CARA

It takes two weeks for Ben and Elana to hear I’m dating someone.

I knew they’d find out eventually. Obviously, when I fake-elope, they’d hear then at the latest.

But for some reason, I didn’t really connect the dots that telling Nana to back off with her matchmaking plans would lead to my siblings being worried about this guy named Alex, and his intentions toward their baby sister.

Good thing I have my log.

I tell Ben that Alex is sweet, and a total gentleman. I’m not sure he buys it, but it’s the truth, in a way.

Elana’s a tougher one to divert.

“Tell me everything,” she says when I answer the phone Saturday afternoon.

“Not much to tell,” I hedge.

“Liar!” She sighs. “Come on, I promise I won’t tell Nana and Ben. Who is this guy who’s finally opened your eyes to romance?”

I hesitate. “He’s…I mean…it’s… Honestly, he’s the last guy I ever would have thought I’d like, you know? But I knew from the second he kissed me that it was something special.”

Again, not a lie. My face is flaming hot.

“When do we get to meet him?”

Whoa. “Ummm…. Not sure.” I need Toby to hire him first. “He’s got a lot on his plate with work right now. And you know, the whole we-live-in-a-different-country thing.”

“Bring him to the Hamptons this summer.”

“I might.” Not. That would be way too much to ask an escort to do. Also, I’m awkward as fuck. There’s no way I can pretend to be in love with some random guy for an entire weekend. We’re going to do one Sunday tea with Nana before he turns out to be a workaholic who never wants to leave Toronto again.

I hear flipping on the other end of the phone. “It looks like Ben’s heading to the beach house with Toby and Jake for the Fourth of July. And then again the first week of August…do either of those work? Or would you rather avoid them? What’s Alex like? Would he get along with Ben’s friends?”

My head swims as I imagine pretending to be in love with an escort in front of Toby. “I don’t know. I said I might be able to make it, but let’s not put anything down in writing…”

“There are plenty of rooms. It’s really just about letting the housekeeper know how many people to shop for.”

“For God’s sake, Elana, I can buy my own groceries.” I regret snapping at her as soon as it’s out of my mouth. But seriously, how un-fun is it to schedule trips to the shore? I remember when I was a kid, and Ben would drive us down on a whim. Those weekends were the best.

“You do it your way,” she says softly, and I feel even worse.

“Your way is organized. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. If you decide to visit spontaneously, it won’t be that disruptive.”

Story of my life. Speaking of disruptions, she still hasn’t told me about the baby. I wonder if everything is okay, but if she wanted me to know, she’d tell me. “I’ll come down the Fourth of July weekend. No promises about Alex. He’s…” Fictional. “Private.”

“Sounds good. I love you, Cara.”

“Love you, too.”

* * *

My brain is still spinning with that conversation on Sunday morning when Toby texts me a reminder of our cyber-brunch.

I haven’t forgotten. I did a special grocery run yesterday and wrote how much I was looking forward to this in the log.

When he calls, it’s a video call. I’m still in the kitchen, adding some garnish to my plate. I answer and pick up my plate in one hand, and my iPad in the other.

“Hey there. Just heading to my table.”

“I’m still waiting for my food,” he says as the picture flashes to life.

He’s sitting at a table, too, but it doesn’t look like his house. It looks like an empty restaurant.

I give him a confused look. “Where are you?”

“A private dining room at a country club I belong to.”

“You went out for our cyber-brunch?”

“I don’t know how to make Eggs Benedict myself.” He says this like it makes perfect sense.

“But you could have made whatever. Toast or…”

“You’re having something fancy, I wanted something similar.” He grins and any thoughts I may have had about this being odd vanish.

Whatever. He wants someone else to cook for our brunch together, that’s no skin off my nose.

“Besides, we’re celebrating,” he adds.

“Right! Your shareholder meeting went well?”

“Sure.” He leans in toward the camera. “But I also got a message yesterday from Ben. Your family seems pretty stoked about Alex. Your plan is working.”

I pull a face at him. “Oh. That.”

“You aren’t thrilled?”

“I don’t know. Now that they all know, it’s kind of weird.” I take a deep breath. “It’s getting complicated.”

He laughs gently. “Yes. You knew it would.”

