Fake Summer Wife

“Especially when Jessica’s jaw hits the floor,” Taylor laughed.

I handed them menus, knowing that they likely didn’t need them at this point. “She can’t be that bad,” I said. “Who knows? We might even end up friends.”

They shared a look. “Not likely,” Bob said carefully. “There is a whole list of words we generally try not to use to describe women, and all of them completely apply to Jessica.”

I had to hold my order pad over my mouth as I snorted a laugh.

“Look, Claudia,” Taylor said, finally lowering his voice, “You’re a nice girl. The sort of sweet woman that every man really does want. Jessica can never be that. So her attempt to show off and one-up Vaughan is going to fall flat. With luck this will do the trick and she’ll finally stop trying to make him look unprofessional once and for all.”

“Well, that does sound very annoying, so I’m happy to help,” I said. “Now, I assume you’re both having coffee?”

“Yes.”

“Then by the time I get back here with the pot, you’ll both know what you’re having, and that will include salads, boys.”

Taylor stuck his bottom lip out as Bob said, “Yes, Mrs. Walsh.”

Giggling, I had to admit I preferred the sound of that to my own name. As I went to grab the coffee pot, Scotty was just setting a tuna melt on the pass. “Customers just love it when you boss them around. How do you do that?”

“I took a couple of acting classes in high school,” I whispered. “There’s a certain tone that people don’t mess with. They want to play along. Plus I watch their eyes to be sure that they’re really laughing with me.”

He chuckled, hustling back to the grill while whistling.

The evening passed quickly, and I realized that time seemed to flow differently now that I was always connected to someone. Vaughan and I had a constant link of text conversation that made everything go faster. Before I knew it, it was Friday night and he was picking me up from work.

He waited until he was helping me into the truck to give me a tiny kiss hello, then we drove to his house. It was stunning – a large classic red brick home on a rather huge plot of land.

“This is all yours?”

“Yup,” he said, helping me down from the truck. I loved the way he used any excuse to put his hands on me. It was adorably saucy. “It’s similar to my parents’ house, but I wanted something a bit smaller.”

If this was his idea of small, I couldn’t imagine what their house was like.

Vaughan walked me in through the front door, and I stared around at the foyer and main room. Kicking off my shoes, I dropped my purse and walked through to the living room.

Then I burst out laughing. There was a hanging plant in the windows of the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Plus tall standing plants in several corners, and a row of flowering plants along the kitchen window. I quickly counted fifteen in all, then nearly doubled over in a fit of giggles.

“What?” he asked, patiently waiting for me to pull myself together.

“I meant to scatter at least five plants through the whole space,” I sputtered. “You put five plants in each room.”

He rolled his eyes, joining my laughter. “Okay, now I understand. The plant service did say it seemed a bit much for the dining room. There’s also a fluffy green thing in the upstairs washroom.”

Impulsively I threw my arms around him in a hug. “You’re a very good husband, fulfilling my request to the letter.”

He gave me a squeeze, then kissed the top of my head. “Anything my gorgeous and amazing wife desires, I’ll do my best to provide it.”

Even though we were joking, it was overwhelmingly sweet. “You hired a plant service?”

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug of those wide shoulders. “I don’t know what stuff needs what sort of light. I didn’t want anything to have a lousy life because I don’t know what I’m doing. They printed out sheets with watering instructions, and I’ll have them come back every two months to check on everything and fertilize or whatever.”

He was actually concerned with the lives of plants. Vaughan really was the most precious man I’d ever met.

He took me on a tour of the entire house, and all joking aside I honestly did question his taste when it came to a few of the lamps. It didn’t take long for me to get a feel for his style. I couldn’t help thinking of the small changes that I’d make if I were to move in someday.

I knew that I was thinking way too far ahead, but I couldn’t help it. Everything was going so well so far.

“Here, let me show you the backyard,” Vaughan said, keeping an arm around me as we went out the sliding kitchen door.