Page 24 of The Fake Family Deal

And as we leave the room, I have an uncomfortable weight in my stomach that’s trying to tell me that I wish we were. Almost.

CHAPTER 13

ELLIS

Lila is having a nap when Simon approaches us with his next great idea.

“Date night,” he says.

“What?” I say, thinking I must have misheard.

He says it again slowly, like I’m stupid. “We want you to have a date night. Together. You know, as a couple?”

“Why?” I say, outraged.

The director’s face darkens. “It’s been going so well with Lila lately, so we would love to get a bit more on you and Marina, all right? You know, the life behind the famous face, that kind of thing. What would you say is a typical date night for you?”

Marina and I share a panicked look.

One of us needs to say something and quickly, but we both flounder. This is something we forgot to prepare. We were so busy worrying about the baby, we forgot we were meant to be married.

“We like to have a quiet night,” says Marina quickly, plastering a very fake smile over her face. It doesn’t cover the concern behind her eyes. “We’re usually just so busy all day. Sometimes, once Lila is down, it’s nice to just sit and have a meal with candles, nice music, good food. Stuff like that. Just spend some real time together.”

I throw her a look, glad that she said something. A quiet night isn’t exactly my idea of fun, but I guess if we go out to a restaurant, at least I won’t have to think about anything. It’s about as inoffensive as it can get.

“Great,” says Simon, clearly without meaning it. “I’ll get some childcare organized for Lila, all right? Then later this afternoon, that’s what we’ll do. Dinner date.”

“Great,” echoes Marina, down to the sour expression. It looks like she wants to go on a fake date with me as much as I want to go with her — which is to saynot at all.

Lunch comes and goes, and I try to sneak off to my room to hide from everyone, only to get swept into a conversation with one of my accountants who tells me that the news of us filming the show has broken, and already we’re seeing an uptick in sales.

Finally, some good news.

The afternoon starts with a bustle of everyone packing up to go, babysitters coming to watch Lila, and the makeup artist touching us up before we leave. This filming business is way more effort than it looks. Actors must be insane to want to do this.

I don’t know how the production team manage it — probably with a lot of money — but when we finally get out of theapartment, we get driven to the highest-rated Italian restaurant in the city, and nobody else is there at all.

“The place is booked out just for us,” Simon tells us as we step inside. “They’ve agreed to give us everything we need.”

“Nice,” I say, and for a change I mean it.

Marina snaps her mouth shut, realizing that she’s been gawping at the place. She clasps her hands together in front of her, her eyes wide as she absorbs the high-end décor. They’ve put her in a date dress, something flashier than she usually wears, and the loose fabric of the skirt shows off her legs, while the neckline reveals more cleavage than I’ve ever seen.

It’s hard not to stare.

We get seated at the table, and a waiter scampers over with menus. Around us, some of the runners and other members of the crew have sat at some of the other tables to make it look like other people are actually here.

Later, I should check that they got all their meals on the house.

“What can we get you to drink?” asks the waiter, a red-haired kid who can’t be older than twenty-two, even if his acne is screaming sixteen.

“Name your finest champagne,” I say. “Tonight we’re celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?” asks Marina, frowning at me.

I catch her eye and say, softly, “You and me.”

She lets out a tiny gasp, and I look away. Profits must have done something to my head, because that was dangerously close toletting out a real feeling for a woman I’m supposed to be doing nothing but acting with.

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