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“I am,” I answer him, blowing out another sigh, “I know I didn’t mention her to you the last time we talked—”
“The last time we talked, you were dating Jade Ryan—is that who you’re marrying?” he asks me, and I can hear the lecture coming already. He was not happy with that dating choice, since Jade was nothing but trouble.
Just like me.
“It’s not Jade. We broke up a while ago,” I answer him.
“Okay, so are you gonna tell me the name of your fiancée?” Carson questions. “Because I have to say, when Mom told me you were bringing home a girl, that was surprising in and of itself. We haven’t ever met a single girl you’ve dated since Harper. Then, she tells me that you’re engaged—and I have to know for myself.”
“Her name is Callie Walker,” I say, keeping my voice nice and even—like I’m not trying to remember everything I learned in the last day. “She’s a writer from Arkansas.”
Whatever he’s drinking, I hear him blow it out in surprise. “Arkansas? Did you meet her in L.A. or Nashville? NYC? How in the world did you end up with someone from Arkansas? I thought you only dated models—or whatever it was that you told me the last time we talked.”
“I told you that I only date prominent women who make my image a little better—but obviously, you can see that didn’t work out for me. So, I met Callie on my way through Arkansas a while back, and I guess you could just say that it was love at first sight—or something like that.” I clear my throat, the ease of lying somewhat disturbing me. Although I guess, technically, I’m not totally lying.
“Dang, brother.” Carson laughs. “I never saw that coming. What’s she like?”
“She’s, um...” I hesitate, trying to pull my thoughts together as my mind flashes to the image of her riding shotgun in my truck. “She’s really something else. She writes these thriller books about small-town crime, it’s pretty twisted,” I say, having read the one with poor reviews last night when I couldn’t sleep. “She’s really talented.”
And I mean it. It was an amazing book. I had no idea why it got bad reviews, so I gave it a good one—using my name.
“She likes plants and has a big freaking dog named Bear.” I chuckle. “I don’t know, she’s just ... different.” My chest starts to feel tight as I’m admitting to all the things I know about her—and the fact that I actually mean what I’m saying.
“She sounds like a really normal person to me,” Carson says, his voice brightening. “I can’t wait to meet her. I’ll have to look her up. Emma loves to read,” he adds, a laugh escaping his lips. “Maybe it’ll give them something to talk about—not that Emma ever needs much help with that. I think she might be able to talk to a wall.”
“Ha, yeah,” I say, trying to ignore the pang of jealousy in my chest. Carson’s acting like I suddenly have what he does—a woman who loves me unconditionally, and I think pretending might be worse than just not having anything at all.
“So, you’ll be here around noon then, right?” Carson asks, his laughter fading.
“That’s the plan.”
“You know, it’s too bad Cooper won’t be at the wedding. Sawyer and Bailey were hoping he could be the ring bearer, but with the short notice, Harper already had a family vacation planned.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” I interject. “Figures the one time I’ll actually be in town, she’ll be taking Coop out of it.”
“Yeah, well Coop is gettin’ to that age that a daddy would sure do him some good. Harper’s new husband isn’t a bad guy—but he ain’t you.”
Regret, jealousy, and just pure irritation burns in my chest. “I know. I’m tryin’ to get it all figured out. She ain’t makin’ it easy, either. She sent my lawyer a whole bunch of new stipulations, and I don’t know why she even did that. I can’t see him unless she’s there.”
“I don’t know, man,” Carson says with a sigh. “I can’t control how she does things, and I don’t know why she does them. I just think she’s got his best interest at heart. She doesn’t want his heart broken again by an absent dad. I know that’s tough to hear, Wade, but it’s just the truth. The kid needs stability, and that’s not somethin’ that you’ve ever been good at. She wants him to have good role models in his life.”
“I want that, too,” I snap, before forcing myself to lighten up a little. There’s no need to take out my frustrations on Carson. He’s just spilling brotherly advice, and it is good advice. I know that.
But that doesn’t mean that I like it.
That being said, I have to deal with it—and put on the best front that I possibly can. The last thing I want to happen is to give the whole family a reason to think that I’m not stable enough to see Cooper.
I want to be able to keep my son. We used to at least get summers together…
“I’ll keep prayin’ that you get through all this, Wade,” Carson says, his voice growing a little brighter. “You know we want you to be happy and find a woman who will love you the way you deserve, and maybe Callie is one of those answers to our prayers. All those other girls—man, they were awful to you.”
“I think it was mutual,” I say, ignoring the prayer part that’s making me feel more guilty than ever for bringing home a fake fiancée.
“Well, I’ll see ya in a bit,” Carson says. “Drive safe, Wade. Love ya.”
I cough, feeling awkward at the sentiment. “You, too. Bye.” I hang up, shoving my phone back in my pocket and glance at the time.
Shoot. It’s nearly seven.
