Fakecation, page 9
“No, it’s just smudged.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” John said before putting on a picture-perfect smile.
Daniel tried not to listen as John flirted with the man, but it was almost impossible. After successfully getting the barista’s number, John put in his order.
“Oh,” John said. “And his order is on me.”
“What?” Daniel asked. “You don’t have to—”
“You’re the first potential brother-in-law I like. Plus, I owe my sister a coffee.”
“Since when?”
“Since I was a pain in her ass in high school. I try to make up for it sometimes. Now, tell the gorgeous man what you both want.”
Daniel didn’t argue but thanked John after he paid for the order.
As they headed back to the condo, John was already shooting a message to the barista, and Daniel took a moment to process all that had happened this morning.
He had to tell Terri what had gone down with their father. She’d want to know.
When they got to the elevator, Daniel gave John Amelia’s drink. “Mind giving this to your sister? I have a family call I need to make.”
“Oh, sure. You do what you have to.”
Once John was in the elevator, Daniel found a small table to sit at and sent his sister a message.
Daniel: Are you free? I need to call you.
A few minutes later, his phone rang.
“What’s up?” Terri asked.
Telling her the news needed to be like ripping off a Band-Aid. “Dad and Lucinda are engaged.”
“What the fuck?” Terri said slowly. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“How did you find out?”
“He just called me.”
Terri made a sound of disgust. “I hate him. I hate him so much. Honestly, Daniel, this is awful of them, but not surprising. Dad’s been wanting a trophy wife for a while.”
“Yeah, but he didn’t have to take my wife.”
“No, he didn’t, but you have to admit, Lucinda is the kind of person who wants to be someone’s trophy.”
Daniel sighed. He’d felt the sharp sting of betrayal when he’d first found out, and while this still hurt, he was glad Lucinda was getting exactly what she wanted.
If only she would leave him alone to do it.
“I just thought you should know,” he said.
“Do you want any advice?”
“Not really. I mean, I have enough sense to know it’s wrong, but that doesn’t make it any better.”
“It doesn’t,” Terri said. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” At that moment, a child ran past. His voice was loud as he yelled for his sibling to give something back.
“What was that?”
“A kid,” Daniel said, sighing.
“Wait, are you at the beach right now?”
“I am.”
“So, you did go!” Terri laughed. “Finally! Some good news! How is it going?”
“It’s . . . something, that’s for sure.”
“Tell me about Amelia.”
“She’s . . . hard to describe.”
“In a bad way?”
“No, not at all,” he said. “She’s . . . incredible.”
“Incredible, huh? I need some details.”
“She and her family have been welcoming. They’re all so close-knit, but very welcoming.”
“That’s good. At least it’s not drama central. Are you having fun?”
“Yes. Amelia is fun in a way I’m not used to.” She was many things he wasn’t used to.
“Can you see herself dating her?”
“In a fake way? Yes.”
“Come on, what about a real way?”
“I just got divorced.”
“Sure, but you can look. Maybe this fake relationship can turn into a real one.”
“She said she doesn’t do relationships.”
“Fine. Then a rebound?”
“Not with a coworker.”
“Ugh. I just want you to move on. Call me when you sleep with someone,” Terri said. “Wait, maybe don’t. Maybe wait, until like, after.”
“That is not something a normal sister would say.”
“When was I ever normal? I just want you to find your fairy tale happy ending, that’s all.”
“For now, my happy ending is paused until I see how Dad announcing his new fiancée will go.”
“Fair enough. Then just have fun. Go mini golfing. Just keep your head on and try to enjoy yourself. That’s what I did when I got lost in South Dakota.”
“I thought it was Montana.”
“Oh, it was multiple states,” she said. “But this is good. It sounds like this might be a real vacation for you.”
“Yeah, maybe it is,” he said, nodding. “And maybe I do need to be more like you.”
“Well, you won’t really be like me until you fall in love on one of those adventures. But I’ll give you a few years to catch up on that one,” she joked. “Seriously, though—I’m glad you’re okay.”
Daniel smiled. “Thanks, Terri.”
“And call me if anything interesting happens. I swear, I always wanted you to do something like this. It’s better than reality TV.”
Chapter Eleven
Amelia
“He said he wanted to be alone?” Amelia asked, frowning over her coffee. John had been the one to deliver her a caramel latte this time but said Daniel had chosen it. She wanted to thank him since John had made it clear that Daniel had gone with the specific intention of getting something for her.
“Yeah, I think something is going on with his family. He seemed a little mad.”
Shit. Anger wasn’t a good emotion.
Maybe it was her. Maybe she got too close to him in the middle of the night. She’d woken up in the center of the bed, after all.
“Amelia,” John said, taking in her expression, “I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Yeah, me too,” she lied. Her feet itched to go downstairs and find him. But he said he needed time, and she would give him that. “I think I’m going to go on a walk on the beach to clear my head.”
