Fake Marriage Box Set

"Maddie! What is this?" She jerked me around, scaring me a little. After taking my left hand into hers, she lifted the ring and glanced up at me. "Please tell me you're just wearing this for a photo shoot."

I grimaced. My parents were the type who would always wanted to be involved in my life. Getting married was a really big deal.

I didn't know what the fuck to do, so I slipped into character.

"Surprise! I'm married." I pulled my hand back and turned as my father stuck his head into the kitchen, his eyes wide.

"Um, what?" He walked in and put both hands on his hips. "To who?"

"To whom," Mom responded and gave me a very stern look. "You had better be kidding, young lady."

"I'm not." I gave them a sheepish grin. "Gavin and I realized the other day that when you find someone you love, you grab ahold of them, and you just don't let go." I had to kick in some serious ass-kissing if I were going to make it through my sea of lies. "And we have something like you and daddy do, like Mister and Miss Hayward did. We can't let that go."

"But why didn't you just come to us?" My mother glanced back to my father. "We wanted to be a part of your big day. You should have had a blowout wedding with a million people there and—"

"Now honey." My father walked in and reached for my mom. "You know as well as I do that kids these days are just wild. Maddie is no exception."

"So wild." I offered before turning back to the soup. I hated lying to my parents. To Gavin's mother. To everyone.

"Hey." My mom touched my shoulder, and I turned back around. "I'm not mad at you. I'm disappointed. Was anyone even there?"

"Gavin's mom was. She's dying, like I told you." I glanced down as tears filled my eyes. That part I wasn't faking. I looked back up as one rolled down my cheek. "I'm so sorry. It was irresponsible and stupid of me not to think to invite you both. He was in a hurry because of her condition and—"

"Hush." My dad reached out and brushed a tear away. "We're good. We'll do something fun on your one-year anniversary or something." He glanced at my mom. "Right, dear?"

"Absolutely." She smiled and pulled me into a tight hug. "But, we do want to see this young man. Dinner. Tomorrow night. Okay?"

I nodded. Dinner tomorrow night would work. Hopefully.

After they had left the kitchen, I pulled out my phone and texted Gavin to see if it was an okay time to call him. Not sure why I felt so unsure of him picking up a call from me, but I did.

He called me instead. I answered on the first ring, anticipating the sound of his voice.

"Hey," I whispered and picked up the spoon to stir the stew again.

"Hey. You okay? Need something?" He sounded slightly panicked. Why that filled me with warmth was beyond me.

I was a piece of shit for taking his money, and the realization of that came crashing in as I stood at the ATM earlier. It wasn't money that I needed. It was love. It was him.

"Yes," I forced the words out of my mouth. "Listen, my mom and dad saw the ring. I forgot to—"

"It's fine. I forgot to wear mine today, and my mother got all over my ass about it." His laugh was deep, genuine. It caused me to smile as butterflies danced around my chest.

"Well, they want you to come over for dinner tomorrow night. I don't think they're upset about not being invited to the wedding, but head's up... I told them your mom was the only one there."

"Alright." He cleared his throat, and I couldn't help but wondering where he was and what he was wearing. It seemed like something a dude would think, but I had my moments for sure.

"You sure? You sound unsure." I turned to find my parents walking back into the kitchen.

"No, it's good. My mother asked us to come over, but—"

"I'll tell them no then. We need to spend the time we have with your mom. It’s all good."

"No. We'll see my mom on Saturday. No worries." He sounded calm, peaceful. I decided not to argue with him, but instead, accept his kindness. It was rare somedays.

"Okay. Thank you." I glanced up to see my mom watching me with a quirky smile on her lips. I waved her away and gave her a look before turning back to the stove. "Mom and dad said hi."

He laughed. "Tell them I said hi, too."