Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ellie

I sniffed the air when we got out of the car. "I can't believe I didn't know this place existed. It's magical. It even smells like orange blossoms."

Ojai's red tile and cream stucco buildings sheltered below craggy gray-green mountains, topped with a ceiling of hot June sky the color of a Renaissance painter's heaven. A dusty breeze kicked up more orange blossom perfume, mixed with chaparral.

Kieran slammed the passenger door. "It's fine."

I bit my lip. I supposed if you lived in a place long enough, you'd be immune. But he'd been acting strange for the last hour. Even when my opera playlist came on, he hadn't groaned and muttered. Instead, he'd stared out the window at the ocean, rubbing his thumb back and forth along the knife edge on his forearm.

And I kept looking at him because I was getting more and more worried. I wasn't looking because his haircut suited him way too well. The barber had left his hair longer on top, but shortened the back and sides and parted it to the side in a way that made him even sharper.

No, I could not think about how Kieran looked like an indie rock star, swaggering around on a stage with an electric guitar, singing about how he was going to make somebody love him.

"What's wrong?" I asked tentatively.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Your nothing doesn't look like that," I said, trying to keep my tone light. "Your nothing is chugging two In-N-Out strawberry milkshakes and making fun of me for having a paper road atlas."

He grunted and grabbed his duffel and garment bag out of the trunk. Before he could charge toward the motel doors, I said, "Wait. Please."

His grumble made his shoulders roll like an earthquake, but he stopped.

"This whole charade is going to go down in flames if you're nonverbal for the whole weekend," I said quietly.

He turned back to me, looking woebegone. "I'm sorry."

"Talk to me. If we're going to lie to everyone else at this party, we need to tell each other the truth." If only so I didn't lose my sense of reality.

"I haven't been back here in five years," he said quietly, kicking at the gravel with his toe.

"Wait a minute. Does that also mean you haven't seen your parents in five years?"

One particular pebble seemed to offend him, and he sent it flying. "I made excuses, and they were just happy I wasn't bumming around."

"But didn't they visit? It's not like you're thousands of miles away."

He shrugged. "They didn't ask, and I wouldn't have wanted them to, anyway. I didn't like who I was around them."

Four-letter words bubbled to my lips, but I blew them out in a long exhale. "Good grief."

"Lots of people have tricky families, Ellie."

Didn't I know it. But saying that aloud would be the opposite of supporting him. I tried to smile and said, "But you're here because you think there's a chance things could be different."

"Yeah. You might need a microscope to see the chance—it's that small. But I'm trying to have a little more faith, I guess." He turned and looked at the doors to the motel lobby. "Look, you don't have to do this. I could say you got sick and couldn't come at the last minute."

My spine straightened. My trepidation didn't matter. I'd promised to help him and that was the end of it. "You think I'm going to abandon you now? Who the hell do you think I am?"

Finally, he smiled. "A stubborn hardass." He paused and his smile turned into an evil grin. "Come to think of it, all the ‘ass' words apply to you: hardass, badass, smartass, of course."

I blushed and coughed at what was both the best and most vulgar compliment I'd ever received. "Am I the only one who remembers the whole ‘inside voice' thing from kindergarten? Also, you're still incorrigible."

The jerk winked at me. "You're welcome."

We checked in and climbed up an outdoor set of stairs along a balcony to our room. My hopes weren't high because he'd booked the room at the last possible second, but I sighed in relief when the door opened.

"Oh, good, two beds," I said. "Dibs on the far one."

"Fine." He sprawled on his mattress while I swung my little red suitcase onto the luggage rack in the corner. "What is it with you and the worry about there only being one bed? You were talking about it in Sonoma, too."

I shook out my jersey dress. It didn't look like it had wrinkles, but I might steam it a little bit, just in case. "It's a thing that happens in romance novels. If the main characters go on a road trip, odds are very good that they're going to end up in a room where, whoopsie, there's only one bed."

He tilted his head. "They can't change it?"

"Nope. No room at the inn, nowhere else to stay for miles around."

He was nodding thoughtfully, but that puckish gleam in his eyes didn't bode well for me. "Then what happens?"

My mouth dried instantly. What happened was that they woke up tangled in each other, the way they'd both craved deep down. Clinging, desperate, and wanting.

