma winced.
“But you knew that,” Ellie said softly. “So it’s something else.” Her shoulders popped back up by her ears.
I shifted so I was standing behind Ellie in case she needed me for emotional support. Glamma was naturally dramatic, but the look in her eyes told me that it was warranted this time.
“They are staying here, but so are a few people to film your sister’s wedding planning,” Martha answered. When she and Glamma exchanged a look I knew instinctively that there was more to this story.
Ellie shrugged. “I’m not sure why that matters. Mother didn’t mention a crew was coming, but knowing my sister I guess I should have expected it. I’ll be sure not to step out of my room without a bra,” Ellie quipped.
Well, damnit. Now I was thinking of Ellie topless and how it would feel to run my hands all over her and lick her in the right places that would make her shudder beneath me, and to suck until she cried out my name.
Fuck.
Now was not the time to be having these thoughts.
“I wish that was the only thing.” Martha twisted her hands together. “See … I, um, don’t have enough rooms to rent them.”
Ellie’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean?”
“Ruby Night’s this weekend.” Glamma said as a means of an explanation.
Oh, shit. I had an idea now of where this was going.
“Ruby Night’s this weekend.” Ellie repeated.
“It’s in celebration of the day we were founded and our town legend,” Glamma responded.
“I’m not sure how easily I could share a room with my mom or sister, but I guess we could make it work until my dad got here too. What would that mean for the recording crew?” Ellie scrunched up her nose.
“About that … ” Martha looked at Glamma.
“Your mother and sister are taking your room. They said you didn’t need it anyway,” Glamma responded.
Ellie’s mouth dropped open. “What? Of course I need it. Where else would I sleep?”
The slight tilt of my grandmother’s lips was the only warning I had that she didn’t think the solution she was about to mention was all that bad.
“You’ll stay with Drew, of course. He just purchased a duplex with an extra bedroom.”
“Oh, no. No,” Ellie protested, her voice rising in pitch. “I can’t do that. I won’t impose on Drew any more than I have.”
“I don’t think you have a choice, honey,” Martha’s voice softened as she spoke.
“Your mother is insisting you stay with your boyfriend. Said she doesn’t know why you didn’t in the first place,” Glamma tilted her head, challenging us both as if it was an obvious and brilliant idea.
Ellie’s wild-eyed gaze fell on me. “She’s testing me.
Well, us. Oh, God! She’s already doubting our relationship.
I’m so not going to be able to pull this off!
We still haven’t discussed ground rules or boyfriend/girlfriend things.
And a camera crew will be here. Forget airing my sister’s wedding.
When they all find out I’ve been lying, the whole world will be in on my humiliation! ”
Shit. Ellie was having a panic attack!
My arms wrapped protectively around Ellie and pulled her tight to me, her back to my front. I whispered in her ear. “Relax. Breathe with me. Come on … in … out.”
This was not the time to tell her that I’d barely moved into my new place. That most of my furniture was coming at the end of the week and I had a mattress on the floor of my guestroom until the new bed arrived.
“I … can’t,” she wailed. If she kept pulling in ragged breaths she was going to hyperventilate.
“You can. Focus on my voice.” I pressed further into her, hoping the pressure of my body might help ground her. “It’s going to be okay. You’re not alone in this.”
She whimpered and my heart fucking broke.
There was no way in hell her family was going to screw with her on my watch.
“Breathe in,” I commanded sharply. The firm tone seemed to get through to her as she drew in a shuddery breath and let it out. “Again.” I demonstrated what I wanted her to do, waiting for her to follow my lead.
This time her breathing wasn’t as tight.
“One more time. In. Out.” It took a few tries before she could smoothly inhale and exhale.
Her wild heartbeat beneath my forearms slowed, and she leaned further into my embrace. “I don’t know what I did to deserve your support, but thank you,” she rasped.
I wanted to tell her that I didn’t need her thanks, but instead I grumbled out some response that she seemed to somehow understand.
“It’s going to be okay,” Glamma said. “I have a good feeling about this. And we’ll assist in preparing you to face your family, Ellie. Right Martha?”
“Of course! What do you think, Sofia? Let’s host a crash course for the two of them tonight. I’ll make dinner, you reach out to the girls, and we’ll get these two in tip-top boyfriend/girlfriend shape before tomorrow.”
“Yes! Perfect idea.” Glamma patted Ellie’s arm. “I’m going to start calling in the troops and we can meet around 5:30. But in the meantime, you’re going to take a nap.”
“Oh, no. I don’t nap.” Ellie was about to find out that Glamma didn’t understand the word no. Especially not when she was in full-on helping mode.
“Nonsense. Martha will get you a cup of tea.”
Ellie cringed.
“Oh, you don’t like tea? Coffee, then. And some of her freshly-baked cookies. You’ll relax until tonight. Drew, you go do whatever it is you need to do now, but don’t be late.” Glamma tugged Ellie from my arms. I resisted the urge to pull her back to me.
Glamma’s knowing smirk didn’t help the irritation that scratched beneath my skin.
“See you later, Drew,” Martha called out. I reluctantly waved goodbye to Ellie, who looked like a deer in headlights as she was being led into the B&B by my grandmother.
I had no doubt when I arrived tonight that Glamma and her friends would be ridiculous, but I also knew they’d circle the wagons around us and do everything they could to protect Ellie.
And that’s just what Ellie needed to see, to feel, to experience.
This fake boyfriend gig came with a few perks. Mainly a family and extended family that would do anything for you.
And now, Ellie had that too.
I just hoped she was ready for all that togetherness and the chaos that came with it.