Chapter 4
Faye
The bell over the door jingled, and Faye groaned as she hauled herself to her feet and fixed her apron. The morning rush had just ended, and she’d already burned her fingers with the milk steamer when she’d tried to wipe it down with her bare hand instead of the wet cloth she was supposed to use.
It was her own fault, though. Her mind just wasn’t on what she was doing.
Instead, it was stuck on replay of everything that happened at the New Year’s party two nights ago.
Specifically, the way it had felt to be wrapped up in the strong arms of her new fake boyfriend.
Her new fake boyfriend who was coming with her to the movies on Saturday.
She was still wearing a dreamy smile when she came out of the back to greet her next customer.
But it froze on her face when she saw who’d come in.
Faye stopped and blinked, but quickly got it together and approached the counter, her smile—if a bit forced—back in place. “Hey, Jeff. What can I get for you?”
Resting his crossed arms on the counter, he looked up at her. “You can tell me who that asshole is you were with the other night.”
“Do you want a coffee with that? Or are you just here to interrogate me?”
He narrowed his eyes a little at her snappy tone, but for the love of god, she was really tired of defending herself with this guy.
Why the hell couldn’t he take a hint? Instead, he had to come in here and ruin a perfectly good morning—burns and all—with his overly possessive attitude.
They’d never even gone on a date, for Christ’s sake.
“Tell me who he is, Faye.”
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she quickly dropped them again when his eyes went right to her boobs. “I introduced you at Greg’s. There’s nothing else to know.”
“Yeah, see. Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
She looked desperately toward the door, praying someone else would come in and save her from this conversation. “What’s not to believe, Jeff? That I could possibly have a boyfriend?”
He made a disbelieving noise. “Come on, Faye. You know I don’t think anything like that. Just that you suddenly have one that no one else knew about. Not even Margo.”
She had to admit he had a point there. As the town’s unofficial and unneeded keeper, Margo made it her business to know everyone else’s since she was around ten years old.
“Like I said the other night, it’s kind of a new thing,” Faye told him.
“I haven’t really had a lot of time to introduce him to anyone before the New Year’s party. ”
“So where’s he from?”
Shit. Frantically, she thought back to the few things she and Adam talked about at the bar. Hadn’t he said something about coming out to help Riko with something? Which meant he knew Riko from Oklahoma. “Oklahoma,” she told him. “He’s a friend of Riko Silvano’s.”
“Don’t know why that motherfucker moved back here.”
Faye couldn’t tell if he was really wondering or if he held some kind of grudge against Riko. “I think he did it for Addison.”
“Yeah, maybe.” His tone said he didn’t really give a shit why Riko came home, but his gaze was hard.
“Seems like his friend moved in awful fast.” On my property.
He didn’t say the words out loud, but the meaning was clear in the way he crowded her, even with the counter between them, and the way his eyes roved over her face and body.
Faye resisted the urge to drop down behind the counter and cover her burning cheeks with her hands.
Anger, hot and unfamiliar, rose up inside of her.
It wasn’t a feeling that Faye was used to.
She was a person who could always see the positive side of things and never let anything get her down for long.
But there was nothing good about the way Jeff was looking at her right then.
Something in his eyes was making her extremely uneasy.
Something she’d never noticed before. And it went way beyond just an annoying crush.
The words bubbled up and came out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about what she was saying.
Maybe it was the only line of defense she could think of.
Maybe it was her earlier daydreaming getting out of control.
Or maybe it was just pure desperation. “Actually, Adam and I are engaged.”
She’d finally managed to make him speechless. At least for a few seconds. “Get the fuck out.”
Faye forced a bright smile. “It’s true. He proposed on New Year’s.” Not exactly true. He’d accepted her kiss at midnight with his jaw clenched and his eyes open, and then walked her out to her car shortly after when Jeff’s staring had worn on her to the point that she’d just wanted to go home.
He pushed his weight off the counter and straightened to his full height. “Then where’s the ring?”
She smiled even brighter. “We’re gonna go pick it out together.”
Jeff gave her a look. “A man proposes to a girl and doesn’t even know her taste enough to have a ring picked out for her?”
“Or maybe he just has enough consideration for her to let her pick out something she’ll really like. After all, she’ll be wearing it forever.”
“Maybe not forever,” he told her. With a tight smile, he took a few steps back. “I’m gonna skip that coffee today. But I’ll see you Saturday.”
“Yeah. We’ll be there.” She gave him a little wave as he walked out the door.
Then she started cleaning the espresso machine like she didn’t have a care in the world, even though she’d already cleaned it, just in case he was standing outside somewhere watching her.
Faye was grateful when one of the local cops came in to distract her, though she would’ve been happier if he’d pulled up just a little bit sooner.
While she was serving Ted his free coffee, a few more people wandered in, and soon the coffee shop was filled with the lunch crowd.
Faye had no time to worry about Jeff for the rest of the day, and she’d almost forgotten about his strange visit until she was practically assaulted by Jules when her shift was over.
“You’re ENGAGED?? And you didn’t tell me??”
Faye shushed her as she pulled her coat on and hustled them both outside before everyone in the coffee shop heard. “No.”
