Page 58 of As They Are
“No. I’m really dating someone else.”
He looked between me and Henry. “Interesting. You know, I’ll let this happen. The whole fake dating thing was really limiting anyway. Good luck dealing with Madison, though.” He waved and walked off, completely unbothered.
“Nice people,” Henry remarked, his voice tight.
I took my hand out of his. “We should talk.”
“Yes, we should.”
He didn’t sound thrilled with me, and I didn’t blame him. I should have figured out a way to deal with my problems without dragging him into it.
“I’m rich!” Dale yelled. “Finally, I won a bet!”
“I need to know how this happened!” Kerry yelled it so loudly that we both jumped. “Every detail!”
“We can’t go to the diner,” Henry said. “They’ll never let us have a moment alone.”
I let out a sigh. “Right. Have any other ideas?”
“Come with me.”
Great. Judging by the way he uttered the words through gritted teeth, hedefinitelywasn’t thrilled with me. He probably was taking me somewhere private to tell me what an idiot I was.
“Lead the way.”
Henry gave one nod and we left the square, heading down a few roads. We came up on a two-story house with a massive garden, which happened to be the one he unlocked the gate to.
“This is your place?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Wow. This is very well landscaped. Do you hire someone for this?”
“No. It’s just how I relax.”
Oh boy. I had a feeling he would be doing alotof gardening after this.
“All right, just get it over with.” I crossed my arms. “You can yell at me now.”
His brow pinched. “Yelling doesn’t solve anything.”
“You’re obviously mad.”
“A little, but it’s because I havenoclue what just happened back there. And I despise beingthisin the dark.” He crossed his arms too. “Haven’t felt like this since the first day of med school, honestly.”
“I found a way out. One I should have discussed with you, but they can’t make me date Jude if they think I’m dating someone else.”
He stared and shook his head. “I’m still not following.”
There was an edge to Henry’s voice, a desperation I hadn’t heard before.
“Fake dating,” I said. “You and I pretend to be together to get Madison off my back about Jude. And then we go our separate ways.”
“Fakedating? Like what you did with Jude?”
“Yes. We say we’re together but we’re really not. Just for the camera. You can have your normal life and I can work on the library without being forced to like a man I hate. It’s a win-win! Well, kinda. For me, at least. But I’d make it worth your while. Name anything in your house and I’ll fix it. Or out of the house. I’ll do anything you need me to.”
“Hang on. I just need a minute.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead while I lapsed into silence. I watched as he began to pace around.
