Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

DANIELA

My phone rang while I was in the middle of running around my apartment like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get ready for school. I dashed over to the couch and pulled it out of my purse, and a knot started to form in my stomach when I saw that it was the lady from my parents' church who had promised to take care of Isaac today.

"Mrs. Reinhart," I panted. "Hi."

"Hi, sweetheart," she murmured, then coughed into the phone. "I'm so sorry to do this to you, but I think I'm coming down with something, and I don't want to risk passing it on to Isaac, so I'm not going to be able to watch him today."

A sob started to burn its way up my throat, but I swallowed it down. I knew it wasn't Mrs. Reinhart's fault that she'd gotten sick, and it wasn't fair of me to take my grief, exhaustion, and stress out on her. But seriously, couldn't she have called a little sooner than fifteen minutes before she was supposed to be here?

"That's okay. I understand," I managed to say, but I couldn't keep my voice from cracking.

"Are you all right, honey?" she asked.

No. No, I'm not all right. I'm exhausted. I'm overwhelmed. I'm devastated because my sister's dead. I'm falling behind in all my classes because I'm trying to figure out how to be a mother to her son, and there is no one to help me.

"Yeah," I sniffled. "I'm fine. I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks, sweetie. I'll call when I'm feeling better and can start watching him again," she said, then let out a horrific cough.

Well, she definitely wasn't going to be allowed anywhere near Isaac for a while.

"Thank you. Just focus on getting better," I told her.

I ended the call, then took a glance at the clock. I had to be out the door in less than ten minutes if I was going to make it to class. And I had to make it to class. I'd missed so much school over the past few weeks already, and I couldn't afford to miss any more.

So I did the only thing I could do. I packed up Isaac's diaper bag, grabbed a canister of formula and the bottle warmer that someone had given Amara as a baby shower gift, and got him dressed. He'd have to come to my biochemistry class with me.

I got to the lecture hall ten minutes early, which was just enough time for me to make some formula to give to Isaac during the lecture. I'd have to get notes from Morgan, who had this class with me, but at least I could pay attention to the lecture while I fed him.

Just as I was shaking the bottle of formula and getting ready to put it in the warmer, Professor Gomez walked in. His head immediately turned in my direction, and he walked over to me with an expression I couldn't place.

"Hi, Dani," he said softly. "How are you today?"

"I'm okay," I mumbled, trying my best to keep my emotions in check as I put the bottle into the warmer. "I'm sorry for bringing Isaac. I didn't have a choice. The woman who was supposed to take care of him today got sick, and I knew I couldn't miss any more classes."

"Don't apologize. I admire your dedication in trying to be a good mother and keep up with your studies."

"It hasn't been easy," I admitted. "I'm trying to do what my sister wanted, but even before she died, we knew it was going to be tough taking care of him by ourselves. Now she's gone and I'm doing it all myself, and I feel like I'm drowning."

Oh, my God. Why had I just said that out loud? He didn't care. He was a professor and saw hundreds of students a day. I was honestly surprised he even knew my name. But then again, I was probably a problem student to him lately because I'd missed so many classes and gotten assignments turned in to him just under the deadline.

"I can only imagine." He gave me a sympathetic smile. "Why don't you let me feed him during the lecture so you can still take notes?"

I would have loved to see my face. Of all the things he could have said, that was the last thing I'd expected.

"Are…are you sure?" I stammered.

He chuckled. "Absolutely. I have three of my own, and I fed and burped them all more times than I can count. I know how hard it is, even when you have a support system."

My eyes started to burn, and I swallowed down the lump that rose in my throat at this unexpected kindness. Professor Gomez would have been well within his rights to be upset at me for bringing a newborn baby – who had the potential to disturb all the other students – to his lecture. But instead, he was showing me sympathy and trying to make my life easier.

"Thank you," I managed to choke out as I took Isaac out of his carrier and handed him over. "He should fall asleep after he eats, and then you can just put him back in his carrier."

Just as I was getting Isaac situated and handing the bottle and a burp rag to Professor Gomez, Morgan walked in and headed directly for the desk next to mine. With his hands full, Professor Gomez headed back to the front of the class, and Morgan turned to me.

"Hey, babe," she said. "What's Isaac doing here?"

I sighed. "The lady who was supposed to watch him called me less than ten minutes before I had to leave and told me she was sick. I didn't have time to find someone else to watch him."

"Seriously?" she groaned. "Like, I get being sick, but she couldn't have called you this morning? She had to wait until the eleventh hour?"

