Page 9 of Fake Fiance with Benefits

We sat on the back porch and chatted a while about the people we used to know here, laughing at the good times we’d had in this tiny place we’d called home.

“Remember the old cabin?” I asked.

“Sure,” Rain replied.

Her slight smile told me they were good memories, and I pressed on without considering where it might lead.

“I still remember skinny-`dipping and then having to hide in the bushes when Leigha came looking for us.”

“Oh! She was so upset when she found our clothes on the dock, but no sign of us.”

“We were upset too, once we realized she took our clothes with her when she left to go back home,” I said with a chuckle.

“Yes.” Rain laughed. “We had to sneak home wrapped in sheets from the cabin, and you had to go in and ask for your clothes because your keys were in your pocket. She only gave them to you after lecturing us on being too young to be having sex.”

I laughed. “When was the last time you went down there?”

“Not for a long time,” she said, and something in her tone told me I’d gone too far. “I’m sure it’s about fallen in by now.”

I wanted to tell her about the cabin, about the work I’d done to it, but knew better. I wished I’d never brought it up.

“Listen, I’ve got to get up early in the morning for Grandma’s funeral, so I guess we should call it a night,” she said.

I didn’t put up a fight. This was still progress between us. I let myself out, leaving her to sit on the back porch for who knows how long before she went to bed. I wanted to believe she was thinking about me and that it wasn’t bad, but I’d never know. A part of me wondered how many of my thoughts about Rain could be attributed to any real feelings and how many were just my feeble brain’s efforts to make up for my mistakes, one of which was ever leaving her behind.

4

Rain

The day couldn’t be more suited for a funeral with the dark clouds that eclipsed the sun, threatening to pour down buckets as I walked out to the rental car and climbed behind the wheel. It looked out here like I felt inside. It had been hard to really dwell on things the last few days with everything going on, but now it hit hard. I was going to see my grandmother for the last time today.

It had been almost six months since I had last seen her. We had sat across from one another at a small diner in nearby Moseley. It was neutral territory for us. The last time I had visited her at home, Jon had been there to repair broken steps, and it had rattled me. When our discussion had revealed he was purchasing the house next door and would be handy to her, I had been glad that she had him to look over her, but it was too close for my comfort. We started meeting in nearby Moseley instead. I used the excuse that it was easier for me not having to rent a car and drive out, but she knew the real reason.

She had been in good health. I’d have never dreamed that she would be gone so soon. My parents had long been gone, and she was all I had. Even Grandpa had passed when I was too young to remember him. We had talked about my engagement, already making plans for a wedding in Los Angeles, which she had said she would fly out for, despite not being a fan of flying. Even then, there had been problems between my fiancé Shaun and me but I was under the misguided notion that they would work out. I kept it positive, not wanting her to know I was having any problems she needed to worry about.

Now, Aunt Bertha would use those last moments I had with Grandma to paint me as some sort of liar, out to garner a woman’s fortune for myself. It wasn’t even a large fortune. Other than the substantial plot of land, nearly four hundred acres of it, she had only a little money in the bank. The money that had been set aside for me from my parents’ life insurance and savings had been used to send me through veterinary school, and what was left had been invested in the clinic I ran alongside Shaun.

Contrary to what Aunt Bertha believed, I would never sell the land. I hadn’t expected to inherit it at all, but now that I had, I would keep it in my family as it had been for generations. I felt I owed Grandma that for not coming to visit more often, for settling for a quick phone call between patients instead of flying out to spend real time with her.

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