Page 64 of Great Pretender
“Why? We’re fake. That’s what we are.Not real, Chad. And I made the biggest mistake ever when I forgot.So you being with Tiffany shouldn’t surprise me.You were just being yourself.”
“No. God, no, Piper. I swear to you, I wasn’t going to do anything with her.We’re the real deal. You and me.We always were.”
When she shakes her head, my heart seizes in my chest.
“If that were true, we would have gotten together a long time ago.It wouldn’t have taken years.It wouldn’t have taken your need to get the team to notice me.Tell me that’s not true.” Her eyes search mine.
I want to tell her it’s a lie and it isn’t true, but it is.
She’s right.
If this whole thing with Dad hadn’t happened, we’d be the same as we ever were.
Friends.
I can’t refute that, and I can’t even try to lie to her to keep her.
“One million dollars to be your fake fiancée, fake wife, fake everything,” she says, as more tears spill down her cheeks.“I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore.It’s too painful.”
She tries to leave again, but I catch her arm.
“Please give me a chance.”
“No, Chad. Let me go. It’s over.”
“Wow,” says a voice from behind us.
Piper and I both turn around, and I see to my horror the situation just got so much worse.
Not only is my father standing across the path from us, but so is Georgiou.It was he who spoke, and the smile on his face is classic him.
Fuck.
It’s very evident that they heard every word, and so did a few people who were passing by.
I turn back to Piper, and she shakes her head.
“I’m sorry, Chad.”
When she pulls away, I let go, and it feels like I just did the worst thing I could possibly do.I only do it because doom has settled in the pit of my stomach again, and I don’t know what to do to fix us.
When she rushes away, I look back at Dad and Georgiou, ready to face my fate.
While Dad looks furious and disappointed, Georgiou’s smile becomes one of victory, making me feel more defeated than I already am.
In the moments we all stare at each other, it feels like eons might have passed, and that impending doom settles beneath my feet, cementing me to the impending disaster.
But what hits me as I stand there is a full-blown epiphany as I measure up what I truly want.
The epiphany comes with an answer, and it’s one that makes every bit of sense to me, so I walk over to them but stop in front of my father and face him.As I do, I feel like I’ve changed into that man he talked about months ago—the man he wanted me to be.
It was something he said to me in that meeting of ours that’s rippling through my soul.He said I had no regard for family.
I finally know what he means now because the one person I’ve ever fallen in love with and wanted to start a family with just told me we were over.
When I take out my office keys and hold them up, Dad's expression softens, and he looks uncertain of what I’m about to do.
“Chad—”
