9. Lena #2
I slip away, leaving Dominic surrounded by the women in my family. They’re feeding him, patting his arm, making him comfortable on the couch like he’s some sort of royal guest.
He gives me a pleading look, and I ignore it. I need to talk to my dad. He’s the one I feel worst about lying to.
“Everything okay with you and this guy?” my dad asks when we step outside into the garden.
“Why? You don’t like him?”
“I don’t know him. But I trust your judgment. He seems like a good man.”
I pause. “He’s very serious, just so you know.”
“Is there a reason you brought him so suddenly, without ever mentioning the relationship before?”
“I know it’s sudden, but. we’ve just reached a point where it made sense to share it. We’ve been seeing each other for a few months now. He was there for Lexi and her dad when things got rough; that’s actually how we got closer.”
“And now you’re suddenly getting married? I mean… do you have to get married?”
I glance at my dad, the ever-calm literature professor, with his worn corduroy jacket and reading glasses that never quite sit straight. He’s not the overreacting type, but I can already see it in the tight line of his brow. He’s bracing himself.
“Seriously, Dad?” I sigh. “Can’t people just get married anymore?”
He looks at me a little too long. “Are you pregnant?”
Ah! There it is. Sweet, concerned Dad.
“No, Dad. Don’t go there. It’s nothing like that. We just want to make things official and move forward with our lives.”
I bite my tongue at how easily the lie comes out. I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite me.
“Have you told him what happened with Anton?” he asks quietly.
“He knows some of it. Well, not everything.”
“Lena, don’t you think he should? If you’re planning a life with this man, he deserves to know what you’ve been through. You still need time. Time to heal. And someone who understands that.”
“I’ll tell him, of course. I’m okay now. And soon, I’ll wrap things up with Anton for good. He’ll be out of my life.”
“If you think this man is what you need, then forget Anton. Forget revenge. Focus on building something real.”
“Anton’s not getting off that easy, Dad. Sorry, but I need to see this through. I can’t just let it go.”
He lets out a quiet breath and places a gentle hand on my shoulder. It’s the kind of touch that says I don’t fully agree, but I trust you. Just be careful.
He glances toward the house, eyebrows lifting slightly. I follow his gaze and peer through the window, just enough to make out the very attractive man currently responsible for disturbing the peace of the town’s entire female population. Time to rescue him.
“I’m going back in before Aunt Eunice starts groping him again.”
Dad chuckles and follows me inside. Back in the living room, Dominic is on the couch with a photo album open in front of him, flanked by my mom on one side and Aunt Eunice on the other.
He’s flipping through the pages, letting out little gasps and compliments about how great I look in every photo.
“This Lena looks kind of different from the one I know,” he says, pointing at a picture of me and Lexi eating ice cream on the boardwalk during my first year of college.
“Her nose, right?” he adds, narrowing his eyes. Sharp-eyed, this one. Who thought dragging out that album was a good idea?
“It’s from her nose job,” my mom replies, unfazed.
Danger. We need to shut this photo session down now.
“What nose job?” Dominic asks, genuinely surprised.
I grab his hand and close the album. “Cosmetic surgery,” I say, trying to keep it light. “I used to dream of being a TV anchor, and I got it into my head that I wasn’t pretty enough.”
My mom shoots me a strange look but doesn’t say anything. Aunt Eunice, though, is a threat; she’ll over-share without blinking.
I tug him away. “Alright, enough. Let me show you the house and the garden. We’ll talk more over dinner.”
“As if there’s that much to show,” Aunt Eunice grumbles behind us.
“Goddamn it, Lena,” Dominic mutters as soon as we’re alone on the stairs heading to my room. “Why didn’t you rescue me earlier? That aunt, what’s her name again? The one with the ridiculous hat?”
“Eunice.”
“Exactly. She put her hand very high up on my thigh, and I swear, if you hadn’t shown up when you did, next stop would’ve been my balls, right there under the photo album.”
“Yeah, she’s fierce. All four foot eleven and a hundred pounds of her.”
He runs a hand through his hair, half laughing, half exasperated. Even now, suit slightly wrinkled, hair a little tousled, cheeks faintly flushed, he still looks annoyingly perfect, like none of this gets to him.
“I held my ground like a hero,” he says, lifting his chin dramatically.
Then his voice softens, just a bit. “I saw you off in the garden with your dad and didn’t want to interrupt. Is he okay with our whole story? What did you two talk about?”
“My dad’s always supported my craziest decisions.”
