Pretend You're Mine: A Small Town Love Story Read online

  “So what’s your plan once you get your stuff?”

  Harper pursed her lips and sighed. “Gas up my car and head to Hannah’s.”

  “You’re putting a lot of hope on a friend’s generosity.”

  She sensed judgment in his tone. “It’s only temporary. I already checked out some jobs and apartments on Craigslist. I’ll be off of her couch in no time.”

  “What kind of jobs?”

  “There’s a couple of waitress/manager openings, an inventory clerk position, and, worst case scenario, one of those people who sit on stools in the middle of the mall and try to sell you a new bathtub.”

  “Dream job?”

  “Any job that pays the bills is a dream job these days.”

  He changed the subject. “So do you want to talk about why you ran out of your place with nothing yesterday?”

  “Not particularly,” Harper said, looking out the window. She sighed. “Just a mistake on my part. Poor judgment followed by a nasty surprise when I came home early.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “Ex, as of yesterday.”

  “Cheating?”

  “A bike messenger girl. She had great legs from what I could see.”

  “My God, Harper, you’re a mess.”

  She puffed out a breath. “It would appear so.”

  An hour later, Luke pulled up in front of the beige townhouse that Harper pointed out. “Do you want me to come in with you? I don’t want you moving anything heavy.”

  “No, he should be at work. And I don’t have much to pack. It won’t take me long.” Harper opened the door and slid out.

  “Just come out when you’re packed and I’ll carry the stuff to the truck.”

  She hurried up the walk to the front door and let herself in. The beige carpet and off-white walls had never screamed “home” to her. And they certainly didn’t make her feel homesick now.

  It was time to go.

  She grabbed her purse out of the hall closet, double-checking that her wallet and phone were there before hurrying and upstairs to the bedroom. The sheets were still in disarray and she could see two head indentations on the pillows. Messenger Girl must have spent the night. Or maybe he’d ordered pizza after he was finished with Messenger Girl.

  She turned her back on the bed in disgust and grabbed her suitcase and duffel bag out of the closet. She emptied her dresser drawers into the bags and then moved to the closet. In less than ten minutes, she had both bags packed.

  In the bathroom, she hastily applied some cover up to her eye and dumped her cosmetics into a Ziploc bag. She muscled her bags down the stairs one at a time to the front door.

  Luke was waiting for her on the porch. “I told you I would carry everything.” He took the bags from her and hauled them down the front steps.

  Harper rolled her eyes. “I can handle a suitcase.”

  “How many more bags?” He called over his shoulder on his way down the walk.

  “This is it for the clothes. I just want to do a walk-through and see if I’m missing anything important.”

  “All of your clothes fit in two suitcases?” He stopped in his tracks and looked at her like she had just grown an arm out of her forehead and asked for a high five.

  “I lost a lot in the fire and haven’t really had the chance to replace the bulk.”

  “The fire?” Luke blinked rapidly.

  “Yeah, six months ago. My apartment building in South Side burned down. One of my neighbors was making a grilled cheese on a hot plate next to her drapes. Woosh!” She jazz-handed the air.

  “Were you home?” He was covering his eyes with a hand now.

  “Yep.” She turned back towards the house.

  “Is that how you broke your arm and your ribs?”

  “Nope. I’m just going to grab some paperwork. I’ll be right out.”

  “Uh, yeah. I’m coming with you. Knowing you, there might be a gas leak or an escaped circus bear in there.”

  “Aren’t you cute when you’re all protective?” Harper teased.

  Luke shook his head and held the door open for her. “I can’t believe you’re still alive,” he muttered.

  Three already-packed banker boxes of documents and knick-knacks later, Harper was ready to go.

  “Are you sure this is it?” Luke asked, tucking the boxes in the backseat of his truck.

  “That’s everything,” Harper said, working the key off of her ring. “I’m just going to leave this inside. I’ll be right back.”

  Luke got back in the truck and started the engine.

  One minute turned into five before Harper came back out, stumbling under the weight of a giant stuffed and mounted fish.

  Luke jumped out of the truck and yanked it out of her grasp. “Damn it! Stop carrying shit!”

  “You can just throw it back there,” she gestured at the bed of the truck.

  He tossed it in the back before climbing into the driver’s seat. “What’s with the fish?” Luke asked casually.

  Harper shrugged, securing her seatbelt. “He bought it at a yard sale and tells people he caught it himself. ‘It took me four hours to reel in that swordfish,’” she mimicked in a deep voice.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s a marlin.”

  Harper stared at him for a beat. “A marlin?”

  Luke nodded.

  She burst out laughing, dropping her head against the headrest. “What an ass.”

  ***

  Harper insisted on buying Luke lunch halfway back to Benevolence. They stopped at a small family-run place that had excellent chicken potpie and even better fresh-cut fries.

  She paused chewing long enough to text Hannah.

  Ted’s dick not in pants. Moved out. Couch open?

  Hannah responded within minutes.

  Always hated his stupid douchey goatee. Be back Monday night. Couch is yours.

  “Excellent,” Harper sighed with relief and jumped back into her potpie.

  “All set?” Luke asked, snagging a French fry.

