Chapter Five #3
“Because I know my mom,” he said. “Once she finds out that I lied, she’ll dig deeper and want to know why I lied, and she’ll be unwilling to accept whatever answer I give.
She’ll think there’s a different reason other than the fact that I’ve got too much work to do.
As crazy as it sounds, going along with the lie is actually easier. ”
“Is there another reason that you don’t want to be there?” Noelle asked.
Jeremiah pictured Pop sitting in the living room, waiting for him that night. He’d been wearing one of his favorite T-shirts. It was white with Heart Beach written across the front in faded green letters. Jeremiah blinked and forced the image from his mind.
“Nah, it’s just work,” he said.
Noelle squinted and tilted her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted as their server arrived with their iced teas.
For their entrées, Noelle ordered crab fried rice, and Jeremiah ordered beef pad see ew.
Noelle took a sip of her tea and Jeremiah did the same.
It was sweeter than he’d expected, but good, like she’d said.
“I still can’t believe that I’m sitting here with you,” she said. “My mom and I love Smith’s Sweets. We have one of your products for almost every occasion. It’s really special to us.”
Jeremiah smiled. This was exactly what Pop would have wanted, the joy of knowing that another family was enjoying what he and Grandma Minnie had worked so hard to build.
“If you agree to let me hire you, I’ll throw in Smith’s Sweets snacks for life,” he said.
Noelle’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Well, maybe not for life,” he said, thinking that Percy would probably have an aneurysm if he discovered that Jeremiah had made such a promise. “But I can definitely give you several boxes of your favorite flavors.”
Their food arrived on steaming-hot plates. Noelle lifted her fork and moved the rice around before taking a bite. Jeremiah dug into his food too and snuck glances at Noelle. There was something graceful about her movements. He’d noticed that earlier at the bookstore.
“What would our sleeping arrangements be?” she asked.
“My family will expect us to sleep in the same room, but you can have the bed. My room there has a couch by the bay window, so that’s where I’ll sleep.”
“And in terms of PDA,” she said. “I’m going to assume you aren’t expecting me to tongue-kiss you in front of them as soon as we walk through the door.”
He almost choked on his pad see ew. He took a sip of his tea to wash down the lodged food.
“No,” he said, coughing. “I think some light PDA would be helpful, though, to make it look convincing. Hugging. Holding hands. That kind of thing. A kiss on the cheek if you aren’t comfortable with the mouth. And I completely understand if you aren’t.”
Her eyes lowered to his mouth, and his skin immediately prickled with heat as he stared at her mouth too.
When she cleared her throat, he quickly lifted his gaze.
A pinkish hue flushed beneath her brown skin.
He started to smile but checked himself.
He shouldn’t feel satisfied that he’d made her blush. They were having a business meeting.
“Okay, but what happens after the weekend ends?” Noelle asked. “What if your family expects to see me again? Will you tell them that we broke up?”
“Yeah, that’s the tricky part,” he said. “In order for this to work, I think it’s probably best if they don’t like you too much.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Something else you should know about my family is that when they like someone, they don’t let them go.
My best friend, Danny, is basically an honorary Smith.
Percy brought Robin to Heart Beach once when they were in college and weren’t even official yet, but my mom got Robin’s number somehow and started texting her like they were new best friends.
You and Amara already have a love of reading in common, and I know she’ll want to talk to you about that.
Percy will probably leave you be, but Robin will definitely want to get to know you.
I’m not saying that you should be disrespectful or rude.
Just don’t let them endear themselves to you, you know? Don’t be too friendly.”
“But I’m a friendly person,” Noelle said, looking troubled. “How can I not want to be friendly with the people who run the company that makes my favorite snacks? I want your family to love me.”
He laughed. “I’m thinking maybe Saturday night, we can have a dramatic breakup in front of my family. I’ll be heartbroken for the rest of summer. They’ll leave me in peace, and we’ll all move on.”
Noelle chewed her food, considering this. “Wait. Don’t you want to know more about me first?”
“I would, yes.” He set down his fork and gave her his full attention.
