Everything got easier after the first few nights. Well maybe not easier, but more comfortable. Pretending to be a couple came more naturally when you were already doing what couples did. At least in the bedroom. We hadn’t discussed it after the first night—it just happened again, and then again. It’s as though we’d ripped off some invisible Band-Aid, and now sex was part of things. The sex was always good, always great, but each time afterward I was hit by a wave of regret. What was I doing to myself? What was going to happen when the week ended, and we returned to reality? Neither of us broached the topic, and I had a feeling we weren’t going to face it until we were back on campus and far away from our hotel room.

“Are you enjoying your week?” Grace asked as we sat on the porch sipping iced coffees. I was enjoying the beautiful day. The sun was out and a light breeze made the afternoon especially pleasant.

“Yes. It’s been wonderful. It’s so beautiful here.” My thoughts kept moving back to Kyle as I struggled to hold a conversation with his mom. He’d gone out kayaking with his grandfather, dad, and brother. I couldn’t blame him for leaving. From what he told me, he’d already wiggled out of golfing with his dad on a few occasions. If I’d thought he actually wanted to go with them I would have felt bad, but I knew he didn’t.

“This is one of my favorite places.” She sipped her coffee.

“I can understand that. It’s so peaceful.” I looked out at the lake in the distance.

“You’re good for him.” She spoke without looking at me.

“For Kyle?” I looked over.

She smiled. “Who else would I mean?”

“Thanks. You’ve got a great son.” A great son? I sounded ridiculous. If my mom could hear me. I shuddered. She’d kill me for the charade I was putting on—and sleeping with a guy who I wasn’t in a committed relationship with. Even at nineteen I found her opinion mattered to me. I owed her a phone call, but I wasn’t going to make it until I was back on campus.

“I can see why you caught his eye.”

“You can?” This I had to hear.

“You have a way about you. You bring happiness into the room.”

I nearly choked. “Uh, not really.”

“You haven’t been told that before?”

“No. Never.” It was usually the opposite.

“Are you close with your parents?”

“Define close.” I could use several terms to describe my relationship with my parents, but close wasn’t one of them.

She laughed. “I guess that answers my question.”

“I talk to my mom a decent amount. It’s just that she doesn’t really get me.” And she knew I was hiding something from her. One secret had changed our relationship for the worst, but it was too late to go back and fix that. Besides, she’d never look at me the same way if I told her now.

“I think you’d be surprised.”

“Is this a mom code or something? Defending each other?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m speaking from experience with my own mom.”

“Oh.” I was sure there was a story there, but it didn’t seem appropriate to ask. Besides, that would only open myself up to more questions.

“And your dad?”

“We talk sometimes. He’s cool, but he never knew how to deal with having a girl.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“I’ve got a brother.”

“Younger or older?”

“Younger by two years. He’s in high school still.”

“I look forward to meeting your family soon.”

I only smiled. Like that was going to happen?

She smiled slightly. “We probably have some time before Kyle gets back. Want to go do something?”

“What did you have in mind?” I’d learned to ask questions before agreeing to things.

“We can see if there are any openings at the spa. We can get all glammed up for tonight.”

“Is our dinner that formal?”

“Not really, but the last night of a trip is a great reason to get dressed up.”

“I’m glad I packed a couple extra dresses.” I’d ended up needing one every night.

“I get the sense that Kyle didn’t prepare you well for this trip.”

“If by prepare you mean he told me we were going to a lake in upstate NY, then yes, he prepared me.” And it was more than the proper attire he failed to prepare me for.

She laughed. “Shall we check out the spa?”

“Sounds great.” It didn’t sound great, it sounded awkward, but what choice did I have? I picked up the remainder of my iced coffee and followed Grace inside.

---

I waited uncomfortably as Grace wrangled appointments for us when there clearly weren’t any available. Evidently when Grace Bradley talked, people listened.

I smiled politely when an attendant led us to the nail room.