“Right. But…it’s different in reality.”

“Ah.” He leans back as a waiter sets a plate in front of him.

“Oh, that looks good!” I say.

“I got the smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon.”

“Hey, fun fact.” I hold up my plate. “They don’t even have Canadian bacon in Canada. True story. They use this delicious other kind of ham that we don’t have at home, and call it back bacon. It’s tasty. I’ll miss it when I leave.”

“We’ll have to get find you an international supplier if you like it that much.”

I laugh out loud before realizing he’s serious. I shake my head. “I don’t need special delivery of food.”

“Maybe for a special occasion.” He smiles, undeterred.

“Oh, Toby.” I play with my food a bit as I try to find a polite way to say I don’t like to be spoiled. Which is, in and of itself, an incredibly lucky thing to be able to say. “I really appreciate the thought. But the thing is, within reason, I don’t like to take advantage of…”

“My wealth?” Where Elana might bristle, Toby just shrugs. “I get that. I don’t like to waste money, either—not owning a private jet being just one example of that. But if you ever got homesick for something you’d had in one of your many temporary homes, I’d move mountains to get it for you.”

His words are earnest, but there’s a roughness to them, too, one that slices under my skin. I should push back against it, tell him I don’t need that kind of dedication—I don’t want it—but that wouldn’t be true.

So instead I change the subject, because while I can’t lie, I can evade like a champ. “Speaking of extravagance, Elana says you’re coming to the Hamptons a couple of times this summer.”

“That’s the plan. I love the Russo beach house.”

“She wants me to bring Alex.”

He chokes on the bite of food he’d just put in his mouth. “Excuse me?”

“Right? These are the kind of details I didn’t think through before leaping into my crazy plan.”

He covers his mouth as he swallows, then waves his hand as if that’s a minor detail. “So the guy works a lot and can’t get to the shore.”

“That’s what I told her.”

He winks. “Great minds.”

“This is your chance to tell me this is just too crazy.”

He gives me a long, studied look, then shakes his head. “I like your brand of crazy.”

“You’re the only one.”

“Ben and Elana love you.”

“I know. And Nana does, too. But there’s a difference between love and like. And none of them get me, so how can they like me?”

“Well, I get you. And I think you’re doing what you’ve gotta do. Don’t overthink it. You’ll have a quickie fake wedding, a quickie fake annulment, and buy yourself a few more months of… okay this plan is crazy.” He set his elbows on the table and leans in toward the camera. “Jesus, Cara, just tell your grandmother the truth.”

“No.”

“The risk analysis is terrible.”

“Don’t bring your business acumen to this conversation, Toby Hunt. That’s not what I like about you.” I’m lying. I like everything about him. “Come on. We’ve been over this. There’s zero chance I’m actually going to get married any time soon. That would require dating, which isn’t on my agenda in any way, shape, or form.”

He doesn’t say anything for a long, agonizing set of beats. It feels like a minute, at least, and a minute of silence is a long freaking time. “So if this isn’t a business plan, then what is it?” he finally asks.

“I just want… to be normal, in my Nana’s eyes. For a while. And yeah, the fake marriage isn’t going to work out, but that will be my fake husband’s fault. I’ll have given it a go.”

“A fake go.”

“Yeah.” God, it sounds pathetic, and a weird ache swells inside me. I blink hard, desperate not to ruin our cyber-brunch with tears.

I have never wanted my sister’s insane life. A husband with a crazy job, four boys under the age of ten. A career of her own. A constantly revolving set of household staff to support their crazy home life.

My parents had a weird marriage, too. And now they’re divorced and re-married, my father three times over. Nana had hated that so much, she’d cut him out of the company.

I sigh heavily. Well, my fake divorce is likely to cure her of wanting me on the board.

“Cara?”

I snap my attention back to the iPad on the table. “I drifted there.”

“Are you okay?”

“Totally fine. Now that you’re done with the shareholder meeting, what’s next for Starfish Instrumentation?”

The question is forced, and far too bright, but Toby accepts yet another change of subject from me. “Bah. You don’t want to hear about that.”

I pick up my fork and stab at my breakfast. “No, I really do.” I take a deep breath and give him a smile as I lift my gaze back up. “There’s nothing I’d rather talk about right now.”