Chapter Twenty-Two
Sue
Monday morning I woke before my alarm, groggy from a night of restless sleep.
That icy knot in my stomach hadn’t budged since Cam dropped the news about his mom and sister joining us for Easter.
We had a handful of days to build an entire relationship from scratch—one with inside jokes, shared memories, and mutual quirks. Deception was frigging hard!
How did serial cheaters do this? I’d read an article just last week about a bigamist who maintained two wives, two sets of kids, one in New York and the other in North Carolina. He kept the lie going for years.
How did he manage to pull it off, and most importantly—why? History shows men have always been more enthusiastic about polygamy. Women? Not so much. Probably because no sane woman would volunteer to juggle that many in-laws.
I shook my head, flinging the covers off me. As I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to find the energy to tackle another crazy day of the madness that was my life, my phone rang.
I didn’t know the number, but answered anyway. “Hello?”
“Good morning, beautiful,” said a male voice with a thick Indian accent.
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, wrong number.”
I had the phone halfway to the nightstand when the voice said, “Is this not Susanne?”
I frowned. “Yeah, but—Who is this?”
“My name is Rajesh. I like hotdogs, American football, and blondes with big hooters.”
What the hell?
“Where did you get my phone number?”
“From your ad.”
“My ad? What ad?”
“Your ad on . Hot teacher in search of cute cocoa buns. Nothing is off limits.” He sounded impatient.
I was speechless, groping for words like a fish out of water. “I didn’t—”
“Listen, I know girls like to play coy, but I only have a few minutes before I have to go to work. Do you want to get together tonight? I promise I’ll show you a good time.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, forcing myself to wake up.
“Here’s the thing, Rajesh. This must be some mistake. I didn’t put up any ad. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not… er, seeking any kind of… romance at the moment. Please don’t call this number again.”
I ended the call and sat staring at my phone.
What the hell had just happened? How had it happened?
Could this be a wrong number kind of situation?
But he knew my name, and that I was a teacher.
Was this some twisted practical joke? Would any of the girls play such a joke on me?
No, they wouldn’t. We all had our limits, and this was way beyond any of mine.
No one I knew would do something like this.
I opened my laptop and accessed . Dear Lord, strike me blind now! It was a dating site with no boundaries whatsoever. People posted photos of all kinds, from your average mug shot to your less average dick pic. And in this Babylon I had to find an ad for a hot teacher named Susanne. Piece of cake.
I browsed for a while, then ran out of time and had to get ready for work.
To top it all off, the school’s eyes would be on me today.
Surely some of them had read the newspaper, and had brought it to school for those who hadn’t.
How did my life get so complicated? I thought almost fondly of the time, just two days ago, when I was blissfully single, not sporting an absurdly expensive sapphire ring on my finger, and a fake fiancé to boot. Life was simpler.
I took a quick shower, applied some makeup, and pulled my hair back in my usual military bun. As I was drinking my second cup of coffee at top speed, I scanned the dating website some more. I was ready to give up and run out the door when I saw the infamous ad.
Hot teacher in search of cute cocoa buns. Nothing is off limits.
Next to it was a photo of a blonde woman in a black skimpy outfit that left little to the imagination.
“Holy shit!”
I squinted at the pic. It wasn’t me, but it also wasn’t… not me. It looked like she could have been me. It was taken from semi-profile, and she was wearing a black lace mask. She could have been a million blonde women, including me.
Who the hell would do this? I didn’t even have time to ponder this question because my second alarm shrilled, and I was out the door in a minute. I couldn’t be late today, on top of everything else. I had to sort out this mess later, and I had no idea how I was going to get started.
While I was on the train, two more men called me in response to ‘my ad.’ By the time I got to school, I was close to tears. I entered the building via the teachers’ entrance and headed to the staffroom where Irma and several others were crowded around an open newspaper.
“There she is,” Irma cried. “No wonder you needed my smock last week. Tell me it’s the same man. He’s so handsome, a god among men. Do you think he would pose for me? I would love to sculpt him. I can imagine the symmetry of his muscles...”
So this is what a forty-year-old teenager mooning over a rock star looks like.
She took my hand and held it up, showing off the sapphire ring to a chorus of oohs and aahs.
