Chapter 3

THREE

Ford

I worked until close last night, and now I’m here opening this morning. Normally, I would sleep in and let someone else handle it, but Cameron is working this morning and I love when it’s just the two of us in the morning. She seems to open up more and for a few minutes, I can pretend that we’re more than just coworkers and friends.

“Hey,” I greet her as she comes in the back door.

“Hey,” she says quietly.

She’s chewing on her bottom lip, a sign that she’s deep in thought, and I give her a moment to hang up her hoodie and purse. She can get like this in the mornings if she hasn’t gotten enough sleep, so I pour her a cup of coffee, making sure to add plenty of the sweet cream coffee creamer she loves before I pass it to her.

“Thanks,” she says with a smile, but it looks strained.

“Is everything alright?” I ask, and she nods, heading for the dining area.

We head out of the kitchen and up front to pull chairs off the tables and get set up.

I help her get set up, keeping a close eye on her. She’s wearing black shorts and a Nosh Diner shirt. The material strains over her curves, and I have to look away and adjust myself before she notices the hard-on I’m getting.

We’re finished getting ready, and I stop and lean against the counter, watching her. She leans against the other side and finally looks at me.

“I need to ask you for a favor,” she starts.

“I can’t give you this weekend off. Ruby and Nikki are already off,” I say, and she shakes her head.

“No, I don’t need time off… well, maybe one day. I haven’t checked the schedule for next week yet.”

“I haven’t made it yet. I’m doing that today,” I tell her.

She nods and takes a deep breath.

“Will you be my boyfriend?” She asks in a rush.

She says the words so fast that it takes me a moment to decipher them, and then once I do, I’m sure I must have misheard her.

“What?” I ask, staring at her in a daze.

“Will you be my boyfriend?” She asks, slower this time.

“Fuck yes.”

She blinks, her cheeks turning pink, and I’m close to leaping over this counter and kissing the hell out of her.

What changed? Did she finally realize that she’s in love with me too and that we’re meant to be?

“Thank you so much,” she says. “My grandma is coming to town and she’s trying to set me up with someone’s grandson or something. I just can’t go through another awkward, forced meeting where I have to reject the guy and then make excuses to my grandma. This will be so much easier.”

“This?”

“Us pretending to date,” she says, and I can physically feel my heart breaking in my chest.

“Right,” I say softly.

“She’ll only be here for a week or two. She’s coming for a visit so I think if we hang out around her, maybe all go get dinner or something. I can tell her that you’re working the other days, and then she’s going to be visiting friends in town too, so we won’t have to pretend the whole time.”

I want to beg her to stop saying the word pretend, but I can’t get the words out. She seems so relieved that I’m helping her, and I sure as shit can’t tell her no and have her go and ask some other guy to be her fake boyfriend. Besides, I could never say no to Cameron.

This is going to suck though.

Maybe this is my chance with her. I can finally show her that I would be a great boyfriend and that we’re meant to be together. Maybe by the time her grandma leaves, she won’t want to pretend anymore.

“I should unlock the door,” she says, turning when Mr. Goodman pulls into the parking lot.

He’s a regular and is always here right when we open.

“Yeah, I’ll let you get to work. I should get on that schedule. Did you want any specific days off?”

“I’m not sure so I guess not. Worst case is I switch with Ruby or Nikki once I know the exact dates of things.”

I nod and leave her to her work while I go back to my office to do mine. I finish some paperwork and the schedule, waving as Monica, the other waitress working this morning, comes in and heads up front.

My brain can’t stop thinking about Cameron though. That’s not anything new; she’s always on my mind, but today is different. Today, I can’t stop thinking about being her boyfriend and all the ways I could win her over.

“We should talk,” I tell her when I find her in the breakroom eating her lunch.

“Sure,” she says, making room at the small table for me.

“I think that we should have some details figured out. I’ve met your grandma, but I’m sure she’s going to have questions,” I start, and Cameron nods.

“You’re probably right. I’m sure the first thing she’s going to ask is how we got together, where we had our first date, all of that.”

“Right, and our answers will need to match.”

“Okay,” she says, nodding. “How about you asked me out after I started working for you? I told her that it was recent, so we don’t have to have too many date details.”

“Sure, and our first date?”

“Um, how about the bar in town?” She suggests, and I look at her like she’s crazy.

“No way. I would never take you on a date there.”

“Really? Okay, then where would you take me?”

“The drive-in movie theater, then over to Noelle’s Ice Cream Parlor for dessert.”

“Oh! I love those places.”

I know.

I almost say that out loud, but I don’t.

“Okay, that will work. For our other dates, I’ll just say some restaurants in town or something.”

“Okay. “

She smiles, popping a French fry in her mouth, and I swallow hard.

“There’s something else,” I tell her, and she frowns.

“What’s that?”

“We’re going to have to kiss and touch each other,” I point out, and Cameron freezes. “I think we should start practicing now so that we’re used to it by the time she gets here.”

“I… I guess you’re right,” she admits, and I study her to see how she feels about that, but her mask is on and I can’t read her.

“Cameron, are you almost done? We just had a big group come in,” Monica says as she rushes into the break room.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” she says.

Monica rushes back out and we both stand. I reach out, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and Cameron stares at me in shock.

“I’m going to have to practice a lot,” I whisper. “We can’t have you looking so shocked every time I touch you.”

She nods and my heart leaps in my chest.

Maybe my plan to win my girl over is already working.

“I should get back to work,” she rasps, and I nod.

“I’ll come out and help in a minute.”

She nods and hurries out. I wait until she’s gone to drag my hands through my hair and try to get myself under control. Then I turn and follow after my woman.

I can’t help but think this fake dating might just be the best thing to happen to me. Now to show Cameron that we should remove the word fake from our relationship.