Chapter 5
SIMON
“Play along,” Theo murmured against my still-tingling lips. “Please.”
My heart was pounding so hard in my ears that I could barely hear him, let alone understand him.
He’d kissed me.
Why had he…?
Play along.
I glanced over his shoulder to see his mother standing with her mouth hanging open. I’d never seen Mrs. Hargrave even slightly ruffled before, let alone outright shocked.
Slowly, my brain caught up with what must have been going on. Theo had kissed me. He’d asked me to play along.
For whatever reason, he was pretending we were… together. Boyfriends?
That raised more questions than it answered, but I didn’t have time to ask them. Theo needed something from me right now.
I gave him the tiniest nod and felt his sigh of relief in my own chest.
His fingers slipped between mine, and when he pulled back far enough for me to see it, there was a tentative smile curving his lips. Gratitude was written all over his features.
What the hell was going on?
“No glasses?” he asked, voice low and intimate. If I closed my eyes and forgot the past ten years in their entirety, I could almost have believed we were dating.
“Contacts.” I shrugged. I never normally wore them—glasses were cheaper and more reliable and didn’t involve touching my eyeballs. The optometrist had promised me I wouldn’t feel the contacts at all.
She’d been lying.
“New outfit,” Theo added.
Ellie had helped me with what she’d called a capsule wardrobe for the weekend, halfway decent suit included. She’d always wanted to dress me up and she’d obviously had a lot of fun with it.
All the pants were too tight, I thought. She’d insisted they fit exactly right.
If the appreciative once-over Theo gave me was anything to go by, I’d been wrong to even contemplate questioning her wisdom.
“Didn’t want to embarrass you,” I admitted.
I knew Theo’s family—his mom especially, but the rest of them, too—didn’t think much of me.
I didn’t belong anywhere in the Hamptons, and definitely not at the sprawling mansion that served as the Hargrave summer home.
The last time I’d been here, I’d spent the whole time painfully aware of that.
I’d wanted it to be different this time. I couldn’t change who I was—or wasn’t—but I could make the effort of scrubbing up as well as possible. Which wasn’t very, but I knew that to Theo, the thought would count.
His was the only opinion I cared about, anyway.
“You look good,” Theo said, with more than a hint of surprise in his voice. I laughed as his fingers curled around mine. “I’ll explain later.”
“Can’t wait,” I said, squeezing his hand.
He tugged me over to his mother—who’d composed herself but still looked a little stunned—and another woman around our age.
“Mrs. Hargrave,” I greeted with a nod, offering her a polite smile. She and I were mortal enemies for the way she treated Theo, and I was fairly sure she felt the same way about me.
“Simon,” she responded, all warmth, and stepped forward with her arms open to fold me into the kind of hug rich people gave each other at galas. I accepted it without flinching, her familiar perfume filling my nose and sending goosebumps down my arms. “It’s been too long since we’ve seen you.”
“Likewise,” I said. I’d learned all the steps of this dance over the last ten years and I didn’t intend to miss any. Especially not now.
Theo’s fingers shifted in mine, the pad of his thumb tracing a circle over the back of my hand.
“And this is…?” I looked at the other woman.
“Oh!” Mrs. Hargrave said, looking genuinely startled.
Whatever was going on with Theo, it was all worth it to see his mom like this, even for a few minutes.
“This is Audrey Carfax. You remember Audrey, don’t you, Simon? You were both here for the Fourth of July… goodness, it must have been ten years ago now!”
I remembered the name Audrey. The Audrey in my memory was blonde, and this woman had glossy chestnut waves falling around her shoulders, but hair dye did exist.
“I remember,” I said, offering the hand Theo didn’t have a grip on. “You’re all grown up.”
Audrey’s smile made the theme from Jaws play in the back of my mind. She shook my hand firmly, giving me an obvious once-over made all the more dramatic by what had to be false lashes. “That’s exactly what I said to Theo. What are you up to these days?”
I drew a breath to answer, but Theo got in first.
“Simon’s a museum curator,” he said.
Audrey’s brows rose.
It was a more impressive job title than junior archivist, I supposed. I could see why Theo had decided to gift me the career I wanted instead of the one I had in front of company like this. Especially if he was pretending to date me.
Museum curator was almost glamourous enough for him. Junior archivist wasn’t.
“That sounds so interesting!” Audrey said with another broad smile. “I’d love to hear about it. Pencil me in for some time this weekend?”
“Of course,” I agreed, because that was what I was supposed to do. Audrey didn’t care about me.
The way she looked at Theo, though, suggested I had her to thank for that kiss. I wasn’t sure yet whether I owed her one for that.
“Well!” Mrs. Hargrave spoke up, clapping her hands together.
“I’m sure Simon and Theo want to freshen up before they join us for welcome drinks—we’re starting at eight,” she said.
“With dinner to be served at nine. Simon will need introductions, so we’ll need you on time, honey.
Oh, and I’m sorry, but your room was set up assuming you’d be the only one in it!
I’ll have someone bring you some extra towels and things. ”
By which she meant that attendance was non-negotiable. Not that I expected anything else of her.
I still didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was, I was all-in on Theo’s side.
“Don’t go to any trouble for my sake,” I said, turning to look at Theo.
It took no effort at all to gaze at him as though he was my entire world.
Just as well, because I was not a man born for the stage.
If this had required any acting skills from me, we’d be in trouble. “Theo and I share everything.”
Theo glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.
The look on his mother’s face made a surge of mischief rise up in the pit of my stomach.
“Come on,” I said, tugging on Theo’s hand. “I haven’t seen you all day and we’ve got forty-five minutes alone.”
I tossed a theatrical wink in Mrs. Hargraves’ direction and dragged Theo toward the house.