Faking It with my Billionaire Grump

10. Jake

10

Jake

Being an early riser has so many advantages. You feel like you have a head start. You get to hear the first call of the birds as they talk to each other from one tree to the next. You can wish the sun a good morning as it breaks across the horizon. And you can do all that while enjoying a steaming hot cup of coffee, like the one I currently have in my hand as I sit on my porch and look out over my domain.

There are gurus all over the world pronouncing how great rising early is for you, but I’ve been doing it since before a lot of these guys knew how to write. It’s been drilled into me. When we were kids, we didn’t have a choice. Momma always warned us that if we weren’t up and out of bed to help Pops, there’d be a bucket of ice water on its way to our room.

She only needed to do it once. While Cal’s the one who got it, the rest of us learned the lesson real quick.

As kids, getting out of bed when it was still dark out was a dreadful chore. Now that I’m older and wiser, I love it, and I’m grateful to my parents for instilling such wisdom in us all. More than that, I’ve learned how hard Pop worked to feed and raise his family. You don’t understand that when you’re a child, but when you have to walk the same path, you get a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices he made for us.

Finishing my coffee, I stand and give myself a huge stretch. There’s lots to do today, so I better be getting on with it. Turning to head into the house, I halt when I hear the sound of an engine approaching. Frowning, I glance at my watch.

“Who the heck is this at 6:15 in the morning?”

Shading my eyes against the blazing orange ball that slowly climbs into the sky, I’m even more surprised to see Gerry’s truck traveling toward the house. I can’t imagine it’s Gerry driving it. He would have called first.

It has to be Tilly. But what is she doing here?

Thirty seconds later, she pulls the truck to a stop outside the ranch. Elsa leaps off the porch and starts barking, but I call her back. Tilly might have introduced herself yesterday, but I doubt that will give her the confidence to leave the truck while Elsa’s there.

With my faithful companion now sitting at my heel, I give the command for her to stay on the porch while I make my way down the steps. Tilly is just rounding the hood of the truck when I reach her.

“You know you paid your debt, right? You didn’t need to come back.”

“I know,” she says.

She catches my eye and then nervously looks away. My gut tells me there’s more coming, and readying myself for whatever it is, I say, “So, what are you doing here?”

“It’s, well…” She flounders.

If she tells me she needs me to go on another date, I think I might toss her over my shoulder and throw her back into the truck. Once was enough. I’ve already had to call Keith and apologize. Thankfully, the man has a sense of humor and saw the funny side to the entire catastrophe. Though I’m sure he wasn’t laughing when he had to clean up that night.

In a way, all the customers did have great fun. If nothing else, the people of Baskington are pretty laid back.

“Spit it out, Til. I’ve got cows to feed.”

It feels a little weird using the nickname that hasn’t passed my lips for years, but it happened without even having to think about it. I suppose it’s true what they say. Old habits do die hard.

“It didn’t work,” she blurts.

It takes me a second to understand what she’s talking about, and then I say, “He didn’t buy it?”

She shakes her head.

“Well, it was a bit of a long shot.”

She flashes me a look, and I realize I’ve only ever thought that in my head. I never voiced it at the time because I didn’t think she wanted to hear it, but putting myself in her ex-boyfriend’s shoes, I think I would have seen right through it, too.

“Why didn’t you say that before?” she cries. “If you didn’t think it would work, why did you go through with it?”

I shrug. “You were so determined it would. I figured you knew this guy better than I did.”

“Great,” she hisses. “So not only was it all for nothing, but had you told me what you thought, we could have saved ourselves a whole lot of humiliation.”

I smirk at her. “I wasn’t humiliated. I thought it was fun.”

She scowls at me then, and I realize that’s clearly not what she needs to hear right now. I’m still wondering why she’s here when she says, “So I need to come up with another plan.”

“What kind of plan?” I ask suspiciously.

Her scowl drops as quickly as her gaze. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that I’m going to be dragged into this somehow.

“You want me to go on another date,” I say confidently. “Is that it? You want him to see us again and hope it will work this time.”

“No,” she says quietly. “I know it won’t work. It needs to be more than that.”

“More?” I shrug. For a whole minute, she doesn’t speak, and while I’m a patient guy, I’m starting to get a little frustrated. “Are you going to tell me, or what?”

“We need to get engaged,” she blurts.

My jaw drops like it weighs as much as my horse. “Are you out of your mind?” I bark. “Engaged? No way.” I turn away from her. “Absolutely no way. Listen, Tilly, I did as you asked the first time—against my better judgment, I might add. But that’s it. I’ve helped, and now, I’m out.”