“Well, I’m twenty-seven—wait, how old are you?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Okay,” she said with a nod. “I live in Brickton with my best friend, Tati. She was the one standing at the hair salon window earlier. I grew up in Brickton and lived there for most of my life, except for the years when I was at UMD. I had to drop out before my senior year, but, um, I’m going back to college soon, hopefully. I told you that already, though…”
He wanted to ask why she’d dropped out, but her expression had turned guarded when she’d mentioned it. He didn’t want to push her to talk about anything that made her uncomfortable.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been to Brickton,” he said instead.
“It’s a small town.” She eyed him, and the corner of her mouth lifted in a smile. “Don’t you want to run a background check on me or something?”
“Do I need to do that?”
“I mean.” She shrugged and held out her hands, palms up. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
“Then, no. I trust you enough.”
“Just like that?” she asked, blinking.
“I’ve spent time around schemers and grifters.
I can sniff them out pretty easily. I can tell that you’re not one.
” Throughout his life, he’d met his fair share of people who befriended him only because they wanted something they thought he could provide, be it money or connections or whatever else.
Those people lacked the ability to come across as truly genuine. Noelle didn’t give those vibes.
“Okay,” she said. She bit her lip again.
“Um, I’m sure you’ve probably realized that we come from different socioeconomic groups.
When I do bridesmaid gigs, the dresses are provided for me, and if there are other events that I need to attend, I usually borrow clothes from my best friend.
But this situation is different. I don’t really own cute summer clothes to wear next weekend around your family.
” She gestured to her Hidden Gems Books T-shirt and old, faded jeans.
“Unless you’re okay with me showing up like this. ”
“I think you look beautiful,” Jeremiah said honestly, and her cheeks flushed again as she thanked him and flashed a shy smile.
He pulled out his wallet and grabbed one of the credit cards that he rarely used.
He held the card across the table toward her.
“But if you want to get new clothes, take this. Buy whatever you need.”
Noelle stared at the credit card, then looked up at him, slack-jawed once again. “You’re just gonna give me your credit card? What if I scam you?”
“The fact that you asked that question lets me know that you won’t do it,” he said. “Even if you do, I’ll just report the charges as fraud.”
When she still didn’t take his card, he placed it on the table and slid it toward her. “Please buy yourself whatever you think you’ll need, Noelle. If you agree to this, you’ll be doing me a huge favor. I don’t want you to be worried about what you’re wearing.”
She stared at the credit card in deep contemplation. Then, slowly, she lifted her gaze to his.
“Thirty-five hundred dollars for one weekend of pretending to be your girlfriend?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“We need a contract so that we have our agreement in writing.”
“Sure. Whatever you need.” He pulled his business card out of his wallet too.
“Do you have a pen?” He waited as she fished a pen out of her tote bag.
He flipped his business card over and wrote down his personal number before sliding the pen and card across to her.
“My email, work number, and personal number.”
She studied his business card. “I’d like to have a lawyer look over the agreement first too.”
“That’s a good idea.”
She leaned back in her chair and shook her head, smiling a little, almost in disbelief. Jeremiah leaned back in his chair and observed her as well.
She really was so pretty. And likable. He wasn’t worried that anyone might question if they were really together. The Smiths wouldn’t care if Noelle hadn’t grown up like them. They weren’t the kind of family that cared about status or elitism. Pop and Celeste had made sure of it.
“Okay,” Noelle finally said. “I’ll do it.”
Overwhelming relief washed over Jeremiah. He felt more accomplished about this agreement with Noelle than he had about his successful meeting with the Shop Mart team earlier. “Great. Thank you. You’re doing me a real solid.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “But you’ll have to pay half up front.”
He nodded. “Done.”
“I’ll send you the contract after my lawyer looks at it.”
“Okay.”
She lifted her hand, and Jeremiah held his out too.
He felt a spark when their palms met to shake hands.
Noelle’s eyes locked with his, and when she smiled, he felt the power of it rearrange something in his chest. He smiled too, and somewhere in the back of his mind, a small voice was trying to warn him that he might be biting off more than he could chew.
But, as with most thoughts he didn’t want to ponder, he ignored it.