Lindsey rubbed her chin. “I know it’s gotten worse the more famous you’ve gotten.”

  I tried to act unconcerned. I had missed the mark when I didn’t do better research on The Farm. I honestly thought I was getting away from everything when I came here, including rabid fans.

  I shrugged. “Having people think I’m with a boyfriend will make all the difference. A fake boyfriend. It’s impossible to do relationships, you know that.”

  She nodded slowly. “I do know that. But maybe this time could be different…?”

  I shook my head. “Linds, what aren’t you getting here? I just need a guy to fake a couple of pictures with me. That’s it. I don’t know why you’re making this bigger than it is.”

  “Give me the reasons why not, one more time.”

  I sighed, then sat up straight, and counted off. “I barely know him, and he barely knows me. I live in Nashville, and he lives here. He’s older than me—”

  “And you’re younger than him?” Lindsey smiled.

  I gave a laugh. “Yes!”

  Lindsey furrowed her brow. “Does that bother you?”

  I scoffed. “No! Sometimes I feel as old as the hills, his age is meaningless to me.”

  “What do you mean, you feel as old as the hills?” Lindsey’s brow was still scrunched.

  Oh, sugar. I didn’t need to go down that road. I waved my hand. “Nothing, I didn’t mean anything. His age doesn’t bother me, that’s all. But lastly, and probably most importantly, I’m a country singer, who tours and travels eighty percent of the year.” And when you got right down to it, when it came to me, most people only saw the country star, and that was it. I didn’t need a star chaser.

  I slumped over. “Are those enough reasons? Come on, Linds, this is important. I need to know you have my back. When y’all are here, you’re going to have to play a part, too.”

  Lindsey chewed on her lower lip. “Okay, okay. I’ll give Mom and Dad and Paul a heads-up, but you’re going to have to explain it to them when we get there. And you know none of them are going to be happy about it.” She paused for a moment. “Except for maybe Paul…. He can be pretty kooky sometimes.”

  “Remember that time he collected all the turtles to the edge of the pond?”

  “That boy is dedicated, you can say that.”

  I smiled at my sister. “Thanks, Linds. This is important to me. Having your support will make all the difference.”

  Lindsey laughed. “When haven’t we had your back? You’ve got this.”

  I swallowed the ball of emotion that rose in my throat. She was right—they did always have my back. Which made what I was trying to do in Charlotte that much more difficult. I couldn’t disappoint them. I had promised. Fourteen years ago, I had promised.

  And I shouldn’t be breaking that promise now.

  Chapter 10

  - Jackson

  Unknown number: Any chance you can come by the cabin tonight? There are a couple of things I’d like to talk to you about.

  I glanced at the text I just received.

  Finally.

  I’d been giving it some time before I approached Gia with the fake/real boyfriend plan, but her reaching out to me was even better. It had been three full days since I’d seen her at the diner, and after some internal arguments, the discussion with Jasmine and Quinn, and then more internal back and forth, I felt good about my plan. I’d also reached out to Colton, Grams’ lawyer, so he would stop calling me every week.

  Jackson: Who is this?

  I grinned, waiting to see how she’d respond. The three little bubbles that indicated she was texting popped up and disappeared, popped up and disappeared. And then—

  Unknown Number: Um… Just Gia.

  Jackson: I was kidding. I knew it was you. This is the only area code to contact me that wasn’t familiar. What time?

  Unknown Number: I wish you could see how hard I am squinting at you right now. You shouldn’t play with a girl’s heart like that. How about 7?

  I laughed at her squinting comment but raised my eyebrows at her playing with a girl’s heart comment. Interesting.

  Jackson: You can show me tonight. See you then.

  Unknown Number: See you.

  How alarmed should I be that I couldn’t stop smiling about finally seeing Gia again? Or maybe I should be alarmed at how quickly I saved her phone number in my contacts.

  I tossed my phone onto the bench seat of my old truck and put it into gear. I had a couple of hours to burn before meeting up with her. I needed to check on my team in the flower fields, get cleaned up, and grab something to eat—and be sure to grab the last page of the will.

  I was so wrapped up in what I wanted to talk to Gia about, that it just hit me. What did she want to talk about?

  I felt like I was going on my first high school date, but it was worse than that because I hadn’t actually asked Gia out.

  Gia answered the door and smiled. Her curly hair was piled on top of her head and a few blonde curls fell around her face. My first instinct was to reach out and tuck one of those curls behind her ear, but instead, I put my hand in my back pocket.

  “Hey, there,” she said. “Come in.”

  “Hey.” I stepped into the cabin. “How are you liking the place?” It had been a while since I’d spoken to someone staying in one of the glamping cabins. I’d helped out on occasion when Quinn was renovating, and I supplied the fresh flowers, but I didn’t often talk to the guests.

  “I fell in love with the place as soon as I saw the photos online. It’s beautiful, and exactly what I was looking for when I booked it. I also liked how close it is to—” she cut herself off abruptly.

  “You also liked…?”

