Page 122 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
CLAIRE
Leaving the island was a bittersweet goodbye. It was a goodbye and yet a new beginning.
I looked over at Ryan and watched him control the plane. I didn’t think I would ever get tired of watching him man the controls. It was such a turn-on.
We were landing in New York at one of his hangars. I was nervous about bringing Ryan home, but this was a necessary step. We were making the parent rounds. We were both anxious.
“It’s going to be fine,” he assured me.
I got into the front seat of his car that had been left at the airport. “Do I look okay?”
“You look beautiful as always.”
It wasn’t really my looks I was worried about. I knew my family name was stained. Anyone who was around when my father lost his money knew about it. I wasn’t sure if the details were ever really known, but there were more than enough rumors to make up for the lack of facts.
His mother answered the door. She was vaguely familiar. The Jones family was in a different league. They were old money. My family had been a little of both. Mom had money and married my dad, who was comfortable, and then they rose up together. We’d lived a luxurious life and apparently way outside of our means.
“Hello,” she said. “You must be Claire.”
“Hello, Mrs. Jones,” I said.
“Please, call me Maggie,” she said. She hugged Ryan. “Glad you came by. I’ve made sandwiches and tea.”
We followed her into a lavish sitting room. Eliza was there with her two little girls, along with his father. “I’m sure you remember your co-conspirator,” Ryan joked when Eliza approached.
“Hi,” I said. “You’re all grown up!”
“Yes, I am. It’s good to see you in person. These are my girls, Tara and Cara.”
I crouched low. “Hi, Cara. Hi, Tara. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Are you Uncle Ryan’s girlfriend?”
“She’s my fiancée,” Ryan announced.
That wasn’t exactly how I thought we were going to tell them the news. I got to my feet and took in their looks of surprise. “Is this real?” his father asked.
Ryan grabbed my left hand and held it up. I was wearing a new ring on my finger. The other ring was on my right hand. It held sentimental value. I wasn’t ready to give it up.
“Congratulations!” Eliza said with a bright smile. “And you’re welcome, Ryan.”
“I knew it was you,” he said with a shake of his head.
“You didn’t tell him?” Eliza asked me.
“Nope, I promised you I wouldn’t.”
“Tell him what?” Maggie asked.
“I got them back together,” Eliza said proudly.
“They were apart?” his mother asked.
“Yes, but not anymore.”
“Tell me how this all went down,” Ryan said. “Claire has refused to tell me.”
We sat down and Eliza was clearly very happy to tell her big brother about our little operation. “Claire reached out to me via Facebook. She told me what happened. Since you hadn’t called and told me you left your little vacation, I knew you were licking your wounds. You’re very predictable. But I also didn’t want to step into the middle of it. I told her you were likely in California. I gave her a general idea about where.”
