Page 43 of Fake It True

Oh, fuck.

Scrambling mentally, I cleared my throat. “Well, uh, I don’t know if Casey and I are having a slumber party tonight. But we can go into Firehouse Café and maybe we’ll see her.”

Dora cocked her head to the side, scrunching her nose up as she considered this. “You don’t know if she’ll be there?”

“I don’t. She’s not always there. Sometimes, Janet, or Josie, or Luna is working.”

“Oh, okay.”

Dora said an elaborate goodbye to the cats and got her bucket purse.

A little while later, we were in the thick of an awkward situation. Casey’s smile was beyond strained, and her parents were there with Nathaniel and his parents. Dora had blinked up at Casey and asked her if she was okay, but Janet blessedly kept her occupied by bringing chalk and markers over to our table for her.

When I got up to go to the restroom, I was trying to figure out how to get a moment alone with Casey. Janet caught me by the elbow. “What is it?” I asked.

“I think you need to do your thing,” she whispered.

“My thing?”

“You’re Casey’s pretend fiancé. I think you need to make it really convincing right now.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

CASEY

I was trying so hard to keep it together I worried I might splinter apart. While I’d known my parents were coming for a visit, they’d left out that they were bringing along Nathaniel and his parents. They had vacationed together many times, so that wasn’t unusual, but I hadn’t expected them to bring him here. I didn’t know how to contain the distress I felt.

I’d somehow fumbled my way through when they showed up last night. Blessedly, I had a one-bedroom apartment, so they didn’t expect to stay with me. Now, they were here and Nathaniel was faking nice, but I could feel the undercurrent of anger from him.

My eyes kept darting over to Dora and Leo. I was in the middle of waiting on a customer when my mom appeared in the line again. When she got to the front, she smiled brightly. “So what do you think, honey? We would love for you to take us on a tour of town and then have dinner. And, are we going to be able to meet Leo?”

As if on cue, he appeared behind her in line just before rounding the counter to stand beside me. He curled his arm around my shoulders and planted a big kiss on my cheek. “You must be Casey’s mother.”

My mom’s eyes locked on Leo. Her smile was bright, but I could see the questions swirling. “Leo! Casey’s mysterious fiancé.”

“That’s me,” he returned smoothly. I felt his palm slide down to rest on my hip, and he gave me a reassuring squeeze. Unsettled and distressed as I felt inside, his strong presence was soothing.

“I was just saying to Casey that we would love for her to have dinner with us tonight. Maybe you can join us too.” My mother paused, her gaze sobering. “We could only get approval for a three-day trip for Nathaniel due to his conditions of release.” Her eyes darted over to him, the fucking asshole. “He’s dealing with some legal problems. It’s all a big misunderstanding,” my mother said, nodding, almost as if she were trying to reassure herself.

I wanted to cry.

“I’d love to join you all. When do you fly out?” Leo asked.

“The day after tomorrow. We just arrived late last night. It is a long flight from the East Coast to Alaska.”

“Oh, it certainly is,” Leo replied. “How about we meet at Fireweed Winery? I’ll pick Casey up, and we can meet you all there.”

“Of course. What time do you get off work, honey?” my mom asked.

Janet appeared beside me. I was in such a mental haze I didn’t even know she had rounded the counter. “She’s on duty until five-thirty.”

That was a lie, but I decided to roll with it. I honestly just wanted to work the whole time my parents were here. I definitely didn’t want to spend much time with them under the circumstances.

“Let’s meet at six,” Leo suggested.

“Excellent.”

Nathaniel came walking up with his parents and my dad, and I wanted to cry all over again. Leo didn’t move. When I glanced to where Dora was, I noticed Luna was with her. She was showing her tarot cards, and Dora appeared completely engrossed.

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