  She laughed and waved her hand. “Nothing. Can I get you a water? Or a coffee or cappuccino from my very fancy-schmancy coffee maker? I have all the cream and sugar you might need.”

  “I’ll stick to water, thanks. But speaking of coffee, how’s the horse face T-shirt doing?”

  Gia reached into the fridge and came out with two bottles of water. “Alas, once the lake washed the face away, that shirt became a stained mess. Nothing even remotely animal-like about it.” She tossed me a bottle and sat in the chair, leaving the sofa for me.

  “Thanks for coming over,” she said.

  “You bet.” I cracked the lid on my bottle.

  “So, I have a big favor to ask.” She looked down at her bottle and fiddled with the top. “Like, a really big favor.”

  Gia’s gaze met mine, and the look she gave me went straight through my ribs. She seemed… nervous. I hadn’t been expecting nervous.

  “Yeah? Like what kind of big favor?”

  She twisted the lid on the water bottle, off then back on. Off and then on. And then, she took in a big breath. “So, you remember how I kissed you at the diner the other day?”

  I smiled. “Yes.” I would never forget it, either, no matter how quickly it had ended.

  She took in another big breath, screwed the lid on the bottle, and set it down on the side table. She leaned down and placed her elbows on her knees, her hands clasped loosely in front of her. She sat back, and pulled her knees up to her chest, then dropped her feet back down to the floor. “I’m just going to say it,” she mumbled.

  I nodded. “I think that sounds like a good idea.” I hadn’t moved a muscle since she began her nervous fidgeting.

  “Okay, here goes nothing.” She slapped her hands on her knees and sat up straight. “I need a fake boyfriend, and I think you’re the perfect man for the job. What do you think?”

  - Gia

  His eyebrows flew up his forehead, and he leaned back like he was trying to get away from me.

  I winced and sat back in my chair. My request hadn’t exactly been smooth, and my stomach dropped at how I had already botched this. “You heard me say fake, right? Like…” My mind spun, looking for the words. “Like, not really my boyfriend, but you’ll just look like you’re my boyfriend. Like at the diner, how having you there shut—”

  Jackson started to laugh, and I wanted to crawl under the chair until he left. What had I been thinking? I closed my eyes and wished the moment away.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” he said, and I peeked my eyes open, “but I was going to ask you the same thing.”

  I flew up and out of my chair. “What? What do you mean?”

  Still sitting on the sofa, he gave me a shrug. “Exactly that. I need a fake girlfriend.” He coughed and cleared his throat. “I mean, I need a girl. To be a girlfriend. But it’s not going to work out, so it’s fake. I mean, it’s real, but it’s fake. You know?”

  I slowly shook my head and sat back down on the chair, not able to keep my smile from crossing my face. “I don’t know… but I can’t wait to find out.” I pulled my leg up under me and reached for my bottle of water. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?” I took a big drink.

  I couldn’t wait to hear this.

  Chapter 11

  - Jackson

  “So there it is. In order for the farm to come to me, I have to try to have a relationship. And I know how this ends, so…”

  “How does it end, exactly?” Gia had a small smile on her face, her head tilted slightly to the right.

  “It just ends. You go back to your life, I go back to mine. So I can sit here all day and say I’m giving it a try, for my grams’ sake, but I think fake is more realistic since I know the ending. And fake is what you’re looking for.”

  Gia nodded. “It is. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and there are a couple of ways a fake boyfriend could really help me out. The biggest one is the fact that it won’t be long until people figure out I’m here. So having a boyfriend around will discourage some of the more aggressive fans.”

  “You think the guys from the diner are going to share pictures of you and where you were? I thought I deleted any pictures that were left on their phones.” Anger rose in my chest at the thought, and a wave of protectiveness crashed through me. I shook out my hands to keep them from clenching.

  Gia bit her lower lip. “Oh, no. I guess that means you haven’t seen any of the social media posts?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t have social media. I hate all that publicity crap.” Hate it. My parents were all about that stuff and I couldn’t stand it.

  “Then that should be a double ‘oh, no’. Jackson, what I need from you is literally all the social media stuff. That’s what will convince people of our relationship and help keep them away.” She grabbed her phone off the coffee table between us. “Here. You better see this before you agree to anything.”

  I took the phone from her hand, not sure what I was going to see. I could feel my stomach tightening. Shoot. There were a couple of pictures of Gia in an Instagram post tagged with #GiaNyxSighting and #GiaNyxInTheWild. One shot was of Gia walking down the dock toward Quinn’s lake. I was in the background working on the arbor. The location wasn’t tagged in the picture, but like Gia said, it probably wouldn’t be long before someone figured it out.

  “Wow. I didn’t even see those people from the wedding with a phone out. I was sure the pictures would have been from the diner.”

  “People can get pretty creative when it comes to taking a picture. I just assume that if I’m outside of my home, it’s likely I’ll be photographed.” Gia grimaced.

  I hated the thought of her having to live like that, and yet I was basically signing up for the same thing.

