Page 46 of The Wedding Hoax

But instead of a kiss, she pulled away, moving her hand back to her side.

“So, what did you and Ruby talk about?” I mirrored her, moving my hands back, too. “I noticed you two hanging out in the corner of the room. Looks like you two are getting close.”

“Oh. She just wanted to know when we’re going to have kids.”

“Kids?” My heart started to race behind my chest. “She asked about when we’re having kids? Why would she even ask something like that? You didn’t bring it up first, did you?”

“Relax. I told her that it’ll happen when it happens.”

“But it’s not going to happen, right?” I pressed. “It’s never going to happen, right, Simone? Because you can’t have kids?”

“Are you suggesting that I lied to you about not being able to have kids?” Simone narrowed her eyes at me. “Because that would be a really fucked-up thing to accuse me of, Harry.”

“I’m not accusing you of anything. I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page.”

“Of course we’re on the same page.” She scoffed. “I know that none of this is real, Harry. Calm down. The only reason I didn’t tell Ruby about my medical stuff is because we’re not really family and I didn’t feel like involving her in my personal life. She didn’t need to know that I can’t have kids.”

She looked sad for a moment after she spoke, and a spark of jealousy flew through my veins.

Was Simone sad about not being able to have kids?

Or about not actually being a part of my family?

I wondered if she was going to miss them more than she was going to miss me.

But why did I care if she missed me at all?

“It’s good, though. That we can’t have kids,” I said. “We don’t want to make any permanent mistakes during our temporary situation.”

“Yeah, I think you’ve made yourself clear on that.” Simone nodded, something still so sad about her. “All right. I’m going to go catch up on my emails. We’ll talk later?”

“Yep. Talk later.” I waved her off, and she walked out of the room.

Images of playing catch with Maxon began to play in my head. For a brief moment, I wondered what it would’ve been like to be a dad instead of an uncle, to have a Maxon of my own running around brunch.

I wondered what it would’ve been like to chase after the kids with Simone, wrangling them to get ready for brunch, teaching them to have manners in public—

No.

I couldn’t waste my time thinking about things that were never going to happen. Especially things that I didn’t want to happen.

I didn’t want that with Simone. I didn’t want that with anyone.

It was just a tempting fantasy and nothing more.

18

SIMONE

I avoided Harry for the rest of the afternoon.

There was something about our conversation earlier, the way he wanted to be sure that I really couldn’t have kids. It made me feel like I was suddenly living under a microscope, like he was going to be watching my every move to make sure I hadn’t been lying to him.

Ugh.

Why’d he have to be like that? I knew he was different from his family, but couldn’t he at least be a little warmer? A little more inviting?

They had their problems, sure, but they’d never made me feel like I was somehow in the wrong just for existing.

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