  “Yep. Hannah and Flynn will be back Monday night and I can stay with them then.”

  “What are you going to do between now and then?”

  “I’ll probably just get a motel room for the weekend. Oh! Maybe a hotel with an indoor pool! It’ll be like a vacation.”

  After lunch, Harper had Luke pulled the truck around to the dumpster behind the restaurant. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any questions.

  He remained silent when she hopped into the bed of the truck and after a brief struggle, hefted the marlin over her head and heaved it into the dumpster.

  Neither of them said a word when she climbed back into the truck and belted in.

  ***

  They returned to Luke’s house where Luke unloaded the boxes and bags, stacking everything in the foyer. Harper watched uselessly from the couch where Luke ordered her to stay.

  When he was done, he joined her on the lumpy antiquity. “Let’s talk about what you’re doing tonight —” Luke was cut off by Sophie yoo-hooing from the front door.

  Harper was sure she heard Luke swear under his breath.

  “Oh there you are,” Sophie said brightly, “How are you feeling today? Your face doesn’t look too bad.”

  “Thanks, neither does yours,” Harper said dryly.

  “Smarty pants. I’m going to get a drink, anyone want one?” She headed back to the kitchen. Harper shrugged at Luke and they got up to follow.

  “Soooo, how did the stuff collecting go?” Sophie helped herself to a soda from the fridge and joined Harper at the island while Luke got a beer.

  Luke’s eyes met Harper’s.

  “Uneventful, wouldn’t you say, Luke?” Harper smiled innocently.

  He leaned back against the counter and nodded. “Very uneventful. But I have a craving for fish sticks.”

  Sophie watched as they grinned at eat other. “So, Harp, what’s the plan? What are you’re going to do now?”she asked, toying with the can.

  “Fo
r now, the plan is still to get to Hannah’s and find a temp job there.”

  “I was thinking —”

  “Soph.” Luke crossed his arms.

  “Now hear me out!”

  “What? What’s going on? What’s happening?” Harper looked back and forth between the siblings.

  “Well, I had an idea that I think could work to both your advantages.”

  “Our advantage or yours?” Luke snorted.

  “If you’ll shut your trap for all of ten seconds, Crabby Patty, I’ll explain.”

  “Children. Don’t make me turn this kitchen around,” Harper sighed.

  “Look. I’m just going to throw this out there and you two can decide whether or not it would work. Harper, you have no money, no job, and no place of your own.”

  “When you put it like that it doesn’t sound good.” Harper wrinkled her nose.

  “Luke, you just had me draft an office manager job posting and if you don’t show up at Mom and Dad’s with Harper tomorrow, Mom has June Tyler on stand-by.”

  Luke slammed down his beer. “The June Tyler that I took to a dance in seventh grade? The recently divorced with four kids June Tyler?”

  Sophie nodded. “The very same. Mom figures if you dated her once, you’d date her again.”

  “Christ,” Luke muttered and picked up the beer again.

  “Hey, I told you if you didn’t start at least pretending to date, Mom was going to take matters into her own hands. She just wants you to be happy.”

  Luke shook his head and stared out the window.

  “Harper, help me out here,” Sophie pleaded. “My idiot brother may not see the sense here, but you do, don’t you?”

  “Are you talking about me pretending to be Luke’s girlfriend?”

  “In exchange for a temporary job and a place to live.”

  “How temporary?” Harper mused.

  Luke was watching her with an eyebrow raised. “Don’t tell me you’re even considering this.”

  “I’m starting to get offended by your reaction to me as a fake girlfriend.”

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s not you, Harper. It’s the idea of this act just because my family can’t deal with the way I live my life.”

  “News for you, big brother, last week I had to stop Aunt Syl from posting an online dating profile for you. Your profile name was Handysome.”

  “Shit.”

  Harper tried to smother a laugh but only succeeded in coughing.

  Sophie held up her hands. “Luke, I’ve held them off as long as I can. It’s up to you now.”

  “How long exactly has it been since you dated, Luke?” Harper interjected.

  Luke gave Sophie a long look. “A while,” he said.

  Harper kept quiet. There was something in that look that made her think this was more than just a meddling mom trying to marry off a holdout bachelor.

  “I just thought that this situation might work out for both of you.” Sophie walked to him. “What could it hurt, right? And it would just be for a month.”

  “What happens in a month?” Harper asked.

  “Luke’s unit ships out. They have a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.”

  Harper felt her stomach flip flop. He was deploying?

  “So what would Harper do at the end of the month?”

  Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know. You guys could stage an epic breakup fight or something.” She turned back to Harper. “If you had a month to make plans, you’d be a lot better off than sleeping on your friend’s couch, right?”

  Harper shrugged noncommittally. “I suppose more time would mean a better plan.” And more time with Luke. Pretending to be his girlfriend. Would that mean she would have the opportunity to kiss him? She bit her lip. A place to stay, a job, and an incredibly hot fake boyfriend for a month? What could go wrong?

  Luke swiped a hand over his face and then his short hair. “Have any office management experience, Harper?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Four weeks…

  “You don’t have to do this, you know.” Luke gripped the steering wheel of his truck like it was someone’s neck. Five minutes ago they had pulled into his parents’ driveway, a winding ribbon of asphalt that led to a charming two-story farmhouse with a porch that wrapped around both sides.