“Sorry I couldn’t get any facials for us, but we’ll do that next time.” Grace smiled.

“Really, you didn’t have to do any of this for me.” If there’d been a way to politely decline I would have, but every excuse I came up with sounded forced and my goal wasn’t to offend Kyle’s mom.

“But I wanted to. This will be fun. But first the important question, what color polish are you going with?”

I froze. I’d only had a handful of manicures in my life, and I’d only painted my own nails a few times more. “Something light I guess.”

“I bet a deep pink would look gorgeous with your skin tone.”

“Oh, sure. Thanks.” I accepted a bottle of bright pink nail polish that Grace held out.

I awkwardly took a seat in one of the spa pedicure seats. The water was piping hot, but I felt bad complaining. Maybe I was oversensitive or something.

“Is this water too hot for you, hun?” My pedicurist asked.

Considering I’d barely gotten my toes in, I couldn’t pretend. “A little bit.”

She pressed a button and encouraged me to try the water again. “See if that’s a little better for you.”

I slipped my feet in. “Much better. Perfect.” It was still a little bit hot for my taste, but I refused to put the woman out any more than absolutely necessary.

“Having a mother-daughter spa day?” The woman working on Grace asked.

“She’s not quite my daughter, but maybe one day.”

“Oh.” Understanding crossed the woman’s face. “She’s dating your son?”

“Yes. We’ve had a blast getting to know Jade this week.”

“Jade’s a beautiful name.” The woman smiled. “So exotic.”

Normally I’d have brushed away the talk about my name, but it was better than talking about my supposed serious relationship with Kyle. “Thanks. My mother named me after an author she really liked or something.”

“What’s your son’s name?” She looked at Grace.

“The son she’s dating is Kyle.”

“Kyle and Jade. They sound nice together.”

I smiled. “Thanks.” They did sound kind of catchy. I picked up a magazine and relaxed back against the chair. There was no reason not to enjoy myself. Who knew when I’d have the opportunity to get this pampered again?

Three hours later I walked out of the spa. The whole mani, pedi, make-up, and hair thing was a bit over the top; still it was also fun. I found Grace much easier to talk to than I would have expected. She’d been pleasant all week, but there was something different about spending one-on-one time together. If I ever did have a mother-in-law I’d have wanted one like her. She was so non-judgmental, and she seemed to get me. Or at least she got the parts of me I was willing to share.

She hugged me when we split in the lobby. “Thanks for that. I haven’t had that much fun in a while.”

“What are you thanking me for?” She’d clearly been the one paying for it all.

“For your company. It was appreciated.”

“Well, once again thanks for spoiling me with all that. I had a great time.”

“We’ll do it again next time.” She squeezed my arm gently before walking away.

If I wasn’t feeling so guilty about pretending I’d have been in a wonderful mood, but I was pretending and eventually she’d find out the truth. That thought upset me more than I would have expected a few days earlier. It was no longer out of guilt, but a more personal level of disappointment.

I walked back to the room, not quite sure whether I wanted Kyle to be back yet. One part of me wanted to get changed first so I could give him the full effect, but the other just wanted to see him.

“Hey, there you are.” Kyle jumped up from his seat by the desk when I walked in. He was wearing slacks with a button down shirt. Usually I preferred a more casual look on a guy, but he made it work.

“Hey, yeah got side tracked with your mom.”

“I see.” He walked over and ran his hands through my hair. “Looks good.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t a bad way to spend the afternoon.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“How was kayaking?”

“It was nice. I don’t get to spend time with my grandfather a lot, so it was worth it if only for that. Sorry for leaving you.”

“Clearly I found a way to spend my time.”

He laughed. “That you did.”

“I still need to get changed, but I’m otherwise ready.”

“Is that your way of telling me to stay out of your way?”

“It’s my way of telling you I can be ready when you need me to be.”

“Are you okay?” He watched me carefully.

