Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
He nods. “That must be confusing.”
Matt would have shut me down before I’d finished my thought. He would have reminded me how much I wanted the life I have now at sixteen. How much I’d sacrificed for it, how much he’d sacrificed for it. He would have rolled his eyes and turned on ESPN.
Beau doesn’t know me that well, and has never heard these mixed feelings I have about my career, so I shouldn’t compare him and Matt. But it’s difficult because the difference is so pronounced. I’ve just told him how I’m feeling and he listened. It sounds simple but it feels like a warm bubble bath and a glass of champagne. I can’t remember the last time I was ever able to do that.
With Tommy and Betty, I always have to temper my comments. I don’t want to come across like a brat, or someone who’s unstable or ungrateful. And Matt…just wasn’t interested.
“Where next?” I ask.
“The Bathers,” Beau says.
We wander out of the room we’re in and through to the next. My phone vibrates as we walk. I ignore it.
“The fake boyfriend thing your manager wants you to do. Is that normal in the music industry?” he asks.
“Very,” I say.
“And you don’t want to, which is why you’re ignoring his calls.” He pauses. “It just seems so ridiculous. And don’t people know it’s fake?”
“You’d be surprised. Sometimes it’s an open secret. Other times not so much. It’s just that I feel I need to…be single. Do you know what I mean? I need some space. I was with Matt for so long and he betrayed me so badly. I don’t want to have to spend time with someone, even if it’s fake.”
“Here you are, spending time with me,” Beau says, his voice soft.
“Right,” I pause, because I know it’s different, but I’m not sure how. “But it’s not like the press knows anything. This feels like a private bubble.”
“Right,” he says, his voice hardening a little. “And I’m not looking to get into something. Neither are you.”
“You had your heart broken too?”
“Nope, but my shoulder got dislocated when I asked a woman I’d been seeing if she wanted to get a little more serious, if that counts?”
I smile but when I turn to face him, he’s not smiling. “She dislocated your shoulder?”
“No, I— It doesn’t matter. I’m just at a bit of a crossroads in my life. I’m not ready to decide which direction I want to go.” He clears his throat like he’s given too much away and pushes his hands into his pockets. ”I’m just saying that I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“Same,” I reply. “Maybe I should fake date you.”
He chuckles. “Maybe you should.”
We come to stand in front of a large painting of a group of people sitting on a riverbank.
“You know what I like about this picture?” he asks. “The boots. From here, they look like the least interesting part of the painting—just a pair of brown boots, and then you get closer and they’re a thousand colors: blues, whites, greens, browns. It’s a boot but it’s so much more.”
My heart trips in my chest and I have the urge to reach for Beau. What he’s saying is not only true, but it’s also insightful and profound and completely perfect in the context of our discussion, and it makes me want to know him forever.
“I like that boot too,” I reply. “And I like that you like the boot.”
He glances across at me, offering me a small smile as we stand side by side in front of the painting. He doesn’t take his gaze from me when he says, “I can tell you really don’t want to fake date a stranger, but if you want, I’ll do it. I’ll be your pretend boyfriend.”
It’s the last thing I’m expecting him to say. I can tell he’s completely serious, but he can’t know what he’s suggesting.
“That’s really kind.” I take a few steps back and sit down on the large cushioned bench in the middle of the room. “But also impossible. Whoever is agreed on will be a celebrity—probably an actor or a sports star. It will benefit them too. The contract will require so many public appearances and private appearances together that the paparazzi will be informed of. It’s all fake.”
“Right.” He sits down next to me. “So date me, and then you don’t have to go through all that. Plus I can be a little bit charming, and we like each other. Imagine if you create this contract with someone and you hate them.”
I smile. He is charming and I do like him, but he’s too much of an unknown quantity. If I couldn’t trust Matt, then how could I ever trust an almost-stranger? “It’s easier if both parties have…equal interest in the agreement.”