Page 5 of The Honeymoon Hack
“But we’ll still need to establish some rapport,” I said, the reality of going undercover becoming more concrete than it had been during our planning sessions. “I’ve always worked behind the scenes. Never gone undercover at all, let alone for two weeks straight.”
I’d spent the past year working remotely—designing hardware and helping Brie run ops from Mum’s maisonette while managing her care. The thought of jumping straight into fieldwork made my stomach clench.
“We just need to appear boring and married enough that no one looks too closely.” Ashley flashed her left hand, where anengagement ring and wedding band caught the light. “Scarlett has your ring, by the way.”
I nodded, but wasn’t ready to wander away from Brie yet.
“And she wants another briefing tomorrow morning.” Ashley picked up her laptop and papers. “Are you good to review our cover story details in about thirty minutes?”
We had an entire false history together, complete with manufactured photos on our company phones. On paper, we had a rich history, including falling in love in college. I already knew her favorite color, her parents’ names, and her first boyfriend. I’d memorized everything Emmett prepared for us, unsure of what was real and what was our story.
But I’d been up since four a.m. London time, flown across the Atlantic, moved my mother into a long-term care facility, and was still processing being back in Canada. My emotional resources were depleted. I barely wanted to move, let alone figure out a brand-new fake relationship.
“How about a quick overview now,” I said, “and we can do the deep dive tomorrow?”
“Works for me,” Ashley said. “Let’s be sure we can recite our meeting story, shared history, and why we took the jobs. Then tomorrow we’ll work on tweaking it to be more personal, including the parts we’d disagree about.”
“Perfect.”
“I’ll get your ring from Scarlett,” Brie offered, heading for the stairs. “Maybe it’ll help you settle into the cover better.”
As she left, I sank into my chair. Someone had adjusted it since I’d left, and it was too low, but I was too bloody tired to care. The past year had been a constant exercise in adaptation—learning to navigate my mother’s declining memory, coordinating with Brie remotely, designing hardware with limited resources. And now they expected me to become someone else entirely for two weeks.
Well, mostly someone else entirely. The team had kept some elements of my real life, including my name, to be sure I’d always answer when someone called me.
But at least I was back where things made sense for a couple of days.
Ashley set her laptop on the desk. “She missed you, you know. A lot.”
I looked up.
Of course, Brie had missed me. We’d been practically glued to each other since we were seven. Missing each other after a year apart was natural. Expected.
So, why did my chest tighten when I heard Ashley say it aloud?
“And she kept your space exactly as you left it until I joined her up here for the intense part of the planning a couple of months ago. She wouldn’t let anyone else touch your stuff before that.”
The territorial instinct suddenly felt petty. Brie had protected this space—my space—for an entire year. While I’d been an ocean away dealing with Mum’s decline, she’d been here, keeping things ready for my return.
Before I could reply, Brie appeared at the top of the stairs with a small box in her hand, shaking it in my direction. “Got it! Now, where were we?”
Ashley turned to Brie without missing a beat. “Will’s about to explain to me how we met and fell madly in love.”
“Right,” I said, standing and taking the box from Brie. Inside was a simple gold band. “Let’s review the fairy tale Emmett came up with.”
Brie pulled up the backstory document on her computer, but as we gathered around the screen, my mind started replaying Ashley’s words: ‘She missed you. A lot.’
The truth was, I’d missed Brie more than I’d allowed myself to admit—missed our easy collaboration, our inside jokes, the way she snorted and giggled when she was nervous.
I’d missed my best friend.
I stared at the mission parameters without really seeing them, wondering how I was supposed to focus on pretending to be married to Ashley when all I could think about was how good it felt to be back at Brie’s side.
Chapter 3
Brie
I followedWill through Northwind Place’s hallways, past watercolor seascapes and potted ferns. The facility seemed more like a high-end hotel than a place where people’s memories slowly disappeared.
