Page 81 of The Fiancé Hoax

“Nick, I’ve got a situation,” I muttered. I told him about the sleazeball following me.

“Sounds like a private investigator,” Nick said. “Just be vigilant. Don’t do anything that would jeopardize the custody case.”

“So keep doing what I’m doing.”

“Felicity needs to be vigilant, too.”

“Okay.” I looked out the window behind my desk.

“It might be a good idea to hire a PI for our side, too, you know.”

I clenched my jaw. “Is that necessary?”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

I sighed. “Fine. Got any contacts? I’m not exactly up to speed with the PI market these days.”

Nick assured me he would take care of it, and we hung up. I shook my head, staring out the window. Gen was not making this easy.

* * *

“A real private eye? Like in the movies?”

Later that evening, after we had put the girls to bed, I sat at a table in Felicity's sewing studio. I told her about the unsavory character following me. And about the run-in with her father.

She took the news in stride. Or maybe she was too focused on her work to care that much.

“Yeah, it's nuts. I never would have thought Gen would stoop this low.”

Felicity cut some green fabric from a bolt and began to position a pattern over it.

When she didn't say anything, I went on. “I mean, if she has the money to hire a private investigator, why does she need more from me?”

“I have no idea,” Felicity mumbled.

“Anyway, we have to be perfect in public. There's no room for mistakes now that this guy will be watching us.”

Felicity's brow furrowed as she cut out what looked to be the front piece of a kid's shirt. She began to pin it to another piece, holding several pins in between her teeth.

“Okay,” she said between her clenched teeth.

Something about the way she hardly looked up from her work bothered me.

“One little slip-up could mean the end of my custody case.”

Felicity didn’t respond. She bent over her work so that I could no longer see her face. Maybe it was the stress of the whole situation, but I was starting to get irritated.

“Felicity, are you listening to me?”

She looked up. “Of course I’m listening.” She looked back down and finished pinning the shirt.

“Because you seem a little distracted,” I said with a sarcastic edge to my voice. “I'm telling you this is really important for the custody case. And you don't seem to be taking it very seriously.”

She stared at me for a long moment, taken aback by the anger in my voice. “Cooper, I am taking it seriously. I'm just stressed out about all this work I have to do for the new children's line. But I can work and listen at the same time. I heard every word you said.”

I looked away. “Okay. I just hope you understand the gravity of all this.”

She took a step toward me and reached for my hand. “I completely understand how serious it is.”

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