Page 129 of An Engagement for Erica

She let out a sigh. “We did that day. I mean, he asked me if I’d play along and I didn’t see the harm. He loves his grandfather and was just trying to look out for him. It felt like a harmless thing at the time.”

“Yeah, no,” Harmony said. “I don’t buy it. There is more to it. It might be something I’d do for someone to help out, but not you.”

“I don’t know,” she said, throwing her arms up. “I really don’t. You know I love Tucker. Maybe I was feeling it then and just wanted to help him out. Like he helped me last night.”

“I don’t want to know what you two do alone,” Harmony said, smirking. “I mean it was fun knowing the first time, but now I’m just jealous.” Her sister waved her hand. “And we are getting sidetracked. So you only put this on when you saw TC?”

“Yes,” she said. “It’s been three times. That’s it. It’s a prop. But it’s the only thing that is a lie. We are in a relationship. We love each other.”

“Who else knows this is fake? I mean you met his mother. His mother came here to see his grandfather. TC had to have told Clara, right?”

“It did get a little complicated. Clara knows and TC’s assistant, Michael. It was hard not to let them know.”

“And they know it’s fake and not real?” Harmony asked. “But you’re dating and they know that too.”

“Yes to it all,” she said. “I haven’t seen TC in a few weeks. Tucker said he’s doing great. Maybe he will tell his grandfather the truth. We haven’t talked about it. There is just so much going on between us and I’m trying to go with the flow.”

“You never go with the flow,” Harmony said.

“I know. I don’t. And I’m trying. Can you try not to make a big deal about this? And don’t tell anyone else. Please?”

“Fine,” Harmony said. “I won’t say a word, but I still find it odd that you agreed to this.”

She did too but didn’t admit that.

It’s not as if she’d thought much of it lately either.

“How was your date on Saturday? Fill me in.”

“It was okay,” Harmony said. “I met Skyler online. A dating app. Not sure why I still try it. We’ve been talking for a few weeks via messages.”

“And you haven’t said a word to me?” she asked. “You always tell me. We even went away for a few days together.”

Erica felt bad that maybe she wasn’t there for her sister when she should have been.

“There wasn’t much to say. He’s funny and we had some things in common chatting, but I felt like he was forcing it too. We went to dinner and I was right. He’s forcing it. He was just trying to say he was dating me. He wanted me to keep posting things on my social media accounts.”

She frowned. “I’m sorry about that,” she said.

“I expect it at this stage. He’s from New Haven. He drove the hour here and we had dinner in the casino restaurant. He spent more time taking pictures and posting than talking to me.”

“And tagging you to show who he was with?” she asked.

“Yeah. I wanted to block him when I got home,” Harmony said, giggling.

“Good for you. Did you?”

“No. He reached out and wanted to know when we could go out again. I hate hurting people, but I’m not going to be taken advantage of. I just nicely said that he was a great guy but didn’t want to lead him on. That I saw him as a friend only.”

“What did he say?” she asked.

“He said he didn’t care. We had fun and it’s nice to have a friend to do things with. He asked to go out again. I declined and said I was busy,” Harmony said.

“So really still trying to attach his name to yours?” she asked.

“That is what I think. I could shoot him down online but won’t do that. I don’t need the negative attention.”

“Do you think he’ll give up or ask again?” she asked, frowning. She wasn’t sure she liked this for her sister and didn’t know why she never thought of it happening before.

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