Chapter 17
Jason
‘What a beautiful home,’ Harriott says as we go into the Carson house. I shouldn’t call it that anymore since now it’s mine, at least for the summer.
Mia’s probably angry at me for saying we’d live together, but I was thinking about it, and if we’re really pretending to be engaged, it doesn’t make sense that we’d live apart.
Her job is the only thing keeping her in Madison, but that excuse went away when her mom said Mia could work remotely.
So when Harriott gave us her blessing to live together, I ran with it.
I decided it’d be good for us to live together.
If we’re going to be parents, we need to get to know each other better and living together will force us to do that.
And I want to live with Mia. I want to help her through the pregnancy, go to doctor’s appointments with her, get her whatever food she’s craving, and just be there for her.
This may be the only chance I have to do this.
Given my dating history, I may end up single for the rest of my life.
This might be the only child I have, so I want to be part of this.
I don’t want to be left out. I want to be with Mia during the pregnancy, even if she’s mad at me for it.
We haven’t talked since leaving the restaurant. She drove here in her car and I took my truck. We got here at the same time, but Mia raced inside the house with her mom. I think she’s avoiding me, but she can’t do it forever. We need to talk about this.
‘Oh, honey, isn’t it lovely?’ Harriott asks Mia as she looks around.
‘Yes, it’s really nice. I love how it’s decorated.’
‘Kate did that,’ Mom says. ‘After Nash finished renovating the house, we added some furniture but nothing decorative. Then Brody started dating Kate and she couldn’t wait to add her touch to the place. I think she did a wonderful job.’
‘And they didn’t want to live here?’ Harriott asks. ‘Your son and his girlfriend?’
‘Brody and Kate already have a house, close to downtown.’ Mom heads to the stairs. ‘Let’s go upstairs. I’ll show you the bedrooms.’
Harriott walks to the stairs, then looks behind her. ‘Where in the world did Walter go?’
‘He’s outside with Carl,’ Mom says. ‘I believe Carl is showing him the land he plans to convert to more pumpkin fields.’ She sighs. ‘I swear that man just keeps making this place more work.’
Harriott laughs. ‘Men. Sometimes I wonder if they’re worth all the headaches they cause us.’
‘You two go ahead,’ Mia tells them as they go upstairs. ‘I’ll be up later.’ She waits until they’re gone, then turns to me. ‘I guess this is our house now.’
I go up to her, keeping my voice down. ‘Mia, I know you’re angry, but if you just let me explain.’
‘I’m not angry. It was a good idea. People are more likely to believe this is real if we’re living together. I just wasn’t prepared for this. I’m going to have to get rid of my apartment, move all my stuff.’
‘I’ll help you with that. Whatever you need. I’m your fiancé. It’s my job to help you out.’
‘Only if this was real. Jason, I don’t want you feeling obligated to do things for me now that we’re in this situation. Nothing has to change. Well, other than our living arrangements.’
‘Mia, everything’s going to change. This is our life now. We have to act the part. Everywhere we go.’ I take her hand. ‘We have to act like a real couple.’
She looks down at our joined hands. ‘Do you think you can do this for the whole summer?’
‘Yeah. Can you?’
‘I can. I just—’
‘Just what?’
She shakes her head. ‘Nothing.’
She’s having doubts. I am too, but we’re stuck in this now. Our only way out of it is telling the truth, and Mia doesn’t want to do that. I don’t either. I kind of like the idea of having a whole summer with her, even knowing it’s going to make it that much harder when she leaves.
‘Now that we’re going to be living together, I want to be part of this.’ I glance at her stomach. ‘I want to be part of the pregnancy. I want to go to doctor’s appointments with you, shop for baby stuff, and whatever else dads do.’
She turns and walks away from me. ‘Jason, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Why?’ I go over to her. ‘I’m the father. Why can’t I be involved? Why wouldn’t you want me to be? Do you really want to do all this alone when I’m right here?’
She looks at me a moment. ‘You really want to go to appointments with me? And look at baby stuff?’
‘More than anything.’
She smiles slightly. ‘Okay.’
I hear my mom talking at the top of the stairs.
‘You want to give them a show?’ I ask Mia.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Our moms are coming back. We should kiss. Show them how in love we are.’
She hesitates, then quickly nods as we hear our moms walking down the stairs.
I take Mia in my arms and kiss her. It’s an innocent kiss, no tongue, but still manages to stir up feelings in me.
How am I going to do this? How am I going to live with a girl I’ve completely fallen for, am insanely attracted to, and who’s carrying my baby, and act like we’re just friends?
