Page 67 of Just My Fake Husband

“You know. About . . . this.” I motion around my not-so-humble abode that River and I share. It’s a representation of the secrets we hold.

Milo’s brows go up. “Nothing at all. I promise. Did she call you out?”

“Not verbally. But her eyes did.”

Milo smacks his forehead. “Whoa. Stella’s eyes, man. If looks could condemn . . .”

“Yeah.” I shudder when I remember how she raised us in the summers while our parents were traveling for the company. She was a great support, providing exactly what we needed, even when it was a good kick in the pants.

I hear River’s voice on the phone as she enters the mudroom from outside. “Yeah. That’s definitely not going to work. I’m sorry, Jana.”

Jana’s response comes through on the speaker phone. “It’s okay. It’s been fine so far, but the landlord isn’t happy about it.”

“What does your lease agreement say?” River kicks her sneakers off and they land with a thud on the mudroom floor.

“It was amended recently, apparently. No pets for longer than one week at a time,” Jana says through the phone. “So yeah, we can’t keep Liz anymore.”

River enters the living room, her nose and cheeks flushed from the cool mountain air, and waves at Milo. “Do you think Caring Souls would ever make an exception to the rule?” she says to the phone.

“No,” Jana says. “They can’t for the safety of the other residents.”

“I guess we need to find a place for Lunchie until Skye moves back in with me.”

“River, why would she move back in with you? She loves it there,” Jana says. “She’s gonna be fine.”

River gets a drink of water. “I’m trying to prepare myself for when I get a call saying she’s had a meltdown and I need to come get her. It’s fine. I would. I will.” She swallows the rest of herwater and turns away from me, walking back into the mudroom, like she doesn’t want me to hear any more of her conversation.

Milo leaves and I start looking at my spreadsheets again, but in a house this small, it’s impossible not to hear them talking.

“Residents have meltdowns on a regular basis around here,” Jana says through the speaker phone. “It’s part of it. That doesn’t mean they go home. Let Skye do this, River. It doesn’t need to be a perfect experience for it to be the right thing.”

River shunts out a breath, taps her phone, and now she’s off speaker. “I can’t have this conversation right now,” she says quietly into the phone. “Gabriel’s here.”

I get up and knock on the doorframe. She turns to me, her eyes blinking back tears. “Just a second,” she tells Jana through the phone.

“Sorry I overheard. I wasn’t meaning to eavesdrop.”

She slides her fingers through her hair. “It’s okay.”

“Tell Jana we can come get the dog from her, no problem.”

“You can have a dog here?”

“Yeah. One small dog, Steve and Meagan said. And Lunch Lady Liz is one small dog, so it’s settled.”

She opens her mouth to protest and then slams it shut again.

“It’s fine,” I insist. “Lunch Lady Liz is cute.”

“You won’t think that when she’s thrown up all over your air mattress.”

I laugh. “I’m not too worried about it.” There was a chill in the air between us even before last night’s mind-blowing kiss at the reception. And instead of helping things, that moment of connection might have even made things worse between us.

Or maybe that was just my dad and his all-seeing eyes.

What does he see, is the real question here. Does he know it’s fake? I think Stella might.

And then there’s Milo’s accusation, that I’m in love with my wife.

---