Fake Marriage Box Set

“It really depends,” I said, shrugging. “The first week it was about three days, then the second week it was five days, and this week I’m scheduled to watch him at some point during every day. She writes a schedule based on her needs, and I’m open to whatever she has going on. I don’t really think about it; I just show up when I am needed.”

“So, when you’re here is Sarah usually here too, or is she always gone?”

“Like I said,” I replied, feeling uncomfortable now. “Sometimes she’s here, and I help with everything like laundry and cooking, but most of the time she has me watch him because she has somewhere to go. It’s not really down to a science; we do what is needed and I don’t ask her a lot of questions. I mean, she is my employer after all, and I’m happy to have the hours and the time with Jake.”

He looked like he was going to continue this line of questioning and it was making me uncomfortable, considering I had never even heard of him before he showed up just now. I wasn’t sure if he was even supposed to be there, much less be interrogating me, but I kept my patience figuring he just wanted to know who was watching his son. Before he could ask another question, though, I sighed in relief, hearing Sarah coming through the front door.

“I’m home,” she said, cheerfully.

“We are in the living room, Sarah,” I called out.

I could hear her heels clacking down the wood floored hallway, and for some reason I started to get really nervous. As she rounded the corner, she froze, looking at me and then back at Luke. The smile on her face started to fade away and immediately it was replaced with anger. Maybe I shouldn’t have let him in after all, but how was I supposed to know? I mean, if it’s important that one specific person not be allowed in the house, then maybe there should be instruction on that.

“What are you doing here? What is he doing here?”

She looked back and forth between the two of us, but I didn’t know what to say. My eyes tightened and darted toward Luke, angry that he had deceived me like that. From her reaction, there was no way that he didn’t know that she wouldn’t have wanted him there. There was no way he didn’t know that she would react this way. I stepped back slightly and crossed my arms over my chest.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Smith, he was at the door, and Jake was excited to see him,” I responded. “You hadn’t told me about him at all, so I thought it was okay to let him inside.”

“You should have called me first, Quinn,” she snapped at me. “You don’t just let people in because a six-year-old is happy to see them. He would be happy to see a clown, but you just don’t let a random clown come in the house, do you?”

“Of course not,” I said, putting my head down. “I’m sorry.”

“Leave her alone, Sarah,” Luke said, shaking his head and holding Jake in his arms. “She was just doing what was right.”

Sarah grew angrier at the sound of Luke’s voice, and I knew immediately that whatever caused her to be a single mother had occurred on the other side of a difficult divorce. She marched across the living room and snatched Jake from his father’s arms, and kissed him on the cheek. She turned and walked toward the doorway, setting him down and bending to his level.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and play in your room for a little while,” she said, smiling.

“But I want to play with Daddy,” he whined.

“I know you do,” she said, with a sigh. “But Mommy and Daddy have important things to discuss, and they aren’t for miniature ears.”

“Okay,” he sighed, before turning and running to the staircase. “Bye, Daddy!”

“Bye, munchkin,” he yelled after him.

Sarah stood watching as he made it to the top and turned the corner to his room. She snapped back around and put her hands on her hips, her face angrier than I had seen it before. I knew this wasn’t going to be good, but I had nowhere to go. I stood there awkwardly, hoping that she didn’t fire me. I needed this job, and I had already fallen in love with little Jake.

Chapter Three

Luke

“What are you doing here?”

I hated the way Sarah wrinkled her nose at me when she was angry; it was like nails on a chalkboard. I used to like it when we were dating, thinking it was absolutely adorable, but now it just made me cringe. I took a deep breath and smeared a cocky smile across my face, not wanting her to know she was getting to me.

“I came to bring the support check,” I said.

“Well,” she said, thrusting her hand out toward me and glaring at me.

I chuckled, shaking my head as I pulled my wallet from my pocket. I opened it up and put my fingers on the paper, stopping and looking up at her. She sighed heavily and tapped her foot faster, giving me the satisfaction of knowing I was pissing her off. Finally, I pulled it from my wallet and handed it to her, watching her shoulders ease a bit. I knew money would make this situation a little easier since that was all she’d ever wanted from the beginning.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t just mail it like you usually do,” she said, taking the check and shoving it into her back pocket. “You didn’t have to come here and make a scene, and put my sitter in an impossible position.”

“Well, considering I’ve been paying you out the ass to be my ex-wife, and supporting both you and my son, who should be with me part of the time, I thought I should come and find out why there had been such a hefty hike in childcare expenses,” I said, sticking my wallet back into my pocket. “I got the letter from the courts, and found it amazing that I didn’t even get notified until after a decision had been reached.”

“That is your own fault,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And they don’t have to notify you when my expenses are increased, that is part of the terms since you don’t have custody.”