Page 41 of The Fake Date Agreement

Before my diagnosis, I was a size eight to ten. Suddenly, I felt like I was inInvasion of the Body Snatchers. It didn’t matter what I ate, how much I exercised or dieted, I had no control over my body.

I blanch when Clarissa offers to bring out some pretty lingerie.

Trying on dresses and jeans is one thing.

But lingerie?

Lingerie?

I start having heart palpitations.

Javier lowers his magazine and looks at me, then turns to Clarissa. “Just the basics is fine. She doesn’t need to try those on.”

I resume breathing, and we move along to shoes.

We leave the boutique store weighed down by bags, and Javier refuses to listen to me when I tell him he’s spending too much money on me.

“He’s loaded.” Reid checks his phone. “More money than sense.”

Javier arches a brow on our way back to the car. “I’m standing right here.”

“So you are,” he says with a smile, tucking away his phone. “He is also the most generous person I know. He arranged for a private plane for me to get home fast when my brother got hurt at work and wound up in the hospital.Thenhe paid for my brother’s treatment without telling me.”

“It was the least I could do.” Javier opens the trunk of his car, and we fill it with shopping bags.

Reid snorts. “The least you could have done was buy me a bus ticket or tell me to fuck off.” He bumps shoulders with Javier. “What you did was above and beyond, man. I’ll never forget it.”

I never had a big, tight-knit circle of friends. I’m friendly with the people in my class and will occasionally hang out with the girls on my floor, but I don’t have the sort of bond that Reid and Javier have.

My dad told me that when I moved away for college, my friends would become family, and I shouldn’t feel guilty aboutnot coming home for the holidays if I wanted to spend time with them instead of him. I always went home because I couldn’t let him spend the holidays alone.

“You’d have done the same,” Javier says, slamming the trunk shut. “We’re not done yet.” He snags my wrist and tugs me back toward the mall when I move to get to the passenger seat.

“Sure, I would have,” Reid says. “Know anyone who can leave me a ten-million-dollar inheritance?”

My eyes pop. “How much?”

I can’t even imagine that much money.

“His family was loaded already.” Reid takes pity on me by explaining something I’m struggling to get my head around. “For him, it’s like having another pool of money to dive in.”

Javier arches his eyebrow.

“What?” Reid makes his eyes big. “Everyone knows rich people spend their weekends diving into pools of gold like Scrooge McDuck.”

I grin as Javier approaches a beauty store and holds the door open.

Of course, by then, it’s too late to turn around and walk away.

“No need to look so terrified,” Javier says with a soft smile as he places his hand on my lower back and nudges me inside. “This is supposed to be fun.”

My mind flashes back to trying on makeup with my mom, and a tightness forms in my chest. It’s still forming when a man with a dark beard and brown hair tied back in a low bun approaches.

Javier says, “We have an appointment for Tobie. She doesn’t wear much makeup, so I don’t want you to go heavy. She has beautiful features, her eyes especially are stunning. Basics are fine. Something she can do herself for a day look and can take into evening or night. And show her what you’re doing.”

I look at Javier, again caught by surprise at how this shopping trip is going.

He shrugs. “I have a sister obsessed with makeup.”

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