I can kiss her when we’re out in public, and hold her hand, but it won’t be real.
We’ll be putting on an act. What’s going to happen when we’re here, alone together?
Can we really go all summer without something happening?
‘Oh, would you look at those two?’ Harriott says. ‘Aren’t they just darling? I remember when Walter and I were like that.’
Mia backs away from me. ‘Mom.’ She turns to her. ‘I thought you were upstairs.’
‘I was. Martha showed me the bedrooms. You should go up and see them.’
‘I’ll go with you,’ I say, taking Mia’s hand.
As we go up the stairs, I hear Harriett say, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t be sending them up there if they can’t even keep their hands off each other down here in the kitchen.’
Mom laughs. ‘I think it’s too late to worry about that. She’s already expecting.’
‘Yes, that’s true,’ Harriott says, laughing with Mom.
It sounds like they’re getting along. I wasn’t sure if they would.
I thought they’d be too different. My mom’s not as strict as Mia’s mom.
She accepts that her kids do stuff she may not approve of, like Brody and me going out with a different girl every week, which we did for awhile a few years ago.
My brothers and I have done plenty of stuff Mom doesn’t like, but she still loves and accepts us.
‘What do you think?’ I say, taking Mia into the master bedroom. It’s got a queen-sized bed with a black iron headboard and white down comforter. There’s a nightstand on each side of the bed and an antique trunk at the end that’s filled with extra blankets.
‘I love it,’ Mia says, walking around the room. ‘Is it mine?’
‘Well, yeah. Or . . . ours.’
‘Ours?’
I walk over to her. ‘We need to talk about this. The separate bedroom thing. If we do that, we risk the chance of one of my family members stopping by unannounced and finding out we’re not sleeping together.’
‘That would be bad.’ She pauses. ‘Do you really think they’d stop by unannounced?’
I laugh. ‘Have you met my family?’
She laughs too. ‘Yeah, I guess I could see that.’
‘So what do you want to do?’
She glances at the bed, then back at me. ‘I guess this is our room.’
Our room. The one we’re sharing. At night. Together in the bed.
This is going to be impossible. How am I going to keep my hands off her?
How are we going to go all summer without acting on our attraction to each other?
We couldn’t even make it through last weekend without having sex.
And now Mia agreed to share a bed with me.
What does that mean? That she wants to continue this pretend engagement when we’re alone?
I’m not sure how I feel about that. I want to be intimate with her, but I also know it’ll make me more attached to her, which isn’t what I want when I know she’s leaving.
‘Mia,’ Harriott yells from downstairs. ‘Your father and I are going to go check into the hotel.’
Mia races out of the room and down the stairs. I follow behind and see Walter and Harriott standing by the door.
‘You’re leaving?’ Mia asks, going up to her parents.
‘Your father’s tired from the trip. We’re going to check into the hotel so he can rest.’
‘I’ll go with you.’ She looks back at me. ‘I’ll text you when I’m heading back to your place. If you’re not there, I’ll just go wait somewhere.’
‘You don’t have a key?’ Walter scowls at me. ‘You should give her a damn key. What’s wrong with you? You don’t trust my daughter?’
‘Dad, of course he does,’ Mia says as she goes around him to open the door. ‘I just haven’t been here enough to need one. Let’s go. I’ll meet you guys at the hotel.’
‘Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your fiancé?’ Harriott says.
‘Bye!’ She gives me a wave.
‘Mia, that’s not how you say goodbye. Go give him a proper goodbye.’
Her eyes pause on mine, then she quickly walks over to me and gives me a hug. When she pulls back, I hold onto her and give her a kiss. ‘Bye. I’ll see you soon.’
Mia and her parents leave.
‘I’m going to head out too,’ I say, walking to the door.
‘Not so fast,’ Dad says in a stern tone.
I turn back and see him giving me the look he gave me when I was a kid, the one he used when I was in trouble.
Shit. They know the engagement is fake. I thought they believed it. They acted like they did back at the restaurant.
‘What do you need?’ I ask, as if I have no idea what this is about.
Dad points to the couch. ‘Have a seat.’
‘Dad, I really don’t have time—’
‘We either do this now or we do it later. What’s it going to be?’
I want to say later, but I’d rather just get this over with. I walk over to the couch and sit down. My parents sit across from me on the leather chairs. I feel like I’m on trial. In a way, I am. They know this is all a lie and they’re going to make me sit here until I admit it.
‘It wasn’t supposed to turn into this,’ I say with a sigh.