Page 24 of Fake To Forever

Her cool tone as she says my full name is like a punch to my gut, but I don’t stop her as she heads back to her classroom. I’ve made a mess of things, I know, and if I’m going to regain any bit of Haven’s trust, I need to figure out how to clean this all up.

Chapter Nine: Final Wish

Haven

“Sweetheart? Are you all right? You’re awfully quiet.”

I glance at mom, lying in her hospital bed, and realize that I’ve been spacing out. Guilt shoots through me. This is my time to be with my sick mom, and I’m letting myself get distracted by thoughts about Chris… or, Christian rather.

Christian Tallow.

The billionaire oil tycoon who owns the oil fields that basically keep this town’s economy afloat. I should have fucking known when I showed up at that house. There’s no way that someone who just works a regular job for the company could afford the upkeep on that place, but here I am completely stupid thinking that maybe he was good with money or something like that.

“Sorry, Mom,” I say, forcing a smile. “Just a lot on my mind.”

Geez, what a lame excuse. As if she doesn’t have a lot on her mind too. Still, I don’t know what else to say. I don’t want to burden her with the weird drama I’ve suddenly found myself embroiled in.

She has enough going on as it is.

“Is it work?” Mom asks, her brow furrowed in concern. She’s wearing a scarf around her head with yellow daisies printed on it. Her face is gaunt and her skin thin that she almost looks like a ghost already. However, her eyes are still bright and shining with life, and when I gaze into them, I’m reminded of what she was like before she got sick. Vibrant, energetic, and beautiful.

She’s still my mom, no matter what’s happening to her physically.

Work. I try to focus on the question, on the way her eyes crinkle at the corners as she waits for my answer, but my mind is elsewhere. On him. On Christian Tallow—Chris—the sexy new dad in town—the man who’s been occupying way too much space in my head ever since the paparazzi showed up at the daycare.

“No, work is… fine,” I say, which isn’t a lie. Work itself is fine. It’s just everything else that happens around work that’s causing such a mess.

Images flash in my mind—Chris’s broad shoulders, his easy smile, the way he always seems so down-to-earth, like any other single dad just trying to make ends meet. But he’s not like any other single dad. He’s a billionaire, for crying out loud. A freaking oil tycoon who owns half the land outside of town, and I’m the naive girl who had no freaking idea.

Not that it’s any of my business or anything.

“Fine, huh?” Mom’s voice cuts through my thoughts, pulling me back to the present. She’s watching me, her smile fading a little. “What’s on your mind, honey? I can tell something’s bothering you.”

I shake my head, trying to clear him from my jumbled thoughts. “It’s nothing, really. Just… working through some stuff. Nothing serious.”

She gives me a look—the kind that says she knows there’s more to it than that, but she thankfully doesn’t push. “Don’t let it bother you too much. Life’s too short to worry about things that don’t matter.”

I nod, but the truth is, it’s all I can think about.

The way Chris—Christian—looked at me when he confessed to who he really is… it’s like he knew everything had changed. I don’t know what to think. Part of me feels betrayed, like he kept this huge part of his life hidden from me, even though I know it’s ridiculous. It’s not like he owed me anything. We aren’t dating. Yes, we kissed, but it was just once, and I told him we couldn’t cross that line again anyway…

Ugh, my thoughts are flying off the rails again. I need to get a hold of myself.

There’s a part of me—God, a part of me is intrigued by all this because the Chris I knew, the one who always picked up his son with a charming smile wearing Levi’s and plain t-shirts, that’s still him, isn’t it? Just with a whole other life I didn’t know about.

“Haven?”

My mom’s voice pulls me back again, and I realize I’ve gone back to staring off into space. I force another smile, trying to shake off the thoughts of Chris—Christian—whatever his freaking name is.

“Sorry, Mom. I’m here. I’m with you.”

She reaches out and takes my hand, her grip weaker than I’d like.

“That’s all that matters,” she says softly. “Just be here, with me.”

I squeeze her hand, feeling the tears prick at the corners of my eyes. “I am, Mom. I am.”

But even as I sit there, trying to put on a brave face so she doesn’t know how devastated I really am about her condition, my mind keeps drifting back to him. At that moment, I kind of resent him because he’s distracting me so much from my mother. It’s bad enough that he lied to me, but to occupy my thoughts when I should focus on my family. This is exactly why I decided relationships aren’t worth my time. They’re a distraction from what I really need to be focusing on, and right now, that’s my mom.

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