Page 19 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
He nodded. “Deal.”
I closed my eyes and hoped like hell he didn’t recognize the name. “Della Fontenot.”
“Son of a bitch,” he hissed. The waitress was just bringing him his drink. He took it, downed it, and handed her the glass. “Thank you. Bring me another please.”
“Can I have another as well?” I asked nicely.
“Sure,” she said and walked away.
“Well, I guess that solves that,” he said. “You’re here as the, um, the person from Faux’s?”
“Your escort?” I asked dryly.
“I would prefer if we just said date.”
“You can prefer whatever you want,” I said. “It is what it is.”
The waitress returned with our fresh drinks. We were just a little too eager to get our hands on them. “This is awkward,” he said.
“That feels a bit like an understatement.”
Embarrassed and humiliated didn’t even begin to explain the way I felt. If I could disappear, I would. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for an invisibility cloak.
Nerd alert. It was something my fourth-grade students always wrote about when asked what superpower they would want.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“What don’t you understand?” I asked.
“Why are you here?” He took another drink and stared at me.
I found myself staring at him as well. He was the same and different at the same time. He had the same big brown eyes that softened his image but he was all man now. He’d been a big teenager back in the day but his chest and shoulders were much broader. He was still lithe but not skinny.
“I think you know why I’m here,” I said.
“I mean, why are you here?” he repeated.
“Are you seriously asking me to tell you why I’m working as an escort?” I asked sarcastically.
It was an automatic defense. I was embarrassed and pissed and the only thing I had left was snark. I didn’t want my client to be him. I didn’t want the person to know who I was. It made anonymity very difficult when there was a history.
This whole idea was bad from the very beginning. I knew better than to fall for a quick money scheme. When Norah found out, she was absolutely going to lose her shit. She was against the idea from the beginning.
“I’m not sure what to say,” he said. “This is really weird.”
“It is,” I agreed. And then because I needed to try and save face, I tried to act normal. “So, are you here for the reunion?”
“I am. You?”
I nodded. “That and Norah’s wedding.”
“Me too,” he said.
“And that’s why you wanted a date,” I said with a nod.
“How have you been?” he asked without confirming my assumption.
“Fine. You?”