While walking along the shore, she didn’t find the clarity she was in search of. Usually, she liked being alone, but this time, it felt empty, like something was missing.
She turned. Maybe she needed to head back to the condo and scroll on social media. Or she could try reading again. Anything to get her mind off this worry that she had somehow messed this up with Daniel.
As she got back, she saw him sitting at a table near the pool. Her eyes caught on him, and he looked up right as she walked toward him.
But she didn’t see his facial expression. She saw his hair. It was free from its prison of styling, and it flew wild in the windy air. She’d seen this yesterday when they were in the water, but it was another story when dry and windswept.
“Hey,” he said. “I hoped you liked your coffee. I took another guess.”
“Your hair,” she managed to say.
“Oh, this. Yeah, I had an off morning, so I didn’t style it. If it looks bad, I’ll go inside and—”
“No,” she said. “It looks fantastic. You should wear it like that more often.”
“Really?” He reached up to touch it. “It can get a little frizzy, but it’s so much easier to have it like this.”
His cheeks were red, and Amelia stopped herself from blurting out anything else about how damn perfect he looked.
She took a deep breath, trying to get her heart to calm down. “Thank you. For the coffee, I mean. I loved what you got me. You guessed my usual order.”
“Really?”
“It was spot-on. Nice work. But I think it was too caffeinated. Now I’m all jittery.” And it definitely didn’t have anything to do with how one curl had landed on his forehead. Nope. Not at all. “And sometimes when I’m jittery, it feels like the world is about to end or something.”
It didn’t make sense, and she didn’t expect Daniel to take it seriously.
But his hand rested on her arm. “It’s okay. Everything is fine.” His eyes shot up toward the balconies for a split-second. Then his eyes fell back to hers. “Come here.”
Pulling her close, he pressed his lips to her forehead. Her face exploded in heat, yet her heart calmed down. How was he doing this?
It seemed impossible, but she didn’t want to leave the warm cocoon of his arms. Her body leaned into his as the last of her tension escaped her muscles.
“That’s it,” he said. “Everything is okay.”
“Thank you.”
“Just in time for your mom to come out on the balcony too.”
Amelia looked up, realizing that it had all been for show again. “Oh, good call.”
Her mom waved and Amelia did the same, forcing a smile on her face. She should’ve been happy about this. He was doing exactly what he was supposed to.
And yet, she wished it had been only for them.
“John mentioned that he doesn’t date. Is your mom as hard on him as she is you?”
“Not really,” she said. “Which is weird now that you mention it. Why do I have to fake date someone in order to get her off my back?”
“It’s a good question.”
“I’ll ask her once we stage our breakup in a few weeks.” Because that was coming, even if she was beginning to dread it.
“After our breakup. Of course.”
She could have sworn she caught a hint of disappointment in his voice, but maybe she was projecting her own feelings.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “We could go get breakfast.”
“Food does sound nice.” Especially since she’d just taken her medication. “Let’s walk down the block. I know a cute place.”
They walked to the Front Porch Café, which was a dog-themed breakfast joint. It featured all kinds of delicious breakfast foods with paintings of dogs everywhere.
It was a good meal. She told Daniel some of John’s best moments from their childhood, and he shared some about his sister too.
When they got back, the condo was quiet, but her mom’s purse was where it had been that morning. Amelia frowned. Usually, they went out and about. Now that she thought about it, her mom hadn’t been dressed when she saw her on the balcony.
Amelia peeked into the master bedroom and saw her mom asleep, even though it was almost noon.
It worried her whenever her mom would get like this. When she was a kid, she didn’t understand why her mom would be doing a million things at a time one week and nothing the next.
Then she figured out it was bipolar disorder, what used to be called manic depression.
Amelia hated thinking about what her mom went through mentally, and for the longest time, she thought she didn’t need to worry about it. She’d never had manic episodes like her mom did. She never went weeks without wanting to sleep. Sure, she had moments where she did all the cleaning and organizing in the world, but she would stop halfway through. That made her normal, right?
Only it didn’t. Amelia hadn’t inherited the bipolar disorder from her mom, but she had something different. In Amelia’s case, it was ADHD.
When she’d heard about it, she thought it was a childhood disorder that didn’t really affect adults.
But she couldn’t help but notice how messy and chaotic her life had become. She couldn’t focus on anything she wanted to. She had sensory issues. And her ADHD was what ruined her last relationship.
This was what she didn’t want Daniel to see. This is what would make him change his opinion of her forever.
“Did your mom go back to sleep?” he asked as he walked into the condo. “Is everything okay?”
“Um, yeah,” Amelia lied. In reality, her mom would more than likely be down for a bit and then come out of it since she was on medication. But it was always noticeable. She glanced outside to see her dad on the balcony. “I think I’m gonna go catch up with my dad for a minute. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” Daniel said. “I’ll be in our room.”
She nodded and stepped outside. She sat next to her dad who was reading a book and looking calm. He was always like this—he never seemed worried, and Amelia felt like her whole life was a ball of stress.
