Bad Boy's Heart: A Firemen in Love Series Novella (13 page)

“Carter and I...” I took a deep, shaky breath. “We're not really married.”

Grandpa's brow scrunched. “We knew something was wrong the moment we met him – especially because Andy's middle name is Jacobson.”

“H-how did you know that?”

He laughed softly. “You don't get far as we have in life without paying attention to such things. The wedding invitation, frankly, told us the whole story.”

He took it off the fridge and set it on the counter. Both Andy's middle name and mine were printed right there on it.

“Why would you do such a thing?” Grandma teared up. “How could you lie to us, Alicia?”

“Don't blame her,” Carter grunted, throwing his rag in the sink. “This was all her mother's idea after that jerk dumped her at the altar.”

She gasped. “Andy... He never showed up?”

“No, he didn't. I guess he just wasn't ready to commit.” I gave Carter a knowing look. “Mom convinced me I couldn't possibly skip the honeymoon because it had all been paid for. She thought if I brought Carter along, you'd think I really did get married.”

“Ellen.” Grandpa shook his head. “It's truly hard to fathom one's own daughter could stoop so low.”

“But I agreed to it. I wasn't thinking clearly, and she scared me. Said I'd probably not find someone to marry for real before you guys...” My tears stained the wood floor. “I'm sorry. No matter how bad I needed the money, there's no excuse.”

“If you were having financial troubles, you could have just asked for help.”

“I'm not the sort who goes looking for handouts.”

“Except this time. How long did you possibly expect to keep this up? We may be old, but we're not stupid, dear.”

Grandpa turned to Carter. “As for you – who are you, really? This is quite a thing you've done, posing as my granddaughter's husband.”

“Just a friend,” he said quickly, and oh, did that sting. “A good friend. I was at her wedding when Andy didn't come. I wanted to help her out somehow.”

Grandma stopped sniffling and smiled. “Well, if indeed you are just her friend, then you're a mighty fine actor. The way you two looked at each other had me believing you were head-over-heels in love.”

The both of them wandered into the living room and talked quietly together. They left Carter and I alone, the weight of what I'd done hanging over us like an oppressive cloud.

“Sorry,” he blurted. “It just slipped out. I didn't mean to –”

“Don't. You were right; I should have just admitted it. This whole thing was so stupid in the first place. I wish I hadn't let mom talk me into it.”

He opened his arms to hug me. I let him, and he held me against his chest, like he had comforted me so many times before.

Having had enough of the smoky kitchen, we retreated to the living room. Grandpa got off the couch and pulled Carter aside.

“You care deeply for Alicia. Both of us can see that. Don't you?”

He stared at his shoes. “Sure I do. We were best friends a decade back.”

Grandma ushered me to the sofa. Her laptop was on the coffee table; there was a picture of Carter and I on it from the reception. We were on the dance floor after we'd both gotten tipsy enough, laughing and bouncing to old nineties music like the nerdy kids we used to be.

“It must hurt something fierce, what Andy did to you. Yet even in the ashes of that relationship, it seems, new love can bloom.”

“I'm not sure what you mean.”

“Carter is crazy about you. Even a blind old bat like me can tell. And I think you like him, too.”

“It's too soon to be thinking about stuff like that.” I stared at Carter. “Besides, it doesn't really matter how I feel in the end.”

Grandpa cleared his throat. The guests had started to flow back into the house now that the fire was out, and they listened in.

“What you two have done is a bad thing, and to trust you again will take some time.” He glanced sternly at us both. “You were supposed to have married to get the inheritance we set aside for you. However, we're willing to make a small exception.”

“...What sort of exception?”

“Carter. Tell Alicia how you feel – the honest truth.”

The man looked like a deer in headlights. Twenty people stared him down as he struggled for words.

My heart beat louder. What would he say? What
could
he say that wasn't a lie?

“We're friends,” he cried. “Really. That's all. Of course, I'd do anything for her. But yeah. Friends.”

I shouldn't have felt like running away in tears then. I expected nothing more from him.

But to hear him say that out loud, in front of everyone – to my face, even – hurt more than I could have imagined.

“Oh.” Grandpa frowned and turned back to his guests. “Sorry about the little fire incident, folks. Everything's been taken care of, so please go back to enjoying the party.”

Grandma shook her head sadly. Another woman grabbed her to gab about her knitting, and so she left me there standing alone.

Carter and I stood across the room from each other. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't look into them for long.

“Alicia, I...”

“Just don't.” I pulled up the airline on my phone. “When this party is over, take me back to the hotel. I'm going home. If you want to stay here and hang out on the beach with all these pretty college girls, have at it.”

He started to say something, but the words caught in his throat.

“So, Alicia, you're a kindergarten teacher, aren't you?” One of grandma's friends pulled me away. “My daughter has a young one about that age. Already reading paperbacks. Such a little genius.”

I turned from Carter, grateful for the inane chatter, and plastered on a smile.

“She sounds wonderful. Tell me all about her.”

When I looked back, Carter was gone.

Chapter 13 - Alicia

Several days had passed since we returned home from Florida. It hadn't exactly turned out to be the vacation in paradise I'd been hoping for.

The flight back was miserable. Due to the last-minute booking, Carter and I got seats on opposite sides of the plane. Probably a good thing, because I felt like chewing his head off.

“Carter, that bum.” Mom sneered as she stabbed her eggs with a fork. “All he had to do was confess his love to you, and the inheritance would have been yours.”

“My guess is he didn't want to lie,” I said, fighting back tears. “So I suppose that's a good thing, at least. Who doesn't like a honest man?”

