Page 130 of Faking the Shot

She looked across the room to the gilt-edged antique mirror. Her tired face. Her long tired hair. She’d looked the same way forever thanks to playing Abigail all these years. How could any man want that?

“Ainsley, if I may,” Alistair, Mack’s hairstylist friend, said. “You know what you need? A new do.”

“A new do?”

“Look, honey, nobody wants to hear the truth, but I’m gonna give it to you anyway. Your hair is beautiful as it is, but you’re not living in the 1800s. You can cut it, you know.”

“I know, but my stylist, Trudi, will think I’m cheating on her.” She’d said it a million times. “And Rosie my agent will likely have kittens.”

“You do remember that woman works for you, right?” Mack murmured.

She glanced across at her reflection. Saw the face of a person she didn’t want to be anymore. Lifted her chin, and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

CHAPTER25

It was one thing to declare he was going to tell people he was following Jesus. It was quite another to actually tell his folks. He’d prayed about it, asked Chris and Diana to pray for him too, then figured he probably should trust God to open the right door at the right time, rather than kick it open as he might once have been inclined to do. Love was patient, and all that.

Zac leaned back in his seat at the dining table, offered his mom a smile. “Thanks. That was delicious.”

“I know it’s probably not as healthy as you like, but—”

“It was delicious. Thank you.”

Her face softened, like she still thought of him as her baby boy. “Ma.”

“I can’t help it. I’m so proud of you. Especially now you’re dating Ainsley Beckett!”

His heart glitched.

“It’s a shame she couldn’t come today. I bet she was busy, huh?”

She probably was, so “I guess.”

“You guess?” She frowned. “Come on, Zac. What kind of man doesn’t know what his girlfriend is doing?”

There was that word again. So maybe it was time for this particular truth to spill. Here goes… “The kind who isn’t going out with her anymore.”

She blinked. “What did you say?”

“Me and Ainsley broke up, Ma. On Valentine’s Day.”

“But she posted that picture of you two.”

He glanced at his dad who hadn’t said anything. His father was watching him with a narrowed gaze. Zac turned back to his mom. “She did, and we broke up soon after.”

“Oh, Zac.”

Ainsley’s acting skills had obviously rubbed off enough on him, given the way he could shrug like it didn’t matter. “It’s okay. It was all fake anyway.”

“Fake?” his mom squawked.

Hadn’t he told them that months ago? He explained again, just in case.

His mom shook her head. “I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it or not, it’s still happened.”

She slumped in her seat. “So that must be what they meant.”

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