Even Mrs. West offered me her congratulations when she stopped by to tell me that she was satisfied with Cam’s solution to the slight conflict of interest. I looked forward to hearing what that had cost him.
I was surprised by how well behaved Luke was in English class that day.
He didn’t say a thing about his uncle or the alleged wedding.
After class, he stayed behind and explained.
His mom had said that if other kids in the class realized I was going to be his aunt, they might think he was going to be teacher’s pet, and he didn’t want that.
He had an image to maintain, so if it was okay with me, he intended to keep our relationship professional at school.
I agreed, secretly thanking Carley for that.
Whether he liked it or not, Luke would have a special spot in my heart from now on, although what that would look like next year was anyone’s guess.
As if I didn’t have enough things to stress about already, I was worried about the meeting with Cam and Mrs. West. How was I supposed to behave?
Like a professional? I was Cam’s fiancée.
How friendly would he expect me to be? And to top it all off, Mrs. West and the other staff members would be watching us like hawks.
One wrong move could expose all our lies.
When the phone rang, I jumped. Slowing my breathing, I picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Susanne, Mr. Jones and Ms. Dawna Sands are here to see you,” Olivia said, the excitement in her voice hard to ignore.
“On my way.”
I walked down the stairs to Mrs. West’s office, surprised to find it filled with enormous boxes of computer equipment with the Omega Software logo on them.
I looked at Cam. “What’s all this?”
He gave me a charming smile. “I had some extra inventory, figured the school could use it.” He reached for my hand, eyes twinkling. “Honey, this is Dawna Sands—she’ll be taking over as liaison.”
I held out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Dawna, tall and confident in a sharp gray suit with black trim, wore spiked purple hair and thick glasses. She smiled warmly. “Likewise. And congrats. I went to school with Cam and have been with the company since the beginning. You’ve got a great guy here.”
“Agreed,” I said lightly.
Cam turned to Mrs. West. “I thought it best Dawna take over. She’s my right hand, and I didn’t want any hint of favoritism with Sue here. I heard a few teachers stuck around today... catching up on work.”
Yeah, right. The open doors and shameless glances made it clear: gossip was alive and well.
“I suggested a quick tutorial,” Cam continued. “Mrs. West can introduce Dawna as the liaison—and me as your fiancé.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Mrs. West said with a smile far too familiar. She picked up the phone and made the announcement. “All staff: a brief computer tutorial in the library in ten minutes. Anyone is welcome to attend.”
Within seconds, the tap-tap of shoes, all headed in the same direction, told its own story.
The session went smoothly—Dawna was a natural—but I barely watched the screen. Cam sat beside me, holding my hand in full view, playing his part a little too well.
Afterward, Cam and I left together. His car had arrived from Denver, and I slipped into the warm leather seat of his sleek Mercedes. It was a welcome upgrade from my usual train ride home.
As soon as we were inside, he turned to me. “That went well, didn’t it?”
“Better than my wildest dreams. Mrs. West was all smiles as she congratulated me.” I shook my head. “It was creepy. Thanks for doing this, Cam. I still don’t know how we got in so deep.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him with a gesture. “Never mind, I do know. The important thing is to deal with this one day at a time.”
His eyes roamed my face, studying my features. “So if all went well, what’s wrong? I can tell you have something else on your mind.”
I gave him a half smile. “For a fake fiancé you know me pretty well already.”
I had debated telling him about the ad. It was humiliating, but if I didn’t manage to figure this out I would rather tell him than risk him finding out on his own.
“Someone posted a fake ad in my name on a dating website. It’s got a fake photo of me, my name and my phone number.
” I quoted the ad. “I know you’re good with computers.
Maybe you can hack that website and delete the ad?
I don’t know who would do something like this, Cam.
No one hates me. Well, maybe except for… ”
“Brittany.” His jaw was tense, his fist clenched on the steering wheel as he started the engine.
I glanced up at him. The possibility had tickled the back of my mind for a few moments.
“Do you think she’s capable of something like this?” I asked.
“She’s capable of anything.”
“How would she get my phone number?”
He shrugged. “Your online resume, a job application, maybe an ad for tutoring... Few things are private online these days. I’ll talk to her.”