  “So are you going to be okay with this?” she asked. “It’s just the beginning.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, then slid the phone back to Gia.

  “I don’t like it, but I get it. And it works as ‘proof’ for me, too, when I talk to the lawyer about this nonsense.”

  Gia narrowed her eyes. “But you won’t call it nonsense when you talk to him.”

  I scoffed. “I won’t.”

  Gia took in a big breath and blew it out. “Okay. Let’s get down to brass tacks. There are a couple of things I think will really sell it. My family is coming to town in ten days, so we’ll definitely need a picture or two with them. If you’re meeting the family, obviously we’re serious.”

  I burst out laughing. “I’m meeting your family? How are they going to feel about this fake stuff?” I paused. “You are telling them, right?” Faking for the public was one thing, but faking in front of people we cared about was different. Yet another thing I refused to emulate in regard to my parents.

  “Definitely. I’ve already talked to my sister, and she’s going to fill everyone else in before they get here.”

  “And that’ll be enough?”

  “My family is really supportive. They’ll do anything to help me out.”

  Something crossed her face after she said that, almost like sadness, but it was gone before I caught it. And all I could think was my family experience couldn't be further from hers.

  I twisted the lid off my water bottle and took a drink. “They won’t care about the age thing?” It’s not like she was that young, but she was younger than me.

  Gia gave me a little shrug. “I can’t imagine they would—it’s fake, after all. And fans are going to complain about my boyfriend, no matter what, so I think we’re good.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “What we post to social media has to be spread over the next few weeks, so the relationship looks ongoing.”

  “Makes sense. Still hate it, but—”

  “Oh, and maybe we should get some staged pictures that I can use later, to really get the most out of this.” Gia jumped out of her chair. “Let me grab a notebook so we can jot this stuff down.”

  Gia walked over to her bed where a guitar, some pens, and some notebooks were spread across it. She grabbed a notebook and a black pen, then jumped back into the chair.

  After a moment of writing, she read off her page. “Okay. I’ve got a good start. The three things I need are two or three photos with my family, photos spread out over the time I am here, a minimum of one a week, and some staged photos to use in the future.” She tapped the page. “What about you? What do you need?”

  My first thought was, many things when it comes to you. But before the thought went much further, she added, “Wait, wait. Speaking of age, I turn twenty-seven while I’m here, and that will have to be a thing. A documented thing.”

  I closed my eyes and wondered if I was going to be able to handle the publicity. When I opened my eyes she was staring right at me.

  “I know it’s a big deal.” She twisted her hands in her lap.

  “I’ll be okay.”

  I could do this. Not just for me, but the more I got to know this woman… I could do this for the both of us.

  - Gia

  Jackson’s hand went to the back of his neck. I’d noticed he did that earlier when we were discussing the social media angle. It seemed to be his go-to move when he was feeling uncomfortable. I only had a second to wonder about what that meant for our discussion before he spoke.

  “I think what I'll need from this will all have to point to one specific thing.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. And that thing is…” Apparently, he didn’t like what he was about to say. “I’m not exactly known around town for dating anyone.”

  Interesting. “Yeah?”

  He continued to rub his neck “Yeah. No.”

  I balanced my notebook on my knee. I really wanted to know what that was all about. Jackson was a very handsome man… make that very, very handsome, and easy to get along with. He’d be a catch. I was already prematurely mourning the loss of our fake relationship because he made it so easy. Not that I could have him even if it were real—I knew better.

  “The only way I can think of to make people believe this—and I mean, the people in this town, not your public—is if we're seen together over the next couple of weeks. Like you making my flower deliveries with me. That way, when people run into each other and the topic comes up, it’ll be more than one person who has seen us together.”

  “When the topic comes up? You dating will garner that kind of attention?” This man was becoming more intriguing by the minute.

  “Yes,” he said, completely deadpan. “How long has it been since you’ve lived in a small town?”

  “Point. I’ve been so far removed from small-town living that I forgot what that could mean. Everybody knows everything about everyone.” I chewed on the end of my pen. “With social media, it’s not that different, really. Are you sure you’re up for it?” Please be up for it, please be up for it. Having my fans and media focused on my new boyfriend would also help me out tremendously if I decided to go to Charlotte and do that whole thing. If I didn’t chicken out.

  But now was not the time to think about that.

  Jackson nodded once. “I’m up for it.”

  “Good.” I jumped out of my seat and reached my hand across the table. “We’ve got ourselves a deal.”

  Jackson took my hand and shook. “Deal.”

  I leaned over and ripped the paper I was writing on out of the notebook. “Now, I’ll just sign here…” I signed on the signature line I’d created, and slid the paper to Jackson, “…and if you would sign,” I tapped the line, “there.”

  Jackson picked up the paper and burst out laughing. He began to read out loud. “I hereby declare on this day and going forward until a time accepted as mutually satisfying that the lovely Gia Nyx and the heralded—” His gaze shot up to mine. “Heralded? That was the best you got?”

 

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