Page 109 of Fake It 'til You Make It

God, I’m allowing myself to hope again and it’s got my insides in knots. ‘What do you want, Abbey?’

She meets my gaze now and sighs. ‘I want the man who loves codes and would rather play VR games with me than party. The man who’ll listen to me talk for hours about numbers, math and space. The guy who would rather be outdoors in the fresh air than crammed into a gym. The man who never seems to judge me and accepts me for exactly who I am.’ She shrugs. ‘Just a girl, an ordinary girl with sometimes questionable dress sense, who has confidence issues and truly knows nothing about baseball.’

My elation tips into a short chuckle. She’s so incredibly unordinary. She’s beautiful. ‘Abbey, I rushed into an engagement once and I promise not to do it again. But I want to take you hiking, I want to teach you how to boulder. I want to kiss you on the top of the highest Rockies whenever I like, and go snowboarding with you on the fresh slopes of Colorado.

‘Then, if you want, I’ll happily marry you by the time you’re thirty and make babies with you by the time you’re thirty-two. Not because those things are on your checklist but because I want those things too, and I only want them with you.’

She laughs but her eyes have glazed over and damn it, I feel my own begin to sting. I reach out and stroke her soft cheek. She leans into my palm.

‘Abbey, can we skip to the part where I kiss you now? Because it’s all I’ve been able to think about since?—’

She grabs the collar of my jacket and pulls me to her, hermouth meeting mine, cutting me off with a kiss that’s long, deep and tender.

When we break, I rest my forehead on hers and whisper, ‘I love you, Abbey.’

Her smile is as wide as I’ve seen it. ‘I love you, too.’

53

TED

That night

She loves me.

That thought has made heading home to San Francisco without her bearable.

I want her to come, to be with me, to stay in my bed every night and be wrapped around me when I wake every morning.

But this is for the best. I got the girl of my dreams, now I need to man up and take care of my business, clear a path for Abbey and I to have the best shot at being together and happy.

So, I sent Fleur a message before boarding my flight to tell her I’m coming home tonight and I want us to talk tomorrow.

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll say to her, whenever I can keep my attention from drifting to Abbey. Now, all I want to do is get home, message Abbey sweet dreams, crawl into my own bed and sleep with the sound of the ocean’s crashing waves comingthrough my window. Then wake up and make strides to get on with the rest of my life.

After paying the cab driver, I take the elevator up to the top floor of my apartment block. I’m faced with one of the last things I want to see, lights from inside my apartment glowing faintly under my door in the corridor, and the sound of something like oriental music – a bamboo flute? – playing inside.

With trepidation, I move inside and the nightmare becomes real. Fleur is lying on my dining room table, naked but for tens of pieces of sushi she has displayed around her body. I’m vaguely aware that this mirrors a scene from one of the sitcoms she likes. I’m acutely aware of how much I don’t want this in my life.

‘What are you doing, Fleur?’

‘Darling…’ She puts on some kind of low, breathy, flirty voice that doesn’t even sound like her. ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’

I turn up the lights at the dimmer switch and say, ‘Alexa, stop playing music.’

I guess tomorrow has come too soon – adorned in fish.

Leaving my luggage by the door, I head to the master bedroom, see that Fleur hasn’t moved out at all and find her silk robe still hanging off a hook in the ensuite.

‘Get up, Fleur, and please put this on.’

Huffily, she stands, raw salmon and tuna falling to the floor around her.

‘Why are you still here?’

‘Because we agreed you had two weeks before you had to come back here and we can start moving forward, planning our wedding. I know you’ve been wanting me to plan for ages and I’m ready, Ted. I’m ready to commit to you.’

I laugh shortly, rubbing my hands over my face.

---