Page 85 of The Fiancé Hoax

“I didn't catch your name,” I said, keeping the panic out of my voice. I took a step toward the door.

He looked at me. “The name’s Drew.”

“Lovely to meet you, Drew. I'm afraid that I'm closing early today. Sorry about that.” I crossed the space toward the front door. I opened it, waiting expectantly for him to leave.

He grinned at me as he breezed past. “No worries. I'll stop by another time.”

I slammed the door behind him and locked it.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I raced to the cash register, my heart pounding. I retrieved the engagement ring from the drawer and returned it to my ring finger. Cooper's going to kill me.

I grabbed my phone and dialed his number as my pulse raced.

“Hey, what's up?” he answered.

“Cooper, I have to tell you something. Something really bad.” I winced.

He drew in a sharp breath. “Okay. Just tell me.”

“I'm pretty sure that private investigator was just here at Moonstone. It was some creepy guy I've never seen before, and he started asking me a bunch of questions.”

“Did he have beady eyes that were too close together?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Fuck. That's him.” He paused for a second. “Well, I guess it was bound to happen. It's not that terrible if he just stopped by to check out your store.”

I swallowed. “No, the terrible part is that I wasn't wearing my engagement ring when he came by.”

“What?”

“I just took it off for the afternoon because it snags the fabric I was working with today.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

My stomach twisted. “I'm sorry, Cooper. I just needed to take it off for a few hours. I didn't know that guy was going to come to the store.”

“Jesus, Felicity. This is exactly what I warned you about. We have to put up a perfect front in public now that this guy is following us.”

“I know. I'm sorry.”

There was a sinking feeling in my core. My dad yelled at me for wearing the ring. Now Cooper was angry with me for taking it off.

He scoffed. “I don't think you're taking this engagement seriously, Felicity.”

“Please don't start with this again, Cooper. I promise I’m taking this seriously. You know how much I care about those girls.” And you, I silently added. “Besides, it's not like he took a picture. It would just be his word against mine.”

The last part I blurted out quickly, hoping it would help, but knowing it probably wouldn’t.

“You don't know if he took a picture or not,” Cooper said. “I'm sure he has some hidden camera. He may be a bargain basement private investigator, but I’m sure he at least has some cheapo camera you didn’t see.”

Tears pressed against my eyes. I didn't want to mess up Cooper's custody case. And I hated to disappoint him like this.

“What can I do to fix this, Cooper?”

He was quiet on the other end for a while. “I don't know,” he said flatly. “I don't know if it can be fixed.”

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