“Yeah, of course.” I shook off the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. This was our last night. I had no clue what was going to happen when we got back to campus. It was hard to know what part of our time together was real and what was fake. And no matter what happened, would we ever be able to go back to being friends? The thought of losing Kyle from my life completely chilled me.

“Would you tell me if you weren’t okay?”

“Maybe.” I’d done enough lying in the past week to last a lifetime. I selected the last of my dresses, a red halter style dress and a strapless bra and headed into the bathroom.

“Come on. You still won’t change in front of me?”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin the effect.”

He sighed. “I wish you’d get over this weird phobia.”

“It’s not weird and it’s not a phobia,” I called through the closed bathroom door. We were heading back to school in less than twenty-four hours. It wouldn’t be a problem for long.

“Whatever you say.”

I quickly got dressed and walked back out.

“Gorgeous.” Kyle’s eyes moved up and down my body. “Now can I undress you?”

“We have to go or we’ll be late.”

“And that matters?”

“I spent all afternoon with your mom. I’d prefer not to get on her bad side for the last dinner.”

“Which is why I’ll be good.” He kissed me gently on the cheek. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.”

“I haven’t said that.”

“Just making sure.” He took my hand and led me downstairs.

For once we weren’t the last ones at dinner. Only his grandparents were seated when we walked into the dining room.

“Hi, you two.” His grandmother smiled in greeting. “Did you have a nice day?”

“It was great,” I answered immediately.

“Kyle talked my ear off about you today, Jade.” His grandfather beamed. “I’ve never seen him so happy.” That seemed to be a popular line. If they only knew how much of it came from having lots of sex.

I smiled tersely. “That’s great.”

Kyle pulled out my chair and settled in next to me. After the first uncomfortable dinner, Kyle was careful to make sure we were always seated next to each other. We chatted comfortably with his grandparents while the rest of his family filed in. It turned out Grace and I weren’t the only ones dressed up. Dana had selected a formal look as well. She had her hair up in an elegant updo.

“Could I get everyone’s attention please?” His grandmother didn’t need to clink a glass to have all eyes on her. The matriarch of the Bradley family could command the attention of a room with only a word. She had this aura about her that was impossible to ignore. “This has been such a wonderful week. It’s always amazing to spend time with the family, but this year was extra special.” She turned to me.

Oh no. I held onto my chair for dear life. What was she going to say? “Jade, we are thrilled you decided to join us this year. We can tell that you bring Kyle so much happiness, and we are excited to see the life you two build together. I was going to give this to Kyle to give you at a later time, but it seems pointless to wait. You never know how much time you have.” She pulled out a black velvet box from her purse. “This was my mother’s, and I have always had it set aside for Kyle to give to the woman he decided to spend his life with.”

Forget hell. I was going somewhere far worse. “Oh. I couldn’t possibly take it.” I didn’t dare glance to the side to catch Kyle’s eyes. I was positive I was turning bright red. I was sick to my stomach. What was I supposed to do?

“Of course you can, and you will.” She held out the box toward me.

I thought fast. It was supposed to be Kyle’s anyway. I’d accept it and then give it back to him when we got to the room. He could put it aside for the right girl. Whoever that was. A chill spread through me, but I pushed it away. I wasn’t allowed to feel jealous of the girl Kyle was going to end up with.

“Jade?” His grandmother said my name.

The entire table was watching me, including Dylan who was wearing an even bigger smirk than usual. He was enjoying my discomfort.

After hesitating as long as possible, I opened the box to find a necklace covered in diamonds. I mean covered. It was probably worth more than most people’s annual salary. “Oh wow. This is too much.”

His grandmother’s face lit up. “Put it on her, Kyle. I bet it would look perfect.”

Kyle listened to his grandmother and lifted up my hair before carefully fastening the necklace around my neck. The stones were cold against my skin, and I knew I was wearing something I shouldn’t be.

Grace gasped. “Beautiful.”