“Dear, honesty means little when millions of dollars are involved.”

I stared at her, wondering if aliens had replaced the woman who'd raised me for over twenty years. She opened a compact and began to powder her nose, blissfully unaware of my puzzled gaze.

“They were so mad at me. Mad at you, too.”

“At
me?
The one thing you had to do was keep up the act for five days. Could you not even manage that much?”

“You practically forced me to go to Florida. If it weren't for your scheming, none of this disaster would have happened.”

Carter and I wouldn't have ended up in bed, either. Whether that was a good or bad thing remained debatable.

“I'm only looking out for your future. You're just an elementary school teacher who can barely afford to keep a roof over your head.” She poured five packets of sugar into her coffee. “How many times now have you asked us for money? And your father and I aren't so well off ourselves, you realize. Do you have any idea how much debt we took on for this failure of a wedding?”

Her tone was accusatory, as if the whole thing was my fault. Ugh, I wished dad was here. He wouldn't have let her harp on me like I was a little girl.

“However will we pay back the creditors now?” She wailed so loudly that the other diners gaped at her. “We were depending on that money, and now we have
nothing.
”

“We'll get it paid off. I can pitch in.”

She snorted. “With what? The change from your couch cushions?”

Christ. Not even my own family was on my side anymore. Friends weren't much help, either. Heidi and the gang dug into me the moment I got back, eager to analyze my failed relationship and figure out where it had all gone wrong.

The waitress returned with the receipt and mom's credit card. Mom left a crisp one-dollar bill in the holder as a tip.

“We aren't getting any younger,” she said wistfully. “I had always thought you would help support us in our older days. You are, after all, our only child.”

“Whose fault is that?” I mumbled.

“There are so many things for us to worry about. The car payments, mortgage, the maxed-out credit cards...”

“What?” I perked up, almost spilling the boiling coffee on my lap. “There's like a twenty-grand limit on each of them. How did you max even one of them out?”

“Oh, well, you know how it is.” Mom turned pink as she blotted her lips with the napkin. “What woman can resist a good shoe sale? Plus, with the warming weather, I needed to spruce up my wardrobe. I couldn't dare be seen wearing such outdated frocks.”

“I can't believe you, mom!” I threw my spoon down. “Is this the reason you were so adamant that I fake my marriage – because you're drowning so deep in debt, you couldn't hope to pay it off without that money?”

“How could you accuse me of such a thing?” With a scowl, she got up and gathered her stuff. “Your dad and I raised you, and this is the thanks we get? I don't understand how you turned out to be so selfish.”

She said a snippy goodbye and left me stunned at the table, wondering for a moment whether I had really been adopted.

I didn't have time to wonder long. Class started in thirty minutes, and if I didn't hustle, I'd never make the first bell. I tossed a five into the bill holder to go with mom's lone dollar and was on my way.

My mood brightened quickly once I arrived at Vernon Brown Elementary School. How could I not smile with all these adorable little children vying for my attention?

“Miss Prescott!” Jared tugged on my pants leg soon as I walked in the door. “Timmy's sticking crayons up his nose again.”

“Am not!”

“Am too!”

Angel ran up to me, a bottle of fish food in her dirty hands.

“The fishies were hungry,” she said. “Did I do good?”

A large plop of brown flakes floated on the surface of the tank. Goldfish darted through the water as the chunks rained down on them like snow.

“Yes, Angel. I'm proud of you.” I took the food from her. “But let's wait until the teacher's here before feeding next time.”

It was good to be home. Maybe this job put me barely above the poverty line, but I wouldn't trade it for any other in the world.

Later, while the children ate their lunch, Principal Rodney pulled me into his office.

“I'm glad you're back, Alicia. The school just wasn't the same without your cheer every morning.”

“It's nice to hear that. Um, may I ask why you wanted to speak with me?”

Hopefully, it wasn't something I'd done wrong. Didn't think I could take anymore bad news today.

Rodney frowned and clicked some things on his computer. “This year's field trip is, unfortunately, out of the school's budget. We just don't have enough to send all the kids to the zoo.”

I thought my heart was going to crack in two. The field trip was a yearly tradition that the kids looked forward to all year. This was going to devastate them.

“R-really? Are you sure we can't make some cuts somewhere?”

“It's too late for that. We've already used our emergency fund to make much-needed repairs. There simply won't be enough left for tickets, bus fare, lunches – and requesting parent donations hasn't gone well so far.”

If only I could afford to pay for the trip myself, out of my own pocket, I would. I left the office, thoughts racing about how I could possibly fix this.

That's when I bumped smack into a very familiar face, one I thought I would surely never see again.

“Hey, Alicia. Figured I would find you here.”

There stood Andy himself, looking tanner and a lot more cheerful than he had before he'd abandoned me. He smiled and tried to hug me.

“
Andy?
You have some serious nerve, showing up here after what you did!”

“I know. I'm sorry, I really am.” He stared at his expensive shoes as he held the door for me. “I know I caused you a lot of trouble. You and everyone on both our sides of the family.”

“Yes, because you ran away like a coward and broke up with me via text message.”

Some of the office staff were beginning to stare. We went outside so I could let him have it in private.

I'd been thinking what I would say to him if he ever came around again. Now that he was here, though, the furious words just didn't come out the way I had planned.

“Why'd you do it, huh? You know how embarrassed I was, standing in that church waiting for you to show up?”

“I can't apologize enough. I know that. Truth is, I had a breakdown the night before the wedding. I'd convinced myself I could keep doing this, that I could continue living a lie for the sake of my family.”