“It wouldn’t be real,” she counters. “It’s not like we’d really be engaged.”

“You’re darned straight it wouldn’t. There was only ever…” But then I trail off. She doesn’t need to hear that, and to be honest, it’s none of her business. “I can’t do it. I just can’t.”

“Why not? It’s just pretend. Just like our fake date.”

I can’t believe she’s comparing the two, and spinning around to gawk at her, I blurt, “It’s nothing like our fake date. Good Lord, Tilly. Listen to yourself. I can’t do this. I can’t get involved with you again.”

That seems to hit a nerve because her mouth falls open, and I watch pain flash across her face. I don’t want to hurt her, particularly, but we’re both adults here. She has to know the damage she caused when she left. She’s not a stupid woman.

“You wouldn’t be getting involved, as you call it,” she bites back. “Do you really think I want to be here? Do you think this isn’t hard for me, too, having to come to you for help?”

“I wasn’t the one who up and left,” I spit.

“Something I’m never going to be able to live down, right, Jake? I was eighteen, for heaven’s sake. I made a decision. Whether it was a good or bad one is irrelevant.”

“It might be irrelevant to you, but it wasn’t to me,” I yell.

“I understand that,” she argues. “I’m not stupid. But it’s been ten years.”

“Right,” I drawl. “So I’m just supposed to forget all about it. Pretend like it never happened. Move on with my life.”

She flings a wide arm in the direction of the land behind her. “It’s clear you’ve had no problem doing that.”

If only she knew.

“Do you know what? It doesn’t matter,” she growls. But I can hear the pain in her voice, and I wonder if I’ve gone too far. “You were the only one who could help me, but you’re right. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s too much.”

She then spins on her heels and rounds the front of the truck. Yanking the door open, she hurriedly clambers inside, starts the engine, and with the tires spinning, she pulls a U-turn and heads back up the track.

I watch the plume of dust follow her as she heads to the main road, and with my hands on my hips, her words play over in my head.

You were the only one who could help me.

Do you think this isn’t hard for me, too, having to come to you for help?

I know it took guts for her to come and ask me to help her the first time. That wasn’t wasted on me. It would have taken even more courage for her to come and ask me again. Instead of recognizing that, my words were hurtful and probably made her feel even worse.

Under the circumstances, I am the only one who can help her.

But you didn’t. You just let her drive off in a bad state.

Yes. I did. What a great guy I am.

“Darn it.”

I run to the paddock and open the gate. I know I’m going to live to regret this, but heck, you only live once, right?

Finn flies like the wind as we thunder cross-country to reach the road. I’m traveling diagonally, and by my calculations, I should reach Tilly before she turns off to head to her mom and dad’s house. Pushing Finn a little harder, he gallops on with his great strength; reaching the fence at the end of my land, I pull on the reins, and he launches over it.

In my peripheral vision, I see Tilly’s truck. The sound of screeching brakes reaches my ears, and a second later, she’s skidded to a stop. Her eyes are wide as she gawks at me through the windshield. Yes, maybe I am mad. I’m pretty certain that’s what she’s thinking at this very moment.

Dismounting, I stroll over to the truck.

“Hey,” I pant when I get there. That ride took some effort.

“Hey,” she says a little breathlessly, part terrified, part confused.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

Tilly’s jaw falls open, and astonished, she doesn’t seem to have a smart mouth reply to that.

“Come back to the house. Let’s talk it over.”

“Okay,” she squeaks.

She’s already there when I arrive. While I pushed Finn to be able to catch her, I took it easy on our return. I don’t need him injured, too.

Leaving him at the fence, I wave Tilly out of the truck. “Come and keep Elsa company. I’ll go and make us coffee.”

When I return with a cup in each hand, Elsa is sitting at Tilly’s feet while Tilly strokes her head.

“Yes. Super aggressive, that great big wolf is,” I smirk.

Tilly sits up and smiles at me while taking the hot coffee I hand her.

For a minute, we both just sit there and sip our hot drinks. I don’t know what’s going through Tilly’s head, but mine’s running a mile a minute. Was it impulsive, chasing after her and telling her I’d pretend to be her fake fiancé? Maybe. Clearly, even after all this time, I just can’t stand seeing Tilly upset.

I know some who might call me a fool or a doormat. But I don’t see it that way. We have a lot of history together, and at one point, I loved this woman with everything I had. That’s a hard feeling to rid yourself of completely. Today has proven one thing. I don’t think I could ever see Tilly truly in trouble.

“So, how’s this going to work?” I ask.