“Hey, is Mom okay?” Amelia asked.
“I think so. She reduced her medication a few weeks back, so this is to be expected.”
“Why did she reduce her meds?”
“They started making her dizzy all the time,” he replied. “And she’s been feeling better, just a little up and down.”
“Oh.” She bit her nail. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have bothered to ask Daniel to come with them.
“Why do you look worried?”
“Daniel doesn’t know about all of . . . this.”
“I thought you two were dating.” He raised an eyebrow.
Amelia doubted she would have told him even if they were really dating.
“We are,” she said, the lie tasting like acid in her mouth. “But he still doesn’t know.”
“Amelia, mental health is important. He should know.”
“I told you guys this was new.”
“I know it’s new, but I figured he would at least be aware of what was going on.”
“I can’t exactly tell him that my mom has bipolar disorder on the first date.”
“You’re not on the first date anymore, are you?”
She didn’t have an answer for him because he was right. Maybe if she hadn’t seen how Andrew reacted, she would have given it a shot. Maybe if she had any faith left in people, she would have been honest.
“Amelia, I love your mother despite her mental health,” he said. “I loved her before she was on medication for it, and I love her now. Having any kind of diagnosis doesn’t doom a couple.”
“It did with Andrew.”
Her dad sighed. “Andrew had his own problems that ruined that relationship. I don’t know him all that well, but I can already tell Daniel is different than Andrew.”
“I don’t know that for sure yet.”
Her dad looked at her, eyes slightly narrowed. “You’ll have to find out eventually if this is going to go anywhere.”
Amelia gritted her teeth, trying to keep from admitting the fact that she knew this wasn’t going to go anywhere, that this was all a sham and set up to get her mom off of her back.
He could sense her frustration, just like he always did. “I’m not going to push you on it. I just hope that one day you will feel comfortable enough to tell him and that he doesn’t let you down. Not everyone is Andrew.”
Amelia shrugged. “Sometimes it feels like it. Most doctors don’t even know that women show different symptoms than men, who usually get diagnosed far earlier than women. I still hear people at work call themselves bipolar when their mood slightly changes. I don’t trust people not to think I’m . . . crazy . . . when they find out. Or think I’m faking it.”
He nodded. “And you’re right. The world isn’t ready, and they have some extremely uneducated opinions on what bipolar disorder and ADHD are, but it doesn’t mean Daniel is one of those people.”
“I guess.” Amelia gave a shrug as she looked out over the ocean.
“I’m not saying you need to tell him before you’re ready,” he continued. “But don’t just assume he’s going to act like Andrew.”
She nodded. If this had been real, her dad’s advice would have been good. But this wasn’t. Daniel was her coworker, and he had no reason to be kind about her ADHD. He had no reason to even care.
“Your mom’s going to be okay,” he said after a moment. “She just needs a little time.”
She knew that he could take care of her mom. He had always been the calm one of the family. He didn’t have knee-jerk reactions, nor did he ignore issues that he needed to address. He was almost the opposite of her mom. They balanced each other out.
It was what Amelia had hoped she would have with Andrew.
“Thanks for letting me know,” she said. “I better get back to Daniel.”
“Any time, kiddo.”
Amelia went back inside, still feeling nervous about Daniel seeing all of this, but when she closed the door, she took a deep breath, trying to channel her dad’s easygoing attitude.
Daniel was reading. He looked up, worry still etched on his face.
“My mom is fine,” Amelia said. “Just tired. We all get like this on vacation. It’s like the sun saps all of our energy.”
He nodded and put down his book. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe we should let her rest, though. I’d hate to accidentally wake her up.”
“We could go swimming again,” she offered, glad Daniel seemed okay with letting her mom have time to rest.
“Maybe the kids went in for lunch,” he said. “So we won’t get splashed this time.”
Chapter Twelve
Daniel
The kids were not gone. In fact, it was worse than the day before. The pool was completely taken over by Marco Polo.
“There are a few spots left in the hot tub,” Amelia said. “We could go there.”
Even though the hot tub was more crowded than he wanted, Daniel would rather face that any day.
The warm water encased him as he got in. Amelia followed suit, her thigh brushing his as she sat.
“S-sorry,” she said, her cheeks pink. “I can get out if I’m too close.”
“It’s fine,” he replied. “I’m not bothered.”
And he wasn’t. He craved having her closer, but he was afraid of what might happen if she saw how much it affected him.
Mercifully, the water covered both of them. As long as he didn’t think about her for too long, he would manage not to embarrass himself.
But she was nearly knocked into him as someone else forced their way into the hot tub. She pressed against him tighter, but he could see she didn’t like having a stranger in her personal space. Daniel felt her hips turn away, so she was sitting at an angle, but it still wasn’t enough room.
He had an idea. A very bad one.
“Amelia,” he said. He had to lean in to say the words right into her ear because of the noise of the hot tub. It made saying her name feel more intimate than it was. “You could . . . sit on my lap.”