Her best friend of twenty years stopped walking and blocked her path, forcing Faye to stop too. “But Margo told me that Jeff told her that you told him you were engaged to the hot new guy I didn’t get to meet on New Year’s because I was sick.”
Faye rolled her eyes. “That part is true.”
Jules frowned, confused. “Which part?”
“All of that,” she told her. “I did tell him that. But only to get him off my back.” Grabbing her friend’s arm, she started walking toward her car parked just down the street.
It was only late afternoon and already the temperature was dropping, and she wanted to get to the museum and get through a box or two before it got colder.
Faye worked at the South Park City Museum—a recreation of the historic 1880s gold rush town Fairplay had grown from—when it was open during the summer.
In the middle of winter, like it was now, it more resembled the ghost town it actually was, and she didn’t like to be there by herself after the sun went down.
Besides the fact that there was no heat in the buildings, it was just downright creepy being there alone with the ghosts of the past.
“I don’t understand,” Jules told her. “So, you’re not engaged?”
“No.”
“Okay, well, that’s going to be a problem because Margo is, at this very moment, running around town, telling everyone the good news.”
Faye shot her friend a worried glance. “I had to do it. Jeff is getting seriously creepy with me.”
Jules stopped again. “What has he done?”
Faye sighed, glancing up and down Main Street to make sure no one else was within hearing distance. Then she threw her hands up with a shrug. “Nothing, really. At least nothing that I can point a finger at. But he came into the shop today and was giving me the third degree about Adam.”
“The fake fiancé.”
“Fake boyfriend, at the time,” Faye clarified. “But nothing I said was making Jeff back off, so I blurted out that we were engaged.”
“Did it work?”
Faye shrugged again. “It threw him off and he left.”
Jules pulled her coat closed as a gust of wind kicked up around them. “You know this is all gonna blow up in your face as soon as the rumor gets to Adam and he shuts it down.”
She did know that. Unless… “Unless I can talk him into going along with it. At least temporarily. Just until Jeff finds someone else to obsess over.”
“Good luck with that. He’s had the hots for you since we were in eighth grade. He’s just never had the guts to pursue you until now.”
Faye chewed on her thumbnail as she desperately tried to think of another way to get Jeff off her back, but she honestly couldn’t think of anything else that would. “The only problem is, I have no idea where to even find Adam to talk him into doing it.”
Jules grinned. “I know exactly where to find him.”
Faye’s eyes snapped up to her friend’s face. “You do? Where?”
“He works at the garage with his scary looking friend. I just took my car in to get an oil change.”
“That’s great!” Faye continued walking toward her car with Jules right beside her, her stomach twisting up at the thought that Adam worked just down the road from where she lived. “Maybe I can get there before Margo thinks of doing the same thing so she can get details from him.”
“Except…”
Faye stopped. She didn’t like that tone. “Except what?”
She grabbed Faye’s hand. “Except I might have already said something to one of the other guys at the shop.”
“Who?”
“That other new guy. The scary one with the hot neck tattoo. Lex.”
“Jesus, Jules! Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because I got the text from Margo when he was ringing me up. You know how she likes to run to me with news about you. It’s like we’re still in high school and she’s trying to prove to me that she’s better friends with you or something.
” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I was so shocked I read it out loud and he was right there.” She gave Faye an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry. If I’d known what was going on, I wouldn’t have done that.
” There was no accusation in her tone. No hurt feelings.
But Faye still felt the need to explain.
“I’m sorry, too. I should’ve told you right away. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you or anything; I just knew I was gonna see you today and I could tell you in person.”
But Jules waved away her apology. “Don’t worry about it. I just wish I’d kept my damn mouth shut for once.” They stared at each other for a moment until Jules said, “So, what are you gonna do now?”
“I guess I need to go see Adam and try to explain.”
Jules nodded. “Probably a good idea.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“Am I being stupid?” Faye blurted out.
“For talking to Adam?”
“No. For making up this entire story instead of just telling Jeff to fuck off.”
“Yes,” Jules told her without hesitation. “Except…”
Faye held her breath. “Except what?”
“Except I know Jeff as well as you do. And he’s as stubborn as those damn cows that Addison lets roam around town and won’t let anyone eat. I think if you told him to fuck off, he’d just take it as more of a challenge.”
Faye’s heart sank. Jules was right. “Okay, then. My only other option is to talk Adam into going along with this stupid plan until Jeff loses interest or I die. Whichever comes first.”
“Right.”
“Right,” Faye repeated. She gave her friend a hug. “I’ll let you know how it goes. Do you need a ride anywhere?”
Jules shook her head. “No. I’m good. Call me later.”
Faye nodded and got into her car. She glanced in her side mirror to make sure there weren’t any cars coming and saw Jeff pull up in front of the coffee shop in his oversized truck.
She gave Jules a wave and pulled away from the curb, grateful that her friend was there to keep him from following her.
Still, the hair rose on the back of her neck, and she knew he was watching her drive away.
Faye took the first turn she could, only releasing the breath she was holding when she didn’t see him behind her.