I struggled to get out some words, but I knew my original idea of waiting and giving it back to Kyle in our room was out the window. “Thank you. This is a beautiful necklace, but I think Kyle should keep it until he knows who he wants to give it to.”

“I want to give it to you.” Kyle beamed.

Was he crazy? I was giving him an out so he wouldn’t have to look stupid when I gave it back. “Really. I insist.”

“And I insist you wear it. It’s perfect on you.” Was this how he planned to pay me back? Didn’t he realize this was even worse than paying me money? I decided not to argue anymore. There was nothing else I could say in front of his family.

I forced a smile during the rest of dinner even though I felt like even more of an imposter wearing the diamonds. I barely ate my meal, and I politely declined dessert. I was ready to get back to the room and to give the necklace to who it belonged to—Kyle.

Steve asked Kyle to hang back to talk, so I headed back to our room on my own before Dana or Grace could offer to walk with me. I wasn’t in a state of mind to talk to anyone. Not until I was able to take the necklace off. It was like a giant weight around my neck.

“He’s going to get tired of you.” Dylan’s dry voice came from directly behind me.

I ignored him at first, unwilling to step into one of his games.

“He’ll never settle for someone like you.” His tone was biting, and I knew he was purposely trying to get at me where it hurt.

“Someone like me?” I couldn’t hold off any longer. I spun around. “And pray tell me, who is someone like me?”

“A girl with no confidence.”

“I have confidence.”

“No you don’t.”

I sighed. “Leave me alone, okay? You’ve had your fun. Move along.”

“I’m trying to help you.” He stepped closer.

“No. You’re trying to upset me.”

“Sometimes you have to upset someone in order to help.” He leaned in, giving me a whiff of his hot alcohol filled breath.

“You’re not helping me, and you’re not helping your brother.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Dylan had the ability to make me immediately uncomfortable. I still couldn’t believe he was related to Kyle.

“Sure I’m helping him. No need for him to waste his time—or yours.”

“I know this confidence thing is your way of saying I’m not rich enough or something, and I know Kyle doesn’t care about that.” Without thinking I touched the necklace.

“This has nothing to do with money. Why would Kyle care about that? He has plenty.”

“Whatever.” I turned around and started walking away. I’d had more to drink than normal, and I wanted to be anywhere but here talking to Dylan.

“It has everything to do with confidence and chemistry. You have neither.” He grabbed my wrist and spun me around.

“And you’re an asshole.” I tried to shrug him off.

He laughed. “I knew you were fun underneath.”

“You have two choices. You get the hell out of my way, or I scream.” There was something about Dylan that terrified me. I didn’t actually think he’d purposely hurt me, but he was drunk, and people did really dumb things under the influence of alcohol.

“Are you threatening me?” He leaned in.

Kyle pulled Dylan back and away. “What the hell are you doing, Dylan?”

“Sorry, just talking.” Dylan smirked.

“Are you okay?” Kyle looked at me long and hard as if searching for a physical sign of something. “Was he bothering you?”

“No, it’s fine.” I noticed Steve and Grace heading in our direction. The last thing I needed was to make a scene.

“Are you sure?” Kyle took my arm. “You look upset.”

“Why would she be upset?” Dylan sneered.

“You did something or said something. I can tell.” Kyle spun toward Dylan.

Dylan smirked. “She said she was fine.”

“Because she’s protecting you for some stupid reason.”

“Stupid reason?” Dylan stuffed his hand in the pocket of his slacks.

“Yes. Now I already told you to stay the hell away from her. Can’t you do one fucking thing I ask you to do?”

“I’m saving you both some trouble.”

“The only trouble here is you.” Kyle shoved his brother in the chest. Dylan stumbled back.

I covered my face. What a mess. I had no idea what was behind Dylan’s problem with me, but I wanted to have no part in their fight.

“What’s going on here?” Steve noticed his sons fighting and headed over.

Kyle shook his head. “I told you to stay away from her.” He took my hand and led us back toward our room.