Page 30 of Fake To Forever

Marie.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and text Marie, asking if she’s free for coffee. Telling her about all of this is going to push her over the edge, but if anyone is going to know, it’s going to be her. She’s either going to check me into an asylum or rush me to go find a wedding dress. She responds almost immediately, and within the hour, I’m out the door, heading to our favorite café.

When I arrive, Marie is already there, sitting at a small table near the window, sipping her coffee with mine waiting across from her. She looks up and smiles when she sees me, but her expression turns concerned as I sit down.

“What’s going on?” she asks, setting her cup down. “You look like shit. Were you up all night or something?”

“Geez, thanks for the confidence boost this morning.”

She snickers, rolling her eyes as a smile crosses my lips. There’s no point in sugarcoating anything, so I jump right into it. “Okay, I need to talk to you about something, but you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone and you won’t freak out. I mean like… this is… it’s huge. Like, potentially life-changing huge.”

Marie raises an eyebrow, clearly intrigued, but nods. “You’re worrying me, but you should already know that I can keep a secret. So spill it?”

I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “Christian proposed to me last night.”

Marie’s eyes widen in shock. “Wait,Christian? As in Christian Tallow? The single dad from the daycare? The billionaire?” Her voice drops to a whisper on the last word, like it’s something she can’t quite believe. “Word has spread through town like wildfire since those paparazzi showed up at the daycare. Everyone is talking about him now.”

“Yeah, I figured as much,” I say, fidgeting with the edge of my napkin.

“Have you guys been secretly dating or something?” Marie asks, catching me by surprise.

“What? No! It’s not like that. It’s not a romantic proposal. It’s… more like a business arrangement. You would know if I was secretly dating someone. When was the last time I didn’t tell you something important like this?”

“True,” she says slowly, her brows furrowing in confusion. “But a business arrangement? Haven, what are you talking about?”

I take another deep breath and explain everything—the conversation with my mom, her dying wish, Christian’s custody battle, and how getting married would benefit both of us. I watch as Marie processes the information, her expression shifting from shock to something more thoughtful.

When I’m done, she leans back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “Wow. That’s… a lot to take in.”

“Tell me about it,” I mutter, taking a sip of my coffee. “I don’t know what to do, Marie. I never cared about getting married before, but now… I don’t know. It feels wrong, like I’m using marriage as a means to an end, but at the same time, it would make my mom happy, and it would help Christian with Oliver. How do I say no to that?”

Marie is silent, her gaze fixed on the table as she thinks. Finally, she looks up at me, her eyes serious. “Haven, I know you want to do right by your mom—we’d all walk to hell and back to make that woman happy—and I know you care about Christian and his son, but you have to ask yourself: is this what you really want? Could you live with yourself if you went through with it? And what happens if things don’t work out the way you both hope?”

I bite my lip, her words hitting home. I guess I really never thought about what would happen if all of this got out about our arrangement and blew up in our faces.

“That’s the thing—I just don’t know. I feel like I’m being pulled in two different directions. Part of me thinks it’s the right thing to do, but another part of me is screaming that it’s a mistake.”

Marie reaches across the table and takes my hand. “Listen, whatever you decide, you have to do it for you. Not for your mom, not for Christian, but for yourself. If you can look in the mirror and feel good about your decision, then that’s all that matters.”

I nod, appreciating her honesty, but it doesn’t make the decision any easier. “I just… I don’t want to regret this either way. If I say no, I’ll feel like I’m letting Mom down, but if I say yes… I’m scared I’ll be trapped in something that doesn’t make me happy.”

“You’re stronger than you think, Haven. Whatever choice you make, you’ll figure it out. Just promise me you won’t rush into anything, okay? Take some time to really think about it.”

“I will,” I assure her softly.

She tilts her head and studies me for a moment before asking, “Does Garrett know about any of this?”

My stomach drops at the mention of my brother. Oh, shit. I haven’t even thought about my brother! He’ll be furious if he finds out about this. It hadn’t really clicked before, but Christian is Garrett’s best friend. His best friend! My brother’s been out in the oil fields since before Christian moved to town, so I haven’t really thought about the two men in the same capacity before.

“No,” I say, shaking my head before dropping it into my hands. “Crap, I haven’t even thought about Garrett in all of this! What am I going to do?”

“When does he come home?”

Lifting my head back up, I try to remember his exact schedule. “A couple weeks yet, unless something happens with Mom. If she takes a turn, he’s cutting his time out there short and coming right home.”

“Okay, well,” Marie begins in a calm tone, though it breaks a bit at her next words, “your mom is fairly stable right now, yes? So Garrett likely won’t come back before he’s scheduled to, which means you have some time to figure out how to address this with him.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” I say, somewhat breathless. “One crisis at a time. First, I need to figure out what my answer to Christian is, and then I can figure out what to do about telling my brother.”

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