The dress fell off its hanger. "Butterfingers," I said. The AC was blasting in here already, so I couldn't blame it for my blush. "Nothing that concerns you."

Kieran tucked his hands behind his head, smiling. "Sure. Do you want to shower first?"

I held back a sigh of relief. "No, you go ahead. I need to go for a walk."

Kieran

Thinking about Ellie and her romance novels had given me a few minutes of peace from the adrenaline racing around my system, but now I couldn't ignore the bitterness in my mouth and the sourness in my stomach. As I paced around the parking lot waiting for her to change, I tried to breathe deeply through the fear and ground myself. Bits of the gravel sparkled like jewelry in the afternoon sun. Mr. Murphy's pale-blue shirt was cool and smooth against my skin, and the weave of the suit made it look like silk. Would it be enough armor for whatever waited for me at my parents' house?

"Hey," Ellie called.

I turned around, relieved. "What's up?"

She made her easy way down the outside steps. "Are you trying to catch flies?" she asked, a laugh in her voice. "You must have seen a woman all made up before."

I closed my mouth. I felt like I'd never seen her before. Silky violet fabric hugged her body like it never wanted to let her go, dipping in at her waist and sweeping out at her hip. It ended just above her knees and made her curvy legs look like they went on forever before they got to her gold flats. When her raspberry-pink mouth curled in a warm smile, she glowed, and it was like a light bulb suddenly lit up in my head. I wasn't horny and restless because I hadn't gotten any in almost ten months.

It was because I wanted her. Only her.

I wanted to bite her lush lower lip, suck the sweet curve where her shoulder met her neck. I wanted to bury my face where her neckline curved down. I wanted to bury my face in a lot of other places, too.

Her whistle cut through the fantasy. "Mr. Murphy really is a genius," she said as she looked me over. "Good knot on the tie. And I made the right call with the little bit of indigo woven into the silver."

"Thanks to both you and YouTube." I ran my fingers down the silk tie. "I know I look good, but I'll always be short and ginger."

Her eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with being a redhead?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just got teased for it." Now I had to know. "Do you like it?" I asked shyly.

She bit her lip, and I thought she'd change the subject when she finally said, "Your hair has so many beautiful colors in it. A person could spend a long time finding them all."

A picture came into my head out of nowhere of Ellie sitting under a tree on a warm day. Me stretched out next to her in the shade, my head in her lap, while she lazily trailed her fingers through my hair. It wasn't sexy, it was sweet. Restful. Like Daydream Me could close my eyes, let go of all my racing thoughts, and just be with her.

"Earth to Kieran?" she asked, lightly snapping her fingers in front of my face.

The picture evaporated, leaving me feeling bewildered. "Yeah?"

"Before we go, what do you need for tonight?" she asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

She took my hand. "Well, I can be the doting girlfriend who won't leave your side. Or the wildly talented girlfriend who's so awesome that you can just bask in my aura while I charm the room. I can also be the girlfriend who starts feeling nauseated an hour into the party and needs to be taken home."

I stared at our tangled-up fingers. When I took a breath, I got a hit of perfume she'd never worn before, roses and spices and sweet oranges. "Doting girlfriend sounds great."

She leaned up and touched her lips to my cheek, so lightly I might have imagined it. "Then curtains up, honey."

Ellie

"I'm not going to fly away if you stop holding my hand," I whispered as we walked up the gravel path to the O'Neills' low-slung 1960s house. A few jacaranda blossoms a little lighter than my dress were scattered around, but the landscaping was otherwise immaculate, with cacti dotted in neat rows across gray pebbles.

"You're not the one I'm worried about," he muttered back. But he loosened his grip just a little.

"Remember, you're a grown man in an excellent suit who's done great things. And for tonight at least, you have a hot, talented girlfriend on your arm."

He gave me a small smile.

"That's better," I said. "I'm available for pep talks whenever you need them."

Kieran stopped all of a sudden, and I noticed the tall, auburn-haired thirtysomething in Buddy Holly glasses. He was leaning against the wall a few feet away from the front door, thumbs flying on his phone screen.

"Bri?" Kieran said.