“Oh, so I’m a crazy decision now. Nice.”
“Don’t fish for compliments. You know exactly who you are and what you’re doing. And even you can’t pretend this thing between us is normal.”
Dominic doesn’t take the bait. Instead, he shifts slightly, the teasing drops from his face. “So, what did your dad say?”
“In his own way, he likes you. Mostly, he just wanted to be sure I’m happy. He asked if there’s a reason we’re rushing things.”
“Like what?”
“Like... being pregnant.”
He blinks, then smirks. “Usually, it’s the moms who pick up on that stuff. What did you tell him?”
“The truth. That I’m not.”
Dominic grins and raises a finger in warning. “Sassy, let’s stop using the word truth when talking about this marriage thing, yeah? We don’t want to upset karma.”
I make a face and reach for the door to my childhood bedroom. We both need a few minutes to regroup before round two of interrogation from my very curious family.
“There you are,” my mom calls from downstairs.
Dominic instantly pulls me into his arms, burying his face in my hair, right by my ear.
I hear her footsteps on the stairs. She’s coming up.
Dominic’s hand slides down to my butt and pulls me tighter against him.
I press into him, and yeah, that’s not just denim seams and a belt buckle I’m feeling.
It’s very real, very there, and definitely not accidental.
The sudden pressure throws me slightly off balance, and I grab the back of his neck to steady myself. My fingers brush the warm skin at his nape, then slip under his shirt, tracing down to his shoulder blades. I drag my nails lightly across his back.
He exhales sharply into my ear. I press just a bit harder, only for a second, then… “Oh! Sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in,” my mom says, appearing at the top of the stairs.
Her cheeks are flushed, but she’s all smiles. Dominic lets me go gently and turns to her with that perfect, harmless smile he saves for exactly the right moments.
I break the moment and push the door open. “Not really, Mom. I just wanted to show him my old room.”
“Of course,” she says, far too sweetly. “I made the bed for you two tonight. It’s a bit narrow, I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Dominic peeks inside, glancing around with casual interest, then gives me a look, then the bed, then me again. The kind of look that says, y eah, I heard that, and I’m already imagining it.
“We’re not staying over, Mom. Dominic has work at the Club tonight. It’s the weekend, it gets busy. He didn’t even bring a change of clothes.”
Her face falls slightly. She’s standing in the hallway in her 'special day outfit' , a neatly pressed dress she probably saved for Sundays, her blond hair pinned into a tidy bun.
She may be small, but there’s nothing slight about her presence. Thirty-five years as a nurse in this town have given her the softest eyes and the surest touch I know.
Dominic lingers in the doorway, glancing around the room with a slow, thoughtful nod. “We’ll stay. It’s perfect. Honestly, I didn’t want to drive all the way back after dinner, anyway. I’ve got a gym bag in the car, some spare clothes, a few t-shirts.”
My mom claps her hands once, eyes lighting up. “Oh, that’s wonderful. Lena, you’ve still got plenty of clothes here, so you’re all set. I’ll give you a minute to relax. I’ll send everyone home, and then we’ll sit down for dinner. Just the five of us, we’ll have plenty of time to talk.”
Exactly what I was trying to avoid. Long dinner. Small group. Too many questions. Too many eyes.
The door closes behind her. “What was that? We didn’t agree to stay the night here. You have zero problems driving, you’re a total night owl, you’re not even tired. It’s barely an hour away. And what was that nonsense about a gym bag? You work out at the hotel. You don’t need spare clothes.”
Dominic starts pacing around the room, ignoring me. He flops onto the bed, bouncing a little on the mattress.
“A bit small,” he says. “It’ll do. We’ll manage.”
He looks over at me, grinning. “Relax, Sassy, I just made your mom happy. That’s a win.”
“You sneaky little schemer. You planned this. That’s it. You’re sleeping on the floor.”
“We’ll see about that, Sassy. Come on, let’s go downstairs and finish what we came here to do.”
“You mean lie to our families?”
“ You might be lying, Sassy.”
Before I can fire back, he grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairs.
***
The rest of the evening is calmer than I expected. Kai asks a million questions about cars, and Dominic promises to take him out for a spin in one of the sports models next time he visits.
Dad brings up the hotel business, and my fake fiancé handles it perfectly, talking about management, seasonality, and staffing with just the right amount of professional charm.
Dominic compliments my mom’s cooking and tries a bit of everything. The food is good, real comfort food. The kind that tastes like Sunday dinners with family, full of things you didn’t realize you missed until they’re on your plate.