"Right?" I took a deep breath, trying like hell not to start crying in the middle of this damn lecture hall. "I don't know what to do, Morgan. This isn't working. And even if I drop out of school and get a job, I'm left with the same problem, you know? I can't just bring a month-old baby with me everywhere I go."

Morgan looked torn for a second, like she wasn't sure if she even wanted to say what was on her mind, but then she took a deep breath. "I wasn't even going to say anything because I know you and I know you'll probably hate this idea, but I might have a solution."

Wait, what? What kind of solution would she possibly have had that I would have hated enough for her not to even mention it?

"I mean, unless we're talking about auctioning off my virginity, I'm open to pretty much anything at this point," I whispered, so no one else could hear. "And honestly, if things don't change soon, I might even be willing to do that."

She started giggling so much that she snorted, and I couldn't help chuckling with her.

Morgan and Amara were the only people I'd ever come out as demisexual to. The only ones I had ever trusted not to judge me about the fact that I needed a deep emotional connection before I could feel any kind of physical attraction…and that I still hadn't found that kind of connection with anyone. And neither of them ever had. In fact, Morgan had always told me that when I did find that person, it would make my first time that much better because it would be with someone I truly cared about.

But that showed how desperate I was. I was almost at the point that I was willing to just grin and bear it in exchange for the money I needed to care for Isaac.

"No, not that," she snickered, then took another breath to regain her composure. "One of Mal's teammates…he's gotten some bad press recently, and his publicist is trying to reform his image. He's not a bad guy. Just got into a bar fight when someone he knew in high school started talking trash about a good friend of his, and he ended up getting arrested and charged because he was the one who threw the first punch. And, well, he has a reputation with women too, so part of what his agent wants him to do is find a girlfriend. She was going to arrange for him to start pretending to date another celebrity, but he refused. He said he'd find someone to put on a show with on his own."

"So, what? He wants to pay some random girl to pretend to be his girlfriend?" I scoffed.

"Well…yeah, basically," she mumbled, throwing me a sheepish look. "I swear to God, I didn't know about any of this until afterward, but Mal kind of already told him about your situation. He said he wants to meet you and see if he can help you out if you're willing to pretend to date him for a little while."

This all sounded a little too good to be true. But, then again, this was the world Morgan had lived in ever since she and Malachi had started dating. He'd been a star at our college before he went pro, so even then, she'd been in the public eye. Maybe for a celebrity, something like this wasn't so far out of the realm of possibility.

"Who is it?" I wondered.

"One of his best friends, actually. Braden Hicks."

My heart slammed into my throat and I could hear my pulse hammering in my ears. I tried desperately to keep my composure because I wasn't about to tell Morgan why I was suddenly having an anxiety attack. I couldn't tell her. Not when it could end up getting back to him.

What kind of a cruel joke was the universe playing on me? Hadn't I already suffered enough? Why would I get offered such a simple solution to all of my problems, but then be told that the way to obtain it was by pretending to date the one person in the whole world that I truly despised?

Thankfully, before I had to say anything, Professor Gomez cleared his throat, drawing our attention to the front of the class. And, swaying back and forth as he gave Isaac his bottle, he started to deliver his lecture about organic compounds.

It was almost impossible to pay enough attention to take decent notes, because I couldn't stop thinking about the conundrum I was facing.

I hated Braden Hicks with every fiber of my being. There wasn't anything in the world that would change that because there was no excuse for the way he'd treated Amara. None. And if he'd never gotten her pregnant, she would still have been alive right now.

But this wasn't about me. It was about Amara's son, who I was now responsible for. I knew something had to give because I was barely keeping my head above water, and it wasn't going to be long before I ended up drowning. No matter what I did, I couldn't miraculously make reliable caregivers for Isaac appear out of thin air. That took money. Money I didn't have.

The question was, could I actually do this? Could I let my nephew's father – a man who wanted nothing to do with this sweet little boy – take me on dates, show me off as his new girlfriend, and possibly kiss me in front of cameras? Could I push my disgust aside and put on a convincing enough act to make the press believe we were dating…all so he could salvage his public image?

Before I knew it, the professor was walking back over to me and putting Isaac into my waiting arms. And the second I looked down at his angelic face, peacefully sleeping without a care in the world, I had my answer.

I could do this. I had to. Because I had to do right by him.

Turning to Morgan, I took a deep breath. "I'll do it. Tell Braden I'll meet with him."