No response. But that wasn't surprising, because Brian was wearing earbuds with heavy metal leaking out of them. I doubted he'd hear the first shot of World War III exploding next door.

Kieran walked up to him and put his hand in front of the phone.

Brian jumped a foot in the air. "Oh! Oh, it's you. Hi." His arms opened partway when Kieran reached out to shake his hand, then he reached out a hand when Kieran moved his away. Finally, after what felt like a hundred years, they stiffly patted each other on the shoulder.

Brian shoved his phone in his pocket, then put away his headphones. "Totally lost track of time, sorry. You know how it is with work. The boss wants something twenty minutes ago, even when you've booked PTO."

Kieran shook his head. "No, man. My boss isn't a dick."

Brian snorted. "Always so lucky."

We stood there awkwardly. I was beginning to wonder if my dress had given me invisibility powers, when Kieran said, "Do you want to meet my girlfriend?"

I reached out a hand. "Hi, Brian, I'm Ellie."

This time, his handshake connected. "Hi. Wow, you're pretty," he said. He blinked, and his hand froze midshake. "Wait, you're not his girlfriend."

My stomach fell ten stories. How had he found us out already?

"Yes, she is," Kieran said. He tugged me into his side, and his forearm against my back was tense.

"Easy," I said under my breath, and the tension eased the tiniest little bit.

Luckily, Brian didn't notice, just said, "But I saw the way you guys were yelling at each other in that video. It was all over Reddit." His head rapidly turned from side to side. "Wait, is this a stunt? Are we being filmed right now?"

I shook my head. "No cameras. Kieran and I are for real."

"But you hate him," he said, like he was saying that the sky was blue.

I couldn't help but smile at how adamant he was. "The opposite." I patted Kieran's lapel. "That was just our chemistry running amok. Right, honey?" I grinned up at him.

Kieran smiled back at me, and all at once our conspiracy wasn't fragile anymore. We were getting away with something, and it was delicious. Sweet and tart like an orange off one of these trees.

"Absolutely," he said, keeping his face straight. "We were fighting because we actually wanted to…"

Brian's hands blocked the TMI. "OK! OK, I get it, thank you for not sharing."

We'd gotten away with it for now, but the less Kieran and I talked, the better. "What were you working on just now, Brian?" I asked. "It seemed really important."

Brian immediately launched into a detailed explanation of the code he'd written to automate a machine for packaging a particular chocolate bar. I understood the words "chocolate bar." But it was worth it to see Kieran relax a little, out of the spotlight.

"I guess it's time to go in," Brian finally said.

"I guess," Kieran responded. They both looked like they were approaching the gallows.

"Come on, boys," I said with enthusiasm I didn't really feel. "Let's pull the Band-Aid off."

Brian led the way through the front door, which opened onto a concrete courtyard. There were a few people milling around saying hello, but then another door opened and an older woman called, "Brian! Kieran! What kept you?"

The dark-haired giant coming toward us was Kieran's dad, Joe. He towered over Maureen, who looked like a fairy queen with snow-white hair, ice-green eyes, and razor-sharp cheekbones. She tottered over to us in four-inch heels.

"You must be Ellie! One of my sons finally brings home a girl to meet us. What a happy day this is." Maureen took my hands in hers. She smiled up at me, but the rest of her face didn't move. "Don't you two make a striking couple," she said, sounding pleased. "That is quite the dress. Such a bold color, isn't it, Joe?"

Joe grunted, looking back at the party.

It was a compliment, right? Then why did it make me want to cringe? "Thank you, Mrs. O'Neill," I forced out.

"Oh no, you call me Maureen ." Like an empress granting a favor to a dumb peasant. She turned to Kieran, dropping my hands and taking one of his. "Your suit looks wonderful, Kieran. It'd be even better if you'd worn dress shoes and shaved, but we can't have everything, can we?"

Joe grunted again. Was he a caveman? Or bored? A bored caveman?

Kieran rubbed his stubble. "Thanks, Mom," he said regretfully.

"Come in, come in," she said, turning toward the screen doors and towing him behind her. "Everyone is so excited to see you again. My son, the champion, returning home."

My fake boyfriend turned and looked at me, the wariness and confusion in his eyes echoing mine. But all I could do was follow.