Best Fake Day (2 page)

The welcome he’d expected would have been the one where she opened the door with a look of surprise on her face that melted to the one where she looked up at him with adoration, flung her arms around him, and told him how much she missed him. That would have been the greeting from the girl he’d grown up with. But she wasn’t a girl anymore. She was a woman. An angry woman at that.

Every time the word ‘woman’ popped into his head, his eyes followed an unbidden trail over her body. He narrowed his eyes as he observed every change. Caramel colored hair that was shorter now and with a fringe made her face seem thinner, more delicate, and hung above those huge brown eyes framed with thick, dark lashes. He couldn’t say for sure if her skin was the same creamy tone as it was now dirt smudged and flecked with...plaster? Yep, plaster, he decided as he noticed a dollop of it stuck to her hair.

An impatient sigh drew his attention to her lips. Definitely fuller than he remembered. Perfect for tempting a man to kiss. If he just leaned over he could... He gave himself a mental shake and tried picturing Izzy as a girl climbing trees and begging him to push her faster on the swing. Then he remembered teenage Izzy begging him to teach her to kiss, and his eyes once more rested on those lips. The next sigh he heard was his.

“I’d rather talk about Ellie first.”

Jack lifted his gaze to the cracked ceiling. “For safety’s sake I need to know if any walls are likely to fall in on us.”

Izzy straightened and pinned him with a glare. “It’s safe,” she ground out.

“Ellie told me your father had moved out temporarily because of problems. But this?” He shook his head. Obviously there was a lot Ellie hadn’t told him.

“An electrical fire,” she said thickly.

He whistled low.
Yeah, that’d do it.
“I should have known it would take something serious to get him out of his favorite chair.”

“Dad had a stroke too. Did Ellie tell you that? He’s staying in a nursing home for now.”

He frowned. “No. No, she didn’t,” he said, reining in his anger. He clenched his jaw. “Damn. I’m sorry, Iz.”

Izzy gave a weak smile before her attention turned to her clenched hands. He pressed his palms harder into the wood, resisting the urge to cover her small fist with his hand. How could he comfort her when he suspected he was about to add to her problems?

He drew his arms back in to his chest and watched as she absently mirrored his actions, except her slender arms tightened beneath lush breasts, pushing them upward. He swallowed hard. Her frame might have become more slender and toned over the years, but she looked soft and full where it counted. Although he fought it he couldn’t help but wonder what those curves felt like.

“So, where are the builders?” he asked when his focus returned to Izzy.

She shrugged. “You’re looking at her.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No,” she responded with a tempered tone.

“So why?”

Izzy shrunk back down in her seat. “Nostalgia and a lack of funds. Dad refused to make repairs because of wanting to keep the house the way Mum had left it. Unfortunately, ancient electrics hold no nostalgia. Dad ignored the warnings when I was away working, and well...” she trailed off.

“You said lack of funds, but what about insurance? Are they dragging their heels?”

“If only.” She snorted. “Dad has financial problems. Any savings he had were used when he left work to care for Mum. After Mum...after Mum died he used up any money on Ellie’s singing career, then bailing her out when she needed to be later. I found out he hadn’t paid insurance for years.”

Her defeated tone coiled a knot in his stomach that he had to force to unravel. He couldn’t allow anything to detract from his purpose. Unknowingly, Izzy had revealed much that could be of use, and if he didn’t get the answers he was looking for soon he was going to have to put it into play.

“So you decided to pick up the pieces?”
As usual.
She might be the youngest of the family but she always took on the role of peace-keeper or fixer. But who looked after her?

“I have no choice. The house needs to be habitable so Dad can come home. He’s much better now, and although the nursing home is great, it’s also expensive.”

He shrugged. “Then sell the house.”

Izzy looked aghast. “Dad loves this house! It would break his heart. He says every room reminds him of Mum.” The pitch of her voice told him she shared those thoughts too.

“Your mother has been gone a long time now,” he said gently. “I know there were lots of happy times shared here. But there are also bad memories too. What about your mother’s illness? What about the bedroom they shared? Don’t you think that he remembers her death there?”

