Fake Marriage Box Set

Chapter Thirty

Maddie

Thirty minutes. That's all I had to spare on the way to having dinner with my parents after a long day of doing nothing. My agent wasn't doing shit for me, and it seemed that my ability to get new followers was going down the tube.

I needed a pick me up.

The bank was busy when I got there, and after standing in line for a little while, I decided to use the ATM machine instead. I walked back out into the chilly afternoon and pulled out my card, leaning into type in my pin number so no one would see it.

I hit the button to get the balance on my checking account and almost swallowed my tongue. After selecting to get a receipt, I pulled out $300 and moved back, fanning myself as my body heated.

I'd never seen so much money in all of my life. I started down at the paper and tried to take it in. I just knew that any minute I would be flooded with excitement. Like someone who'd won the fucking lottery.

The feeling never came. Instead, a numbness I'd been trying to avoid all day long settled in the center of my chest. Tears blurred my eyes, and I turned to walk back to my car.

"You okay, Miss?" a security guard stopped me, the concern on his face sweet.

"Oh yeah." I nodded and reached up to wipe away a few tears. "Just had a long day."

"Nothing is wrong with your account, right, because they'll be happy to help you fix that back inside the bank."

"No. It's good. Thank you though." I gave him a warm smile and jogged across the street to my car. The same sentence dance through my head over and over.

I'd give up every penny to have a loving relationship with a man like Gavin.

I'd give up every penny to have a loving relationship with a man like Gavin.

"Stop it," I barked at myself as I got into the car and pulled out of the lot. Being with my parents for dinner would help, or would it? Knowing them, they'd be talking about making love or plans to buy something cute for each other.

They adored each other.

I wanted that in my life, but it was too scary to dream that big. People didn't really have a relationship like my folks did. They were an anomaly. A one-off. An outlier.

I drove out to their place thinking the whole time how wrong I was that their relationship was different or weird. Gavin's parents had the same thing. Maybe there were just secrets to really making a relationship last. I wouldn't know. Mine had all been a big fucking joke up to this point.

And now I was in the middle of one that was sure to leave me emotionally bankrupt, and it was my own damn fault.

I got out of the car and walked toward the house, half expecting my father to sling open the door and greet me in a funny voice. Nothing.

"Weird." I walked in to find them in the kitchen, my dad's arms aro

und my mom as they kissed and whispered about something. The soft laughter coming from both of them cause my heart to swell.

"Gross!" I yelled, announcing my arrival.

"You missed the really gross part." My dad turned and walked across the room, leaning down to kiss my cheek. "We were smooching it up in here!"

"Ugh." I pretended to gag and walked into the kitchen.

My mom turned back to the stove and stirred something in a big soup pot. I leaned around her and hugged her from behind, breathing in deeply.

"God, that smells so good." I moved up beside her and bumped her hip, forcing her to get out of the way as I started to stir the thick stew. Chunks of potatoes, carrots, and beef swirled around.

"It's your father's favorite." She wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "A real man's meal."

"That's right. Ph-balanced for a woman, but—" my father started.

My mother and I groaned, cutting him off. I laughed and looked over at her as her eyes grew wide.