Page 6 of Fake It True

When the job opened up here in Willow Brook, I’d had a heartfelt conversation with them when I became an insta-father to a six-year-old girl who had been through more than I could imagine. I was so unaccustomed to being a father that I didn’t talk about it much. It was only this morning that I learned from Graham, one of the superintendents on my hotshot crew, that he’d become a single dad straight out of high school after an unplanned pregnancy and his daughter’s mom taking off and leaving him with the baby.

He’d told me if I needed any advice to ask him. He’d also offered to babysit if I ever needed help.

I smiled down at my mom. “No need to worry about that. I’m more than grateful to you and Dad. You can actually go home and get some rest,” I prompted gently.

“I made you a casserole and prepped some lunches for Dora,” she said.

“Mom! You don’t have to do everything.”

She shrugged. “Leo, I’m retired. Let me be a doting grandmother.”

Something between a sigh and a chuckle slipped out. “Thank you for everything.” I gave her a quick hug before she left.

Sometimes, life worked itself out. In this case, I was grateful my parents had moved back to Willow Brook when the job opened up for me here. I was also grateful I could live in the old rental property beside their house. This way, I didn’t feel like I was bunking in their house, which wouldn’t have been horrible, but I wanted my independence. I’d lived on my own ever since I’d graduated from high school.

The convenience of living a five-minute walk from their house made it easy for them to help with Dora. Even better, it meant I didn’t have to change jobs. I knew that was a foregone conclusion at some point, but this way when I was out at fires, my daughter’s life wasn’t too disrupted. As it was, she had already been through more disruption than I wanted to contemplate. I knew I still didn’t have the whole story and likely never would because her mom had died.

I walked on quiet steps down the hallway and peered into Dora’s bedroom. She was sound asleep with an arm flung over her head and one of her feet poking out from under the covers with her beloved stuffed elephant hugged against her side. The elephant was the first stuffed animal I’d gotten for her. I picked it out the same night I’d learned she’d be coming to stay with me. I’d been in a panic and gone to the local department store to race through the kids’ section.

I crossed over to her bed and leaned down to press a kiss on her forehead before I slipped out of the room and closed the door behind me.

Dora was so attached to the elephant she’d named Ellie that she’d cried one day when my mom washed it. Back in Juneau, the child protective worker had referred me to a therapist who helped with the transition. I hadn’t told Casey this, seeing as we’d had only one fake therapy session together, but I’d been thinking of trying to get a therapist here for more feedback on how to handle things with Dora.

Although Casey and I definitely weren’t even a real couple, I figured I might as well take advantage of the therapy sessions to talk a little bit about Dora. It would fill the time in the appointments.

I laughed under my breath. Casey would eventually find out that I was a single dad, but maybe that detail would dump some ice-cold water on the simmering chemistry between us. Not that I intended to act on it. I had other priorities. There was also whatever the hell Casey’s backstory was and why she needed someone to pose as her fiancé.

Chapter Five

CASEY

Every time I remembered that I wanted to get the whole story about Leo from Janet, she wasn’t there, or the café was busy. All the while, I scolded myself for being so curious.

Even more ridiculous was the fake engagement therapy situation I’d created out of stupid panic. Ever since I’d dragged Leo into that, I’d realized how stupid it was. I could’ve just kept on lying to my mother and pretending I was engaged. No one else needed to know. I also could’ve told her the truth. Except the truth felt way too complicated.

Before our next appointment approached, I realized I didn’t even have Leo’s phone number to confirm. He came in for coffee on the regular, but it was always busy and I was embarrassed to ask him about it. I didn’t want to seem desperate.

You’re worrying a lot about feeling desperate, my critical mind taunted me.

“Shut up,” I muttered under my breath.

The night before our appointment, I got a little reminder on my phone. As if on cue, my mother called me. While I didn’t have much trouble ignoring texts and calls from Nathaniel, I couldn’t ignore my mother. I loved her, even though there was a tangled, messy secret between us.

“Hi, Mom!” I injected as much cheer as I could into my voice.

“Hey, sugar,” she said in her light southern drawl. “Are you ready to come home yet?”

I cleared my throat. My heart thumped through several achy beats.

“I don’t think so, Mom. You know that I always wanted to come to Alaska. I love it here.”

Alaska was the last stop in my journey of flight away from my old life and the pain I left behind. This journey had initially started when I felt buried under grief after my sister died. I needed to be somewhere, anywhere, away from a place that reminded me of her every day.

About a year ago, I learned the whole truth about the path that led to her death. I didn’t know why, but after I left, my mom got it in her head that if I fell in love with Nathaniel, the son of their closest friends and neighbors, I’d come home. They missed me and she was casting about for a reason for me to come back. It didn’t help at all that Nathaniel went along with this asinine idea.

Whenever she brought him up, I would hedge. I’dneverbeen interested in him. It went from not being interested to a burning hatred and fear. I was afraid because I recognized how evil he was. He also knew what I knew now. So, I made up a fiancé and cast my sights on Alaska. It had always been a place I wanted to visit, but it became the place for me to escape, to create enough distance.

I’d stopped in Willow Brook that night because I was tired. I wasn’t even sure I was going to stay here. Janet made it all possible.

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