Page 12 of The Fake Family Deal

I don’t smile, but for the first time she almost makes me want to crack one.

This plan seems utterly stupid, but she seems like she can hold her own.

Priscilla keeps grilling us like this, asking us pointless and generic questions about our lives. I learn that Marina lovesLebanese food — but more than anything she loves her baby. That keeps coming up again and again. She loves her baby.

I guess that’s what I want. Someone with passion, someone willing to fight for what she believes in. I can admire that.

Even if I find it super annoying, I have to give her some respect.

CHAPTER 8

MARINA

Ihold my breath before I approach the door, hesitating because I don’t know what to expect. Lila stares up at me with huge eyes, then yawns.

With a smile, I reach into her stroller to hold her hand. “It’s all right, baby girl. Just three weeks. We can do it.”

I’m aware that I’m saying it more to myself than anything else, but pretending to soothe Lila with a conversation always helps. More than anything, I’m glad I’m not afraid of heights. A penthouse apartment sounds cool in theory, but in practice this one is so much taller than I would have ever imagined.

Carefully, and feeling like I’m not allowed to be here, I press the doorbell. For a second, I think Ellis has forgotten all about us and isn’t even in, because he makes us wait a long moment before he answers. But then I hear him shuffling around inside, and slowly his footsteps approach.

He unlocks the door and grimaces at me and Lila.

Lila stares up at him as if she’s assessing him, then sticks her tongue out. I know she’s not really that conscious of what she’sdoing, but it amuses me to think that she’s taunting Ellis on purpose.

“Come in,” he says, his eyes flicking down to Lila and then back up to me. His expression is impossible to read.

Famously he’s supposed to be emotionless and cold. I’m not sure I believe that’s entirely true, but he definitely does a good job of pretending.

He holds the door open for us, and we head inside. I feel him glaring at the stroller as if he’s thinking about how the wheels are going to be dirty on his floor. I don’t really care. After all, for the next three weeks, he is going to have to find out what it’s like to carry a nine-month-old baby around the whole time.

It’s significantly less fun than he might think.

It breaks my heart that there’s going to come a day when I’m not able to lift Lila up any more, but for now she’s still a perfect size for cuddles.

To spare his luscious cream carpet from the horror of dirt, I park the stroller by the door and pick Lila up. She nestles happily into my arms.

Ellis leads us from the tiny entry corridor into the apartment. It’s a huge, open-plan space with great big windows that let light shine into the kitchen and living room. To the right there’s a corridor, which I assume leads to bedrooms and bathrooms and possibly secondary living spaces. I don’t know.

This place is huge. But this is clearly where he entertains guests, in his main, vast living room. “Welcome,” he says awkwardly.

Maybe he doesn’t entertain guests. From the way he’s acting around us, it’s almost like he never has anyone here to visit at all.

Lila babbles something at him, and he gives her that awkward look again, like he’s not at all sure what he’s supposed to say or do around her. It’s a funny image. This obscenely wealthy, completely uptight guy, wearing a suit that probably costs more than a month’s rent for me, faced with a baby — and he’s utterly speechless. It just goes to prove that nobody can do everything.

“Hello,” he manages at last. Lila glares at him, then covers her face with both hands, her mouth wobbling like she’s about to start crying.

Please,I will her in my mind.Please don’t.

Instead, she just lets out a burp, which makes me and her giggle. Ellis remains thoroughly unimpressed.

“Come and sit down,” he says stiffly.

I sit down on the sofa and let Lila down on the floor. Usually I wouldn’t do that without having thoroughly checked a place out first, but it’s obvious that Ellis has a cleaner come in because the place is spotless. The décor is all gray minimalism, sleek silver curves, and next to no decoration anywhere. I can’t see one single personal trinket anywhere, so I’m not exactly worried about her picking up something strange and putting it in her mouth.

“It’s not very baby-friendly, is it?” I say, looking around the place.

“What do you mean?” asks Ellis, confused. He gestures at Lila, who has decided to sit squarely in the middle of the floor. “She’s fine.”

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