Chapter Fourteen

Brandy

"I'm surprised you made it." My mother didn't even bother to look ashamed as she confessed, "I didn't think you would."

I narrowed my gaze and crossed my hands atop the table at the small family-owned Cuban restaurant we picked for lunch. "I don't know what that means, but, of course, I'd make it, we made plans." I was fine with plans, but what I wasn't fine with was when she dropped by unannounced and expected me to drop everything to chat with her.

Across the table from me, she picked up a menu and murmured something. "How's Laurel?" she asked, apparently sticking to safe topics.

I told her about the note and how we had ‘round-the-clock security with Laurel now. It was all about planting the right seeds, or at least that was how I figured it. "Good," she responded simply.

She laid her menu down as the waiter came over and placed her order. I did the same, taking a sip of my water.

"And that man you knew," she started, "has he been around?"

Naturally, she'd remember the little tidbits about Wyatt I dropped in there. Oh, and Mom, the funny thing is, I know one of the owners of the company her agent hired. He and I dated briefly and now he's working for Laurel, too. I finally answered, "He has been around. It's been nice getting to catch up with him again."

Leaning forward, Mom dropped her voice. "How could you catch up at work?" she asked as if it was some nefarious act when really we both knew she was just dying to know if we'd gone out.

I continued sipping my water, feeling bad about the misrepresentation I was about to tell. And, yes, I"d decided it was not a lie, but a misrepresentation—that made it easier to swallow, less guilt associated with that. "We went out." To plot our fake relationship.

"Really?" she asked, beaming at the prospect of me seeing another man.

Wyatt was right, maybe I could pull this off. I was hoping to ease her into this nice and gently so she'd buy it, and it seemed she already was.

"Yes. It was nice. We talked for hours." About our fake relationship.

"That's wonderful, but what about Nathan?" she asked, doing an admirable job of feigning give-a-fuck for the man we both knew she didn't like very much. Or at all.

I bit my lip. This was it. This one was for all the marbles, Brandy. "We broke up," I said, trying to act sad, but not too sad, so it'd be believable that I could move on so quickly.

I could tell my mother was about to say something but picked up her glass of water and sat back as our food was brought over. "Thank you," we said in unison to the waiter.

"I was going to say I'm sorry, but I'm not," she said, having the decency to at least tell the truth.

"I think we both know that, Mom."

"What happened? If I may ask." And, of course, I knew she would.

Thankfully, Nate and I had planned for that and came up with the most believable of stories, something that was actually in the realm of possibilities and might've happened if this didn't work. "He left me. He couldn't take all the pressure knowing you didn't like him put on him and our relationship." I swallowed hard as I finished, feeling just a little bad I was putting it on her, but if I wanted to get back together with him after she blessed our relationship, according to Laurel's plan, then it had to be something she had some control over. If we broke up because of her, then once she was suddenly fine with him, it made sense he'd be willing to try things again.

As if absorbing all that, she tilted her head and took another bite of her food.

I decided to wait her out, let her respond, so I also continued eating as if I didn't just drop that on her lap.

"He never was strong, was he?" she noted much to my surprise. "Well, good for you. He's gone. Now, maybe you can ask that new man of yours to Jules' wedding."

Shaking my head I was a little appalled at how fast she expected me to move on, but I knew I had to. This was all part of the plan, after all, so I played along. "It's definitely a possibility." As if getting over Nate would be as easy as pie. Clearly, my history and love for this man meant nothing to her, so in our pretend world they had to mean nothing to me, too.

"Just make sure you seal the deal, get him to agree. It'll be so good for you to have a date. I'll call my sister and tell her you're bringing someone. She'll be fine with it. She planned for extra guests anyway just in case someone could come at the last hour."

I would've waved her off, acted like I really wasn't sure, but that wasn't the case. "That'd be nice. Him and I have a date tonight, so maybe I'll see then," I said, thinking about how I really did have to see. Wyatt knew about the wedding, but not that it was in Destin, on the west coast, hours and hours from us.

She wiped her mouth and pushed her dish away from her, something on her mind. Finally she said, "Don't see. Get him to say yes. You can't come to the wedding alone."

I practically rolled my eyes, but stopped myself. "Fine." Because showing up to a wedding alone was a great tragedy, of course. "Now, how are you?" I asked. "We talked enough about me and my love life, don't you think?"

Laughing, she sat back and collected her purse to pay the check. "I'm just dandy. As long as you're happy, then so am I."

I would've believed her if I felt like that was true, but knowing she'd be fine with Nate leaving me knowing I loved him made it a hard sell.

We said our goodbyes and parted ways outside the restaurant. I looked at my watch and knew I had to get to work. As I walked to my car, though, I took my phone out of my purse and dialed Laurel. As soon as she answered, I pulled open my car door. "You are not going to believe this, but my mother bought it!"

"Everything?" Laurel asked.

I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see me. I got in and closed the door. "You're a genius. You're idea was brilliant, seriously. This is going to work, I just know it."

"Then let the games begin," she responded.