  Harper bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Luke, they’re your family. How bad could they be?”

  “You’ll see.”

  She patted his shoulder. “It’ll be fine, boyfriend. Or should I start calling you something gross like Lukey Bear?”

  He grimaced.

  “Poor baby, it’ll all be over soon. Let’s get in there and get it over with. Unless you just want to hang out here and make out.”

  “You don’t know what they’re like.”

  “Are they mean?”

  He shook his head. “More like well-meaning. Obsessively so.”

  “There are worse problems than a family who loves you and wants you to be happy,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

  “I realize that. I’m just having trouble thinking of any right now.”

  She pinched him. “I thought you were this big, tough, manly guy. And here you are cowering in the driveway because you’re scared of a little family get-together.”

  “I’m not scared.”

  “My mistake.” Harper glanced out the window and made a chicken noise.

  He sighed and reached over to ruffle her hair. “Come on, dear. Let’s get this party over with.”

  “Dear? Seriously? Is that the best you can do?”

  They approached the house by way of a meandering walkway. He slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. He smelled like a spices and sawdust. Harper tried to quell the pitter pat of her pulse. It was just a fake relationship. Nothing to get physically excited about. They were doing each other a favor, not actually banging like red-blooded adults.

  “Ready?” he whispered in her ear.

  Harper was suddenly the nervous one. “What if they don’t like me?” she whispered back.

  “Now who’s scared? Trust me, you could have two heads and a criminal record and they’d still want to like you.”

  “Because I’m awesome?”

  “Because I’m fake dating you.”

  Harper snorted.

  “Actually that gives me an idea,” he said. “Mind if we have a little fun with this?”

  “Oh, way ahead of you. We met online two weeks ago in the Craigslist missed connections,” she said.

  “I just couldn’t say no to your topless profile picture.” He guided her up the walk.

  “Don’t be modest. That shot of you in just a toolbelt was pretty spectacular.”

  They stepped up onto the wide front porch and Harper saw the lace curtain twitch.

  “I think they’re watching us,” she said without moving her lips.

  “Uh-huh,” he answered through a jaw-straining fake smile.

  Luke pushed the bright red Craftsman-style door open without knocking and found the entire family — all eight of them — standing awkwardly in the airy foyer.

  “Hi guys.”

  “Hello, sweetheart.” A woman with a pixie cut and a soft pink sweater stepped forward to kiss Luke on the cheek. “We were just checking out a squeak in the floor.”

  “The one that’s been there for twenty years?”

  The woman ignored him and held her hands out to Harper. “You must be Harper. Since my son’s manners seem to have deserted him, I’m his mother, Claire. This is Luke’s dad, Charlie,” she said gesturing to the tall, silver-haired man at the back of the pack. Charlie raised a hand in a silent greeting.

  “Our youngest son, James,” Claire continued, pointing at a slightly younger, leaner version of Luke who was making short work of an apple. He winked at her.

  “Sophie, you know,” Claire put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and Harper was struck by their resemblance. All dark hair and olive tones. “And this is her husband, Ty Adler, and their lit
tle one, Josh.”

  “Nice to see you again, Slugger,” Ty, in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans instead of his deputy’s uniform, said while tickling the mini me toddler on his shoulders.

  “This is Uncle Stu and Aunt Syl,” Claire said, waving at the mustached man Luke had pointed out at Remo’s last night and his smiling, lanky wife. “And I think that takes care of the introductions.”

  “Hi, um, everyone,” Harper said, waving awkwardly. “I’m Harper.”

  “Hi Harper,” they answered in unison.

  Luke sighed and took Harper’s hand, leading her through the throng. The floor did, in fact squeak under her foot.

  “Smells good in here, Ma. What’s for lunch?”

  The crowd filed into the spacious kitchen behind them. Something bubbled away on the granite island’s range. Claire slapped Luke’s hand away from the glass candy dish.

  “Pot roast with mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables. We’ll be ready in about half an hour. So why don’t you give Harper the grand tour and get out of my way? Harper, can I get you a glass of wine?”

  “I’m fine, Mrs. Garrison. But I really would like that tour.”

  “It’s Claire, please. And you two go ahead. We’ll call you when lunch is ready.”

  “You’re finally going to let me have a girl in my room? It’s about time.” Luke put his hands on Harper’s shoulders and pushed her back down the hallway.

  “Sorry,” he whispered in her ear.

  She enjoyed the tickle of his breath against her skin. “That was only a little awkward.”

  “Awkward and suffocating.” He guided her towards the stairs.

  The farmhouse was laid out in a simple four-square formation on the first floor with the two rooms on the right opening into each other to create one large gathering room. Pictures plastered the walls and flat surfaces and there was a mixture of antiques and modern amenities. It was homey.

  His hands slid to her hips as she started to climb the stairs. She leaned back against his chest as they ascended.

  “If this is too much, tell me,” he said. “Soph said to sell it.”

  “I don’t mind,” she said, her pulse jumping.