Page 16 of Final Goodbye
“What the fuck is Logan even doing here?” she said with a shaky breath. “Why would he come to my father’s funeral? My dad hated him. He never thought he was good enough for me. And I haven’t seen or talked to the guy since I left home.” Well, that’s good information to have. I guess, if there had been any doubt at all, he was definitely her ex.
I needed to clear the air and say something. It got a little weird back there, with me being so protective of her and throwing out that I was her boyfriend when obviously we’re not together.?
“Hey, look, I’m sorry for what happened back there. Honestly, I just didn’t like how he was speaking to you, and it may have brought another side out of me. Not to mention he was an asshole toward me from the beginning of that interaction.” That sparked a small laugh from her.
“Yeah… My boyfriend, huh?” A small smirk broke out over her face.
I held up my hands in surrender. “I can’t be blamed for whatever idiotic things come out of my mouth when I’m standing up for a pretty girl.” We shared an intimate look before her sweet smile turned mischievous. That look on her face was a little hard for me to read in the moment.
“Should I be worried?” I chuckled.
“Well, actually, this kind of gives me an idea… Hear me out.”
“Okay, now I’m really starting to worry. But whatever it is, you know I’ll help in any way that I can. So, what’s up? What’s this idea of yours?” I couldn’t say no, not to her. She was going through it right now, and if she had some crazy idea that I could be her partner in crime with, I’d say yes to her in a heartbeat.
Standing up, I leaned against the wall nearby and waited for her to finish her thought. I crossed my arms and looked down at her with a questioning gaze.
“So, what if… What if we were actually dating?”?she spilled out, her teeth tugging on her bottom lip.
Ummm… Did I hear that right?
Standing up, she started to pace and continued what she was saying.
“I mean, not for real, obviously. But Logan, he’s… he’s always been crazy. He made me really nervous back there. I haven’t talked to him in years, and he gave me this unsettling feeling.”?She seemed genuinely concerned.
“Yeah, you weren’t the only one…” I grumbled under my breath.
“But maybe you could help me out. If he happens to be around, maybe we could just act like we are dating or something. Like we just did back there. Hopefully help scare him away, so he doesn’t think he stands a chance.”
“Why would he think he stands a chance, anyway?” I questioned.
She ran her delicate fingers through her long brown hair. “Something tells me that wasn’t the last time I’ll be seeing him around. I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I have.” And something told me there was a lot more to this story.
She looked nervous when she asked me to “pretend date” her, and it was the cutest thing. Little did she know, I was going to take this as my opportunity to make her want to date me, but for real. This could be fun.
PAIGE
I can’t believe I just asked Declan to pretend to date me while we were standing in the family restroom at my dad’s funeral. I probably sounded like such a moron. Declan probably felt bad for me. In his eyes, I’m sure I was just a broken girl going through a hard time. After a few extra moments of thinking about the proposition that had slipped out of my mouth, I wouldn’t blame him for bolting out of this restroom right now.
There was no way he would agree to such a crazy idea.
“You want me to help scare that asshole away?” His deep, gravelly laugh came out. “You don’t have to ask me twice; I’d love to be your fake boyfriend, baby girl. Just let me know how I can help get him away from you for good.”
My throat grew dry, and my words refused to come out. I had no idea what to say because this had to be crazy, right? He agreed to my insane idea and was going all-in, apparently. He referred to me asbaby girlso effortlessly,taking this fake dating idea to a whole new level. I squeezed my legs together, thinking about how much I loved that term of endearment coming from him.
Maybe this was a bad idea, but I didn’t want to turn back on it now.
Heading toward the sink to wash my hands, I stood up straight and said, “Well, then, it’s settled. Maybe we should getout of the bathroom before people start to wonder where we are?”
Nodding in agreement, we left the bathroom. Luckily, there wasn’t a person in sight, especially Logan.
The smell of rich and smoky incense wafted around me the moment I stepped out of the bathroom. No longer in a safe space with Declan, I was now facing the depressing reality of my life.
After my speech and a couple of others had wrapped up, my mom had planned a slideshow to take place. I could hear the soft sounds of classical music playing over the speakers as we entered back into the chapel. Photo after photo passed by of my dad. Some with his friends, a few of him as a kid, but my eyes were caught on a certain picture that seemed to creep by in slow motion. A photo of us at my high school graduation. He was happy for me; you could see it in how bright his smile was.
I hadn’t even noticed Declan taking a seat in one of the back rows. If I had to guess, he wanted to give me my space as I made my way up toward the front and lit a candle along with the others that illuminated and flickered right back at me.
I’m sure there was supposed to be a specific prayer to go along with the action of lighting candles in a church, but I wasn’t the type of person who prayed. Instead, I saw this as an opportunity to have a silent conversation with my dad.
