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I glance out of my bedroom room down to the porch. My heart jumps as I see Wade sitting there, strumming along on his guitar.
I close my laptop and head straight for the porch. As I slip out the French doors, my feet hit the stained concrete floor in total silence.
Wade’s sitting with his back to me, singing a soft and low tune. I can barely make out the words, but it’s easy to tell it’s a love song—a sunshine-y love song. Which is surprising to me because none of his other music paints love in a super positive light. I only know this because, after helping him work on his song the other night, I laid in bed listening to all of his music—like really listening. I noticed that any songs he sang about love were pretty surface level, but the painful songs—the ones he’d mostly written himself—were very deep.
But what he’s playing right now is totally different—which is a bit surprising.
“That sounds really great,” I say, stepping around in front of Wade.
He looks up suddenly, clearly startled. “Hey, I didn’t hear you come out—you’re like a ninja or something.”
I laugh, taking a seat in the chair across from him. “I’m definitely not a ninja. If I was, my legs wouldn’t be this sore from playing tag with Cooper.”
He chuckles, eyeing me in a way that makes my heart flutter. “You were so great with him, Callie, and I can’t thank you enough for putting up with all this.”
“Yeah,” I say, giving him a faint smile. “It went even better than I expected it to. Harper came across as terrifying at first, but she’s really not that bad. I think it’s just a front, you know? Like she’s trying to be as tough as she can be for Cooper’s sake.”
He nods, a contorted look of pain flashing across his face. “I regret not being a better man—not because I wanted things to work out with Harper, but because I’ve really made her life a living nightmare—long before she ever came after me for custody. She was just trying to get me to step up and be the dad that I could be for Cooper.”
“I could see that.” I nod.
“Callie, I appreciate you playing the role of my fiancée so well. You really engaged with her, and clearly made a good impression. I was not expecting you two to talk for three hours. It’s going to suck when we break up, but I’m hoping that she’ll still think that I’m a changed man.”
“Yeah...” my voice trails off as his eyes hold mine. The tension between us is mounting, and I know he’s waiting for me to finish what I’m saying. I’m trying not to react to the fact he just said our relationship will end.
Be careful, Callie.
“I just was trying to be as realistic as possible,” I say finally, my voice losing some of its confidence. “I mean, if this was real,” I continue, my eyes dropping to my hands, “I would be looking at Cooper like he was my own and would want to have a good relationship with his mother.”
“That’s really something, Callie.” Wade’s voice is soft as I lift my gaze back to him. “I know that it’s hard to lie about all of this, too. I have to say though, it seems to come naturally.”
“The lying?” I ask, hoping that’s not what he’s referring to.
“No.” He chuckles, picking out a little tune on his guitar. “Just, you know, this. I feel like we’ve become really close friends, you and I.”
Friends.
Of course.
“Yeah, maybe even after all this is said and done, we can still be friends,” I force out, trying to sound like he didn’t just rip my heart right out of my chest and stomp on it. Because after seeing him with Cooper, I think I might be falling for him.
The realization hurts more than anything, just because I know that it’s supposed to all just be a façade.
Something has caused Wade to go silent, though he’s still picking the strings of his guitar.
“Why don’t you sing those lyrics that you wrote over this,” he finally says, moving from a picking notion to just strumming the chords. “It’s much too hard to write a duet without a woman singing the female lead, and I know your voice would be perfect on this.”
My heart flutters with nerves. “Oh, Wade, you’re not gonna let this go, are you.”
“Nope! C’mon, it’ll be fun. Do you remember the melody? I can sing the melody real quick to help you get the right tune in your head—though I’m open to changes on it. I think it’s important to keep it open ended.”
I shake my head. “Again, Wade, I made an exception the other day, but ... I prefer not to sing in front of people.”
“Come on, Callie. You can do this—just sing the song. I know you’ve got it in you.”
I let out a heavy sigh, biting the inside of my lip. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot.”
“I believe in you,” Wade says as a huge grin spreads across his face. “Do you want me to sing the melody first?”
