Page 73 of Fake It 'til You Make It

I know I’m not in love with her.

Has Abbey had that epiphany yet? God, I hope so. She’s better than that.Him.

‘You didn’t answer whether you like her,’ Mike says, his tone demanding.

‘Not in the way you mean. She’s just… I don’t know, calm, relaxed, unassuming and funny without being obviously out for a laugh from her audience. When she’s not being the actress version of herself, she’s… the kind of person I can handle being around right now.’

I wait but there’s no reply, yet I can still hear the sound of the outdoors down the line. ‘Mike? You there?’

‘Just thinking if she’s playing a role for all her family. Ted, what makes you think the parts of her you like aren’t an act?’

I suppose he could be right but the more I’m around her, the less of the crabby, showy Abbey I see. In fact, she might even bechanging my opinions on designer-clothes-wearing TV stars. It also sounds like delving into that, applying my usually analytical mind to the game ofif, would be a rabbit hole I don’t want to fall down.

‘I just don’t want to see you get hurt again, little bro. But if you tell me you’ve got this and this fake relationship works for you right now too, then I guess you have my blessing to be me.’

‘That was uncommonly heartfelt,’ I tease, not wanting to focus on his warning too much. Am I risking getting hurt in all of this? Am I so numb to everything right now that I can’t see what would be bad for me?

If my head is messed up and my heart broken, all I have to go with is instinct and my instinct is telling me to go to Canada, that Abbey isn’t out to get me in all of this.

I zip my luggage shut and set it down on the ground. ‘Good talk, big bro.’

‘Catch you later, mini me.’

30

ABBEY

‘You are still coming, aren’t you?’ I ask Shernette, my cell phone tucked between my cheek and shoulder as I put the last of my toiletries into my wheel-on cabin luggage.

She’s heading into the office. I can hear chatter as she passes people on the sidewalk and her heels, or someone’s heels, clicking the ground as she moves.

‘Absolutely. I have a half day and I’m heading to the airport right after work on Friday afternoon, so I’ll be with you in time for dinner.’

‘Amazing. I’m going to need all the moral support I can get, especially since Dee now won’t be coming until Friday evening either. My morale will be battered and bruised by then.’

‘No! How come Dee won’t be there sooner?’

I zip closed my luggage and lift it down from my bed to the bedroom floor. ‘She has an afternoon shoot on Friday. They’re front loading all of the scenes where she’d be expected to have a full body shot or where she’s doing something particularly active before she starts to get a real baby bump.’

‘Makes sense but that sucks for you. Still…’ The surrounding noise falls away and I suspect Shernette has walked through the revolving doors into our—heroffice block. ‘You’ll have your new beau to keep you smiling and to keep your mom’s matchmaking at bay.’

‘Ha, yes. Well, assuming he’s not going to get cold feet and ditch me.’

‘Do you think he won’t show?’

‘He’s already on the run from his best friend and fiancée. I’m just some girl he met not even three weeks ago.’ I wheel my suitcases to my apartment door then take hold of the phone in my hand. ‘Oh God, this is a terrible idea, isn’t it? We hardly know anything about each other, except the crash lessons Mike has given me in the last few days. He thinks I’m actually a decent actress! Someone is going to find out the truth – maybe they know baseball, follow the Giants, know about Mike’s model girlfriend, maybe they even know Mike and?—’

‘Abbey, take a breath. You and Mike might have had a crash course in getting to know each other but you do know each other and he wouldn’t have said yes to coming along with you if he didn’t like you. Not to mention the fact he wants to expend with his own reality for a few days.’

‘Yes.’ I nod, trying to reassure myself. ‘You’re right. Plus, he says he’s doing it as a favor for my help and he’s just not the kind of guy to let someone down. I know that much about him. He’s loyal. He’s kind. Funny. Sometimes even unintentionally, you know, in a sort of geeky way.’

‘Erm, do youlikeMike? Not that I can’t see the obvious attraction – he’s hot – but up till now you’ve maintained you don’t like him.’

‘I don’t! And neither of us is in a place to want to be anything more than friends anyway.’

‘Riiiight, but Abs, this whole thing is based on you getting back to New York and not seeing Mike anymore.’

‘It is? It is. Because this isn’t real and Mike lives in San Francisco and dates models. He’s a freaking Major League Baseball player.’ And I need to get a real job, the boring kind that an MLB player wouldn’t crush over at all.

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