Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 133682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
I don’t waver as I say, “No.”
“Wilder,” she says, like she can convince me otherwise. She could probably convince me of a lot of things. But in this case, I’m not bending.
The phone rings again.
“I won’t pretend you’re not here,” I tell her, resolute, then hit answer.
“Hello, Mom,” I say.
“Hi, kiddo,” she says.
Fable whips her gaze to me, her warm eyes dancing with delight. “Kiddo,” she mouths.
“How’s everything going? Also, we’re not alone. Fable is in the car with me. She works for the team,” I say, then with barely a pause, I add, “we’re seeing each other. But she’s not my direct report.”
There. That last part will matter to my mother. Just like it mattered to Bibi and, well, to the employee handbook.
Fable waves to the dashboard screen though, of course, Mom can’t see her. “Hi! I can’t wait to meet you. Wilder has told me so much about you. How is London?”
Mom takes a second or two before she answers with, “London is lovely, but so is Evergreen Falls. And are you heading there too?”
“I am,” Fable says. “We’re in Wilder’s car right now. Also, did you know he can change the battery in a smoke detector, Ms.—” Fable turns to me, asking with her eyes for Mom’s last name.
“Hunter. Elizabeth Hunter,” I supply.
“Ms. Hunter. He also fixed my toaster. He’s a handyman! So thank you, since I can only assume this is your excellent work,” she says.
“As a matter of fact, I’m pretty handy. I did teach him all those things, but credit to him too. He was dead set on knowing how to do everything. So glad he’s put those skills to good use.” And just like that, Fable is charming my mother.
“Well, he is an Aries. They’re determined and independent,” she says.
My heart should not be beating faster. It should not be surging simply because Fable remembers details about my mother, like her passion for the signs of the zodiac. But it is. It fucking is.
As I drive and they chat, I fight off a fresh wave of feelings for Fable. Must focus on the road. Only the road. Not on the ease with which the woman I’m supposedly seeing is winning my mother’s heart.
When they’re done chatting, my mom clears her throat. “Wilder, I have a question about Mac’s gift. Can you send me a photo of Penguin’s tail?”
I laugh. “You think I have a photo of the cat’s tail?”
“Yes. I do,” she says. “I bet it’s on your camera roll. I bet you took one of her this morning.”
Fable’s jaw drops, like I’ve been busted. Then, more amused than she’s ever been, she jumps in, saying, “He did, Ms. Hunter. He did. He loves taking pictures of the cat.”
My mom sighs happily. “He takes them for Mac.”
“It’s so sweet,” Fable says.
“Yes, I’ll send you one when we stop,” I say to my mom.
“Well, stop soon! I’m finishing her gift—Penguin’s portrait—and I want to get the tail just right.”
“Yes, Mom,” I grumble.
Mom chuckles in response. “Now you can keep him in line, Fable.”
I wince, guilt slicing through me. Fable was right when she said it’d be hard to lie to my mother. My mother’s not like Bibi. She’s not constantly trying to set me up. She understands why I’m relationship-free. She’s the same. She knows romance isn’t a thing that works out for some of us, and she’s happy nonetheless.
She’d understand this fake-dating thing with Fable. Except, I don’t want to ruin anything for my pretend girlfriend, who leans closer to the phone to hit the mute button. Her voice is serious as she says, “I want to tell her the truth. We can’t lie to her. Please tell me you’re okay with it.”
The plea in her eyes. The vulnerability in her voice. The kindness of the gesture. Sometimes I wish she’d make it harder not to fall for her.
I hit the turn signal and say, “Yes.”
It’s easier than I thought it’d be, but that’s how it goes with her.
Fable unmutes the phone. “Ms. Hunter, can you keep a secret?”
“Oh, this sounds interesting. And of course,” my mom says as I turn onto the next exit ramp.
“Good. Because we’re going to need your help to pull this off,” she adds.
“Well, my day just got a lot more interesting.”
“This is vault level. The kind of vault that only a compassionate, balanced Libra who can see all sides can handle,” she adds.
“That’s me,” Mom says.
There’s a pause, a deep breath, then Fable jumps. “Wilder is not my real boyfriend.” Fable almost sounds disappointed.
There’s silence on my mother’s end of the line as I pull into the parking lot at a roadside store. Then she says, “Ah, this is one of those newfangled situationships?”
I appreciate her attempt to understand this, but it’s time to jump in. “Bibi is Bibi-ing, and Caroline is Caroline-ing, and you and I know it’s not going to happen. I needed a plus one for the wedding to ward them off, and Fable graciously agreed,” I say, quickly getting to brass tacks. “Her ex-boyfriend happens to be the world’s biggest prick and he’ll be at the wedding, so all the better that he sees she’s moved on.”