Chapter 50
Ellie
“Good boy, Gus,” I say when he sees a squirrel running in the street on our walk and doesn’t chase it.
We round the block and head back to the house. I’m dogsitting Gus for the next few days while his owners are out of town visiting colleges with their son.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. When I see it’s a text from Sophie, I smile.
Sophie: Hey! Are you free to meet up tonight?
Me: Yeah, absolutely! Wanna meet at Spanky’s? I could totally go for their fries.
Sophie: That’s perfect. See you soon.
That evening, I walk into Spanky’s and see Sophie sitting at a booth in the back.
She stands up and hugs me.
“Thanks for coming to see me on such short notice,” she says. “I went ahead and ordered you some fries.”
“You’re the best.” I grab a few and chow down. “So what’s up?”
She hesitates for a second.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
She nods quickly. “Yeah, everything’s fine, I just…” She takes a breath, then leans closer to me. “I overheard you and Camden by the restrooms at Bella and Blomdahl’s wedding.”
I frown, confused. “Okay…”
“I was leaving right as you guys were talking…about why you got married. How you did it for the health insurance. How it was a marriage between friends, nothing more. But then you caught feelings.”
“Oh.” My nerves kick up. Sophie knows. She knows that my marriage to Camden started as a sham.
Crap.
Panic swoops through me.
She grabs my hands in hers, worry flashing in her own eyes. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong. I’m not going to report you or anything. I just brought it up because, well, that’s kind of how Xander and I started.”
I stare at her, shocked. “What?”
“We didn’t get married, but the start of our relationship wasn’t real. It was fake.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” She lets out a shy, embarrassed laugh.
“He was kind of a playboy for a while and wanted to be taken more seriously. And my dad was really overprotective of me and treated me like a child constantly, so I wanted to set boundaries by taking control of my dating life. So Xander and I agreed to fake date for a few months.” Her cheeks flush.
“But it didn’t take long for us to catch real feelings for each other. ”
My eyes are big as I listen to her tell me this. “I had no idea. You and Xander seem crazy about each other. I would have never in a million years guessed that it started as something fake.”
Her smile is shy. “We have an unconventional love story, that’s for sure.
And no one other than my best friend, Dakota, knows.
But now you do too,” she says. “I just wanted to tell you because I don’t know anyone else who has gone through something similar.
Sometimes I wish I could talk about it with someone who’s been through what I’ve been through.
So if you ever want to do that, I’m here for you. ”
A warm feeling hits me. I squeeze her hand in mine. “Thanks, Sophie. That means a lot. And hey, thank you for not being upset.”
“Why would I be upset?”
I sigh. “I think a lot of people would be mad to know that the reason Camden and I got married in the first place was so I could get health insurance. A lot of people would think I’m a gold digger.
Or a fraud. Even if I tried to tell them that we eventually caught feelings and our marriage is one hundred percent real now. ”
Sophie shakes her head, a pained look on her face.
“As a doctor, I know just how awful and demoralizing navigating our health insurance system is. I know how difficult it is for people to afford treatments and medication—how evil some insurance companies are when they outright deny coverage to people who need it,” she says.
“There’s nothing wrong with what you did, Ellie.
No reasonable person would ever fault you or Camden for getting married for the reasons you did. ”
I let out a breath, feeling calmer.
“I know we’re pretty new friends, but I hope it means something when I say that I know without a doubt that you’re not a gold digger. Or a fraud,” Sophie says.
I hug her again.
She flashes a small smile when we break apart. “I see the way Camden looks at you. Even at the beginning, when you first got married, I could tell he had feelings for you. He didn’t look at anyone the way he looked at you.”
A giddy feeling swoops through me. “He admitted that he had a crush on me when we were kids. I had a crush on him too.”
She grins wide. “See? You two were meant to be right from the get-go.”
We share the basket of fries and sip on our non-alcoholic cocktails that Sophie ordered for us.
“So, um, how long did it take you to realize you were falling for Xander for real?” I ask.
“Not long. A month, maybe? He was always so sweet and kind and doting that I think part of me fell for him the second we started fake dating.”
I smile down at my glass. “I think a small part of me always had feelings for Camden too.”
“I’d bet anything he’d say the same about you.”
I trace the rim of my glass as I work up the nerve to ask her something else.
“How long until you knew you were in love with him?”
She looks at me, her expression warm, like she understands completely. “Not long at all. Like a couple of months.”
“Really?”
She nods.
I swallow. “I’m in love with Camden. I’m just scared to tell him. Part of me thinks it’s too soon and he’ll freak out.”
Sophie gives me the warmest, most reassuring smile. “Don’t be scared. He’s in love with you, Ellie. Everyone sees it. And whenever you’re ready, you should tell him. He’ll be so happy.”
A hopeful feeling springs up inside of me. I hope she’s right.