Page 38 of His Fake Fiancé

She pushed that thought aside. It wasn’t sneaking, not really. It was trying to protect herself from additional embarrassment, is all. She stopped and peeked around the corner into the living room. It was empty. The pullout had been stored away, the blankets and pillow piled on the sofa.

Swear words drifted down the hall from behind her. She really should get out of here while the coast was clear, but curiosity got the best of her. She spun and headed back toward Olivia’s room.

As she got closer, the swearing became more distinct. And it was accompanied by crinkling and ripping sounds. What the hell? She stopped short in the doorway to the nursery, pressing her lips together to stop from laughing.

Jake had Olivia down on the change table and was currently trying to figure out how to get the diaper on her. There was already a ruined one tossed to the side, the sticky tabs obviously placed in the wrong spot. When he’d tried to adjust them, they just ripped the plastic off, which had stayed stuck to the sticky tabs.The frown on his face was fierce.

“You’ve got to slide it under her bum and make sure it’s high enough to cover in the back.” She leaned against the doorjamb, her arms crossed. It was good to see him make an effort. And she wasn’t going to lie, it was good to see him struggle a bit, too. “But leave the tabs until the end.”

He nodded and then turned his attention back to Olivia. “That was my mistake the first time.”

“Now, pull the front up, so it hits her right around the bellybutton.” She stepped closer. His hands looked huge next to the baby, but he was so gentle. “Now, you can uncover the tabs, one at a time, and smooth them over the front.”

He did as she said and then looked at her and grinned. He picked Olivia up and gave her a little shimmy. The diaper stayed on. It was a little saggy and a touch crooked, but it didn’t matter.

“Was that the first diaper you’ve changed?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“No?” It came out more like a question than an answer.

“You don’t sound so sure.”

He put Olivia back on the change table and shrugged. “Every time I’ve tried to do it, either Mama or Sabrina or Grace has elbowed me out of the way because I was clearly doing it wrong. Eventually, it was just easier to not get started in the first place.” He turned his gaze to the baby and his features softened. It was a look of love. One Claire had never seen on his face before. It made the base of her throat ache.

She frowned, her mind buzzing with moments from the last few months. Moments where she had nudged him aside because he was doing something wrong, or not fast enough. Moments where she took over, assuming Jake was grateful he didn’t have to do it. Moments she’d stolen from them, under the delusion that she was helping.

Her stomach soured, making her feel queasy. She pushed away from the door and took a step back into the hallway. Her legs felt twitchy, like they needed to move. She needed to get out of here, figure out what was going on in her brain without the distraction of Jake being sweet, or Olivia being the cutest thing since sliced bread.

And, yes, she knew that didn’t make sense, but currently her brain was playing catch up, and she didn’t have the mental capacity to think of witty analogies. She was also super late.

“I’ve got to go.” She pointed over her shoulder, just in case he didn’t know what go meant apparently. And why did her voice sound so raspy? “I’ve got to get to work. You gonna be okay here?”

Jake looked up. He’d just spent the last few minutes trying to wrangle a wiggly Olivia into some leggings. “Yeah, we’re good. Aren’t we, Peanut?” He punctuated the question with a raspberry on Olivia’s belly. The baby laughed and squirmed.

“And, Sabrina will be here soon.” The fact that the nanny would be here to supervise took away some of Claire’s anxiety.

“No, she’s off today, so it’ll just be Peanut and I.” He pretended to bite Olivia’s fingers and she squealed with laughter.

“But then, your mom’s just across the way, so…”

He shook his head. “No, she’s on a retreat of some sort. Something to do with her church group, or her book club, or something.”

The anxiety that had drained away started backing up. “Grace?”

He shrugged. “I’m sure she’s around somewhere.” He smoothed back Olivia’s curls, probably trying to get them to behave, but they just sprang back up. “I promise. We’ll be fine.”

The cuteness and worry and guilt were all too much for Claire, so she just nodded, too afraid of what was going to spring out if she opened her mouth. With the havoc her emotions were currently wreaking, she’d probably tell Jake something stupid, like she loved him.

She must have made a noise of some kind, because Jake glanced up at her, one side of his mouth tilted down. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, and it was probably the biggest lie she’d ever uttered. “Everything’s great.”

He continued to look at her like he didn’t believe her, which was a bit surprising. Usually, Jake didn’t pick up on this stuff. And what was up with her voice? She sounded sad all of a sudden. Buck up, missy. Get it the fuck together.

“If you need anything, you know where I am.” There, that was better. At least her voice sounded more normal. She didn’t wait for him to say anything, just spun around and hurried down the hallway, and out of the house. Maybe the routine of work would clear her head and get her out of this funk. Normally, she found the work she did for her dad mind numbingly boring, but today, that kind of routine felt like the dream. She just hoped the monotony was enough to keep her sane.

Chapter 12

Claire really should have known better than to bank on everything at the ranch being boringly familiar. Normally, she billed invoices, wrote cheques, ordered supplies, balanced the books. The usual office stuff. She’d been doing it since she was a teenager. At first, it had been to help out and feel like she was contributing something to the family business. Then, it turned into a routine, became expected, and she just went along with it.