19. Chapter Nineteen #2
Tell others we are dating. (DONE.)
I need to focus on the origin story. So I pretend to recall our story for her, keeping my voice low since her dad is sleeping.
“We’ve actually been friends for months.
You know he’s been out in Selah Falls, and that’s where I’m from.
I own a cafe there. We started working together, and recently we became business partners.
We worked so well together that it just felt like the natural next step for us to run the place together.
Honestly, he’s been great to have around.
He fits in so easily with my friends. We all hang out together, and...
it just kind of happened naturally. He and I bonded one night over lattes, cinnamon rolls, and the Jonas Brothers.
It was like one day we were just us, like normal, and the next day we had become something new. ”
The look on Georgiana’s face says it all. She’s smiling, genuinely happy that her brother found someone. We chat about our mutual love of the Jonas Brothers, and I relax a little. I begin to think she was never okay with him marrying someone he didn’t love.
If anyone in this family understands Will, it’s probably his sister. Then I realize something else. What I just told her wasn’t entirely a lie. I’m not sure if I stuck to the exact story we made up, but it was close enough.
Will and I really have spent months working together. It really has felt natural. The bickering has always been our thing, but we work well together. We make a good team.
The reason I felt comfortable inviting him into my friend group is because of the kind of person he is. The person I’ve grown to really like. The person I think I might be starting to...no. It’s too soon to say I love him. How can you love someone you’ve only been fake dating for about a week?
But then I remember we’ve been friends for months. The dating part may be new. The feelings aren’t. The friendship isn’t.
The thoughts I’ve spent months telling myself not to focus on didn’t suddenly appear out of nowhere.
I’ve been falling for Will Darcy since the day I met him.
I’ve just been telling myself I couldn’t.
And now I’m following a bunch of ridiculous rules that we made up together to convince everyone we’re dating.
But the truth is...I don’t know if we’re convincing anyone. It seems like everyone already believes we’re together. Are we the ones who need convincing? Are we the ones fighting something that could’ve been so simple?
***
Since she left her car at the hospital for her mom to use, I let Georgiana drive my car back to her and Will’s family home. No, not a home. It’s more like an estate.
One of those houses that’s so big it doesn’t just scream rich. It screams wealth. The drive to the house takes us through Shiloh Ridge, one of Chicago’s old-money neighborhoods.
“You guys are like royalty or something,” I say, thinking out loud as I stare out the window. Will sits next to me in the back seat.
“Pretty close to it,” Georgiana says with a laugh.
“We are not royalty,” Will chimes in. “We’re well off. We’re comfortable. That’s all.”
I fight the urge to look over at him and roll my eyes as Georgiana pulls up in front of the gated entrance.
Georgiana rolls down the window, types in a code on the security keypad, and the gates slowly open.
They close behind us as she parks on the circular drive in front of the grand staircase leading up to the house.
“That’s exactly what a wealthy person would say,” I tell Will as I unbuckle my seat belt.
He comes around to open the car door for me and then for his sister.
“Such a gentleman now that he’s got himself a secret girlfriend,” Georgiana teases.
Will whines, “Shut up, Gia.”
Georgiana laughs at her brother. Then she places her hand on the touchpad beside it.
It scans her hand, verifies her identity, and unlocks the doors automatically.
I stand there for a moment, staring at the touchpad in disbelief while the Darcy siblings walk ahead of me, completely unfazed by the kind of luxury that someone like me isn’t used to.
“You get used to it,” Will says when he notices I haven’t moved.
“I don’t think anyone gets used to all this,” I reply, taking slow steps toward the front door before walking inside.
He presses a button, and the doors quietly close and lock behind us. I blink at the doors, then back at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a trust fund kid?”
“I did tell you,” Will says with a sheepish shrug.
“Barely!”
I glance around the immaculate house with its cream colored walls, spotless floors, and polished furniture. It doesn’t even look lived in. It looks like it stepped right out of one of those luxury home magazines.
I gawk and say, “You didn’t tell me about all this.”
Georgiana chuckles to herself, sitting my car keys on the kitchen counter. When her brother shoots her a look, she throws her hands up in surrender and backs out of the kitchen.
“I’ll let you two kids duke it out while I head up to my suite. I’m tired anyway.”
“Her suite?” I ask as she disappears up the grand staircase, leaving us alone in the quiet kitchen.
“Yeah.” Will rubs the back of his neck. “We each have a suite in the house. My parents have theirs on this floor past the family room. Georgiana’s is on the second floor, and mine is on the third. Or... that’s where I used to live before I moved to Selah Falls.”
I glare at him and smack his arm.
“Ow. What was that for?” he asks, rubbing the spot even though I know I didn’t hit him that hard.
“For not being honest with me. For being rich and not telling me how rich. For working in my cafe like some normal person who actually needed the money.”
“I needed a fresh start, Lizzie,” he says quietly. “I was honest. I wanted to work with you at the cafe.”
“Only after your original deal fell through and you couldn’t get a place to open your bakery.”
He sighs. “True. But I’ve wanted my own bakery for years. Working with you has shown me that it’s not just about owning your own business. I see how hard you work. You’ve shown me there’s more to it than having your name on the contract. I don’t regret working for you.”
“With me,” I correct, crossing my arms.
He gently uncrosses them, taking both of my hands in his. The rule we created about holding hands seems to be our favorite. Holding hands and finding reasons to touch has become second nature.
I don’t pull away when he pulls me closer. Then I realize he’s using another rule. The one where we give each other meaningful compliments.
I say, “And you don’t have to say nice things to me or hold me close when no one else is around.”
“I know,” he says, his voice low and inviting. He still doesn’t let go of me.
“I thought we were only supposed to pretend when other people were around to see it, Will.”
“Who says I’m pretending, Lizzie?”
There goes another rule I hadn’t realized we’d stopped following. He hasn’t called me Boss Lady in a while. I’ve been calling him Will more often too.
I’m tempted to lean into it. To believe the facade. But the way my heart is pounding makes it hard to lean in. And even harder to pull away.
“We should get some rest,” I say, needing to put some distance between us before I do something stupid.
He takes one slow step closer. “Are you tired, Lizzie?”
There he goes saying my name again. I think about his question. I think about my hands in his. I think about all the reasons I should say yes. I think about why I should back away. Why I should drive back to Selah Falls and never look back.
But I can’t bring myself to do it. I can’t keep running from the idea of us anymore. I don’t know if I can keep pretending.
I close the space between us. Being bold. Looking up at him, my hands still in his, I rise onto my tiptoes and lean in. He meets me there.
“I think I want a new contract,” I say, breathless.
“What kind of contract?” he asks, just as breathless.
“One that lets me do this.”
I press my lips gently against his. I know it then. I don’t want to be his friend anymore. I don’t want to be Boss Lady to him.
I’m not just the woman who gave him a job. Or invited him to church. Or invited him to hang out. I’m not just Lizzie, the fake girlfriend. I never was.
I melt into the kiss, the facade fading away. I hold on to him. His arms wrap around my waist like they belong there.
And I know now he is exactly what I want.
For real this time.