if you weren’t anywhere near her. As long as you’re there, it’ll be good. Just like me being there for you.”
My face flushed at the comment. I’d been so adamantly against this at the mere mention from Campbell and Hollin. But that was when they were pushing it on Julian. It’d felt like they were forcing him into something that he didn’t want. Now, he was trying to convince me to fake date him.
Julian Wright.
The man I’d been pining after for years.
Why wouldn’t I say yes?
It might be a disaster to have him around my parents. I was sure that I wasn’t going to make Ashleigh jealous in the slightest. If we could even keep her thinking we were dating for a whole month. But still…that meant I would have a whole month of his time.
Didn’t I want that?
Yes, it’d be fake. It wouldn’t mean anything. If I was going to have ninety days of no dating, it’d be better to fill that time with fake dates with a friend than nothing.
“All right,” I said tentatively.
“Is that a yes?”
“Are you sure that you really want to do this? It’d probably be a whole month, right? The gala isn’t until the end of June.”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
And he looked so damn sincere. Those dark eyes considering me so carefully, looking deep into the windows of my soul. For a second, it was as if he knew how much I wanted this in reality and not just as a fake date.
Then he smiled and held his hand out.
I blinked down at it.
“Partners?”
I laughed softly. Of course he didn’t see the real me underneath. It was an arrangement. A fake relationship that meant nothing else. And I wanted it regardless.
I put my hand in his and shook. “Deal.”
Part II
A Fake Relationship
7
Jennifer
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
I half-opened one eye and reached for my phone. I swiped at it to silence the alarm, only managing to throw it onto the floor. I groaned loudly, but it did nothing to turn off the alarm.
“Shut up.”
It didn’t listen.
I pushed the covers off of my chest and reached for the phone. I finally hit the button to cancel the alarm.
“Finally,” I said as I flopped back into bed.
I yawned and checked the time—seven a.m. Ugh. Normally, I was up at six thirty without an alarm. I’d forgotten that I even had an alarm set. It must have been from my last sunrise graduation shoot. I was and always had been a morning person. Anything past seven felt like I was wasting the day. But today, I wouldn’t have minded a few extra hours of sleep.
I’d been at Wright Vineyard until past midnight. It might be lame, but I was usually in bed by ten and sometimes even earlier. Today was definitely going to be rough since I was also a terrible napper and I didn’t drink coffee. Which Annie thought was sacrilege.
My yawn was as wide as the Grand Canyon as I fumbled out of bed and into a super-hot shower. I blew out my brown bob—which almost reached my shoulders by now—and got into lounge clothes. I grabbed my camera and computer and headed for the dining room table, where I would likely live the rest of the day. Editing was the bulk of the job. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t get carpal tunnel for at least a decade from all the micro-clicks as I worked.
I deposited my work on the table and grabbed a banana and the cat food. Another yawn hit me full on as I went outside.
“Avocado! Bacon!” I called into the early morning.
I nudged their two bowls before pouring cat food into each of them. Everyone made fun of me for feeding the stray cats, but I didn’t want them to go hungry. Yes, they could probably fend for themselves. It made me uncomfortable to think that they might be hunting and not find food. I couldn’t do it.
I didn’t even like cats. Yet here I was. The cat lady feeding cats that didn’t even belong to me.
“Cado! Bakey!” I called again. I peered into the bushes, and two sets of eyes looked back at me. “There you two are. Come eat.”
As if they understood me, Avocado, an orange-and-white cat, and Bacon, a black cat, slunk out of the bushes and began to eat their breakfast. I stroked Cado and then Bacon before heading back inside and sitting at the dining room table to get to work.
Time moved at an unreasonable rate when I sat