Page 19 of Matched with Her Fake Fiance

My boss had been excited for a few minutes that I’d convinced Miles Clark to come, but then got mad that I hadn’t found another ten like him. Again, adulting is hard.

“Are you all right?” Evie asks, peeking around my closet door.

“I don’t know,” I whine, sitting down on my bed. It’s covered in all the other outfits I’ve tried on but haven’t organized back into place just yet. I usually border on clean freak, but my brain can’t handle that right now.

Evie’s gaze scans the room. “Is there something happening at work?”

“No,” I say slowly. I’ve managed to keep a secret from my other two roommates, but that’s only since we all work at strange hours during the week. “It’s one of those days where nothing fits or I don’t like it.”

I stand and walk to the closet, hoping by some magic that I’ll have at least one shirt worthy of my afternoon. A floral blouse is hanging from the rod, and it makes me feel like I should be eating dinner at 4 pm and falling asleep in the recliner any time I sit down, but it’s so comfortable that I keep it around. Then there’s a new blouse I bought several months ago for what I thought would be an engagement date.

I pull it out, a teal flowy top and walk to where Evie can see it. She’s so good, just over there folding a few of my neglected pants choices.

“What do you think?” I ask, holding it up in front of me.

Evie smiles. “That color looks great on you. Go for it.”

I nod, walking back into the small closet and taking off another shirt I didn’t like.

“So, um, is there someone’s eye you’re hoping to catch?” Evie calls.

My laugh comes out more like a snort. “Not at the moment. I just hoped I’d be able to avoid the wrath of my boss by not looking like a schlub.”

My phone rings on the bed, and I lunge to grab it before she sees Miles and his title. I should’ve changed it to FB instead of The Boyfriend. I don’t know why I get pleasure from saying or thinking that.

“Why does your phone say Miles The Boyfriend?” Evie’s eyes narrow in on mine. “Are you dating again?”

I press my lips together, knowing I need to keep the secret. That question is going to be hitting me right and left in the coming weeks and I can’t act like I’ve been given truth serum every time.

“It’s kind of a new thing. I put that in there mostly as a joke,” I say, pointing to my phone. Meanwhile the call ends and a few seconds later, he calls again.

“A joke? Do you work with him or something?” Evie’s eyes soften.

I blow out a breath. “Kind of. It’s recent, though.”

Evie takes a step forward, placing her hand on my left shoulder and says, “If you’re ready to jump into the dating pool, I’m here for you. If not, I get it.”

My smile feels a whole lot shakier than it should, and while I haven’t exactly lied, the guilt seeps in. Evie has been through a lot in her life, or so I’ve heard from small snippets Kenzie has relayed to me, and here she is, telling me that she’ll be by my side no matter what.

At least I know I’ll have people there to pick up the pieces once this thing is all over.

“Thanks, girl. We’ll see how it goes.”

Evie leaves with a confused expression and I pick up the third time Miles calls, hoping it’s not an emergency or anything. Then again, we don’t know each other well enough to know what constitutes an emergency.

“Hi, change of plan if you’re up for it.” Miles’s voice sounds so far away. What does a change mean for him?

I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Sure, I’m good with whatever. Do you need to go another time?”

“Tonight still works, but we’ll get dinner first. I need to meet with an old investor of the company. He’s here from Europe and this might be a good time to test our relationship.”

I nearly drop the phone at his words because even though I know it’s fake, the word relationship gets me every time.

I put the phone back up to my ear, my hands trembling. “Does that mean we can do a crash course on each other’s lives?” My insides are screaming that I’m not ready for something like this. I thought we’d have time, a lot of time, to allow me to memorize all the facts I need to know about him. And now I’m down to minutes.

Miles chuckles. “For sure. I doubt there will be a lot of interrogation about our relationship at this dinner.”

“So…” I let the word drag out a bit, wondering how to say this to a man whose wardrobe probably costs my salary for the year. “What should I wear to this?”

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