Page 137 of The Match Faker

I’d waited so long to hear those words from them. It felt good.

‘And if you need help with money, we can lend a hand,’ Dad added. ‘That’s one of the reasons you entered, right? To pay the bills? We don’t have much, but we’ll give you what we have.’

‘Thanks, but it’s okay. I’ve moved out of the office and I’m working from home, so it’s taken some of the pressure off.’

‘What about your clients?’ Mum asked. ‘Will they visit you at home?’

‘No, I’ll meet them in a coffee shop or hire a meeting room.’

‘Maybe you could ask your sister if she has some space in her office. It’s very big there. Me and your father went to visit it last week.’

It was going so well…

‘I’m sure it was very impressive,’ I snapped. ‘Just like everything she does. That’s one of the reasons I kept my distance. Because as happy as I am for her, I know that Alice will always be the golden child. She’s your favourite and I’ll never compare to her.’

‘That’s not true! We love you both equally,’ Dad jumped in.

‘Your sister is… vulnerable.’ Mum lowered her voice. ‘She’s not as confident as she pretends to be. She needs a lot of reassurance. That’s why we always praise her. You’ve always been the confident one, so we never thought you needed our encouragement.’

‘What?’ I frowned. ‘No. She’s the confident one. Alice has all her shit together. The perfect job, the perfect husband, the perfect marriage, the perfect life. I may have been “brave” to start a business, but I lied to win a competition.’

Shit. The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

‘What?’ Dad frowned.

The cat was already out of the bag, so I might as well tell them the truth. I took a deep breath.

‘Liam.’ My gaze dropped to the ground. ‘I thought I needed a partner for them to take me seriously. So I asked Liam to pretend to be my boyfriend to help me win.’ I blew out a breath. ‘That’s not brave. That’s pathetic.’

It felt good to get that off my chest. When I looked up, I expected to see more disappointment in their eyes, but instead Dad wrapped his arm around me.

‘Liam might’ve started out as your fake boyfriend, but there was nothing fake about what we saw when you two came round for dinner. Or how you were together at the awards.’ Mum raised her eyebrow. ‘It was pretty obvious to us that you two genuinely love each other.’

If only that was true.

‘Liam cares for me, but he doesn’t love me. Otherwise he would’ve fought for us.’

‘It’s not always that easy,’ Dad said. ‘That poor boy went through a lot with his parents. Give him time. He’ll do the right thing.’

It’d been over a month. If he wanted me I would’ve known by now.

‘Yes. Little Liam was always a good boy.’ Mum nodded.

She always spoke about him like he was still a kid. I knew they meant well, but I’d already spent too much time hoping Liam would find his way back to me.

And when I wasn’t playing memories of us together in my head on repeat, I was dreaming up ways to initiate something myself. Like wondering whether I should call or jump on a plane to see him.

But then I saw sense. I’d already stepped out of my comfort zone when I’d asked if we could find a way to make it work, and he’d turned me down. So why would I risk being humiliated again?

He’d said no once, so I had to accept and respect his decision. And as for going over to see him, I didn’t even have his address. Plus, I was supposed to be sensible and save money to invest in the business.

No. It was over.

Maybe in another life, under different circumstances, it would’ve worked out. But not this time.

The sound of something being knocked over snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Aunty Doreen by the back door. I wondered how long she’d been there. Knowing her, she’d heard everything I’d said about Liam.

And knowing how much she liked to gossip, it’d only take a few minutes for her to broadcast it to the whole world. Great.

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