“Of course I know that!” she snapped before dropping her head, but not before he saw the glisten of tears in her eyes. “But I also remember Mum telling me you should always hold on to love,” she muttered.

“Not when it causes pain. You cut it loose,” he said bluntly. Not that he had any experience of love of course. “You always were a dreamer, Izzy.”

She lifted her head again, determination back in her eyes. “Dad wants to come home. He’s anxious to know when the work will be finished so he can come back. It’s up to me to make it happen.”

He sighed. “Look around you. This is a huge task.”

“I know that. I paid for the electricians but I can’t afford any more trades at the moment until I earn some more money.”

“You can’t do this alone. And why the hell isn’t Ellie helping?”

“Ellie has her own problems to deal with. The whole world seems to know about those.” She sighed. “Besides she has helped,” she added with her tone defensive. “She recently paid off the money we owed for Dad’s care and the next two months fees. That’s a huge help. I don’t know how we’d have managed otherwise.”

Interesting
, he thought, rubbing his fingers over his jaw as he pondered his next actions. The chair scraped loudly on the bare floor making her flinch as he pushed himself back and rose to his feet. “I’ll make some coffee,” he said, watching her mouth open about to protest and instead turning into a weak nod of agreement. He wasn’t surprised, she looked exhausted.

He turned to the sink and filled the kettle before flipping the switch on and locating two mugs from the exact same place they’d always been kept in. He placed them on the counter before he spoke. “When did you last see Ellie?” he asked with a calmness he had to will.

His shoulders tensed as he waited for her response. “Ah...it was three days ago. She made a quick visit. Is this the part where you tell me she’s in lots of trouble?” she asked anxiously. He was quite sure from her responses today that Izzy was completely in the dark about her sister’s plans.

“Not exactly,” he said, grateful that he had his back to her as he spooned sugar into their mugs. And he didn’t even take sugar. “Do you know where she is?”

“Wait.”

He didn’t turn but he sensed tension soar through her body.

“You’re asking
me
? From what Ellie tells me she sees more of you than she does me and Dad. What’s going on? Is she...is she using again?”

He spun on his heel then. “It’s not that.” Thankfully Ellie’s drug exploration had been brief. The unfortunate loss of her career had been a wake-up call.

Izzy’s shoulders sagged. “Oh, thank God. Then what?”

“I need to know where she is, Izzy.”

“And I need to know why,” she responded equally as forcefully as he had. “When did you last hear from her?”

He leaned against the back of a chair, gripping the wood until it dug into the heel of his hands. “Two weeks ago.”

“I don’t hear from her for months usually, so how the hell is that a problem?”

He paused to take a deep breath. “We’re getting married.”

Izzy gave a humorless laugh as she squeezed her eyes tightly closed. “Oh God, I’m much more tired than I thought. For a minute there I thought you said you were getting married.” Her shoulders began to shake then as a giggle burst from her lips.

Jack clenched his jaw. “You heard right.”

She was silenced for a moment as she peered up at him through widened eyes. Her mouthed twitched at the corners before laughter broke free in earnest.

“It’s no joke. We’re getting married in two weeks.” Or so he hoped anyway. If not...

The laughter continued. “But you...and Ellie... Married?” she managed to choke out.

Jack fought back his impatience as her body shook with unsuppressed humor. At his expense.

“You didn’t get her pregnant, did you?” she asked.

“God no,” he ground out. “Let’s just say she got us into a sticky situation and the only way out is to get married.”

Her hand pressed to her chest as though she were struggling for control. “You don’t mean a marriage of convenience?”

“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth, although he failed to see the convenience of it.

“Oh, this gets better.” She laughed as tears spilled over her cheeks, tracking through the dust on her cheeks. “Jeez, what century are you living in?”

“This was Ellie’s idea not mine.”

“And you were stupid enough to go along with it?”

“I have to.” He paused as he gripped the chair until his knuckles whitened. “And if I can’t find Ellie then you will have to take her place.”

And just like that she was silenced.

Chapter 2

He was clearly delusional.

“You are joking, right?” Izzy asked, although Jack’s unflinching mask of granite face and fixed gaze already confirmed the answer she didn’t want to hear.

He shook his head.

“So what the hell did you two get yourselves into this time? Or did you change your mind about marriage being worse than death?”

Those steely eyes flared to life. “You really do have a good memory, except I actually said that marriage is a death sentence. And,” he growled, “you mean what did your sister get
me
into this time.”

“And you let her? Did she steal your big boy pants?” she scoffed. Since when did anyone get the upper hand on Jack?

“Thanks for the sympathy. Sleep deprivation doesn’t become you, Izzy. Makes you as grumpy as hell.”

“What? My mood has nothing to do with sleep. Maybe I resent the fact that I haven’t seen or heard from you in years, and when I do it’s only because you’ve got into another mess with my sister!”

He straightened from the chair and folded his arms, drawing attention to his height and the breadth of his shoulders. It was a fine view but she hated looking up at him, it multiplied his presence ten-fold, distracting her as she tried to retain her anger toward him.

His face softened and he smiled. “You missed me, Iz,” he said in a husky voice that she couldn’t decide if it were laced with question or smug satisfaction. She guessed it was the latter.

“No,” she snapped. “Yes,” she admitted with a grudging sigh. “I did miss you. You left without saying goodbye. I know you and Ellie were close but I was your friend too.”

“I had to leave,” he said softly, his gaze breaking away and fixing itself on the floor.

“I know. I understand that, but you kept in touch with Ellie, bailed her out a few times too she told me.”

“It wasn’t intentional. I thought you would be better off without me.”

“That should have been my decision. I would rather have heard about your life from
you
, instead of reading about it in some glossy magazine and from Ellie’s words.”

“You read about me?”

“It was hard not to. If you wanted to keep a low profile, modeling probably wasn’t the best career choice.” In fact, it was a surprising one. Despite his couldn’t-care-less attitude about school, he always proved to be studious and continuously got excellent grades. She often imagined him as a lawyer, or an architect…anything he put his mind to really. He certainly never cared about his looks. He didn’t need to, the girls in school paid attention to those for him. And sometimes he didn’t seem to like that attention.

“It was necessity, not choice. I left here with barely a penny in my pocket and nowhere to live.”

The harshness of his tone deflated her temper, dragging her taut shoulders down with it. “You could have stayed with us,” she said in a thickened whisper.

He shook his head. “No. No, I couldn’t. So when I was approached by a modeling agent offering me much needed money, I took it. I hated doing it, but along with a multitude of other jobs, I earned enough money to finally be where I am now. My own boss. Dependent on nobody but myself.”

“And that makes you happy?”

“Happier than I was living here with my
family
.”

“You know they don’t live here anymore, don’t you?”

His nod told her he knew and didn’t care.

“And you’re willing for marriage to take away that independence?”

“Not exactly willing, no. It’s necessity. A temporary arrangement.”

“Temporary? A marriage of convenience makes a mockery of vows, Jack, but to use it as a temporary fix…” She broke off as she shuddered.

“So you still waiting for your Prince Charming, hmm? Take away the hearts and flowers and marriage is just a legal bind. An expensive piece of paper.”

She pinned him with a glare. “Not for those who do it for the intended reason. Love!”

“So if it’s so great why haven’t you tried it yet? Lecture me about love and marriage when you’re not single and you know what it feels like.”

“And what makes you think
I am
single and not
feeling
it?”

“If you were in any kind of relationship you would be getting help here right now. Also last night you would have been in his bed and not as uptight as you are now.”

“Uptight?” She planted her hands on the table, pushing forward until her ribcage painfully met wood. “Uptight! What do you expect when you turn up out of the blue and demand marriage from my sister?”

“I didn’t demand marriage from her, that’s already arranged. I just need her whereabouts.”

“I couldn’t tell you that even if I wanted to.”

“And you don’t want to.”

She folded her arms across her chest as she noticed her breasts were showing their anger too, trying to fight themselves free of her unbuttoned shirt. Not that Jack would have noticed. She lifted her chin as she tilted her head to the side. She couldn’t breathe with him looking down on her.