Single And In Love With My Fake Boyfriend (Single Girls Club #1)

Chapter Forty-One

Callie

Lizzie, Alex, Emily, Lincoln, and I are seated in a booth in the back of Rico’s Diner. My friends can’t stop smiling and squealing as Lincoln and I hold hands and send warm smiles to each other. I catch Emily with the most excited look on her face. She’s so happy that I found romance and that I’m happy. Lizzie and Alex are as well, Lizzie unable to stop gushing how cute we are. And Alex nods her approval at my boyfriend. It’s not like I need my friends’ permission, but it’s important for me that we all get along. Lincoln is so open and giving and loves my friends.

Things are looking so, so bright right now. And life is good.

I hope my friends find amazing guys, too. They deserve to fall in love like this because it’s the most amazing feeling in the world.

“So when’s the wedding?” Lizzie asks as she dumps some fries in her mouth.

I playfully shove her. “Lizzie, oh my gosh.” It’s way too early for that!

Lincoln smiles as he brings my hand to his lips. “I’m not letting you go for one minute. We’ll choose a date whenever we’re ready, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m all yours.”

“And I’m all yours.” I kiss the hand that’s holding mine.

“Aw!” Emily sighs in longing. “I love seeing you guys together.”

“Same,” Alex agrees. “You guys make sense.”

I lift a brow. “We so do not.”

Alex shrugs. “Maybe not on paper. But you have a connection that’s out of this world. Some people meet and they know they’re perfect for each other right off the bat. You guys are like that. I mean, just look at the way you look at each other. Like you’re more than soulmates.”

Lincoln and I smile at each other.

We continue eating and talking. Most of the conversation revolves around us, but I try to raise other topics that include them. My friends would rather focus on Lincoln and me, though.

Suddenly, Lizzie releases a yelp and dives under the table.

The rest of us bend down to ask her what the heck is going on.

“It’s my boss!” she hisses, trying to hide even more.

My brows furrow as I sit up and take a look at him. Sterling Caldwell, a year or two older than us, walks to the counter and talks to the woman behind it. He’s dressed in a crisp black suit, shiny black shoes, and his hair is slicked back in a very proper and wealthy kind of way.

“Why are you hiding from your boss?” Alex whispers to Lizzie.

She bangs her head into one of the table legs. “Ugh. He kind of yelled at me today. Well, not yelled. The dude doesn’t raise his voice. It was controlled annoyance.”

“What did you do wrong?” Emily wants to know.

She groans. “He wasn’t satisfied with the animation for the game we’re working on and asked me to fix it. But then it still wasn’t good and he kind of got irritated with me today.”

“I’m sure he wasn’t irritated,” I assure her.

“Maybe not really irritated. Frustrated. I mean, he was disappointed that I held the entire team back.” She bangs her head into the leg again.

Emily rubs her arm. “I’m sure it’ll be okay. Do you want to come out?”

“Not until he leaves!”

The rest of us give each other looks like we don’t know what to do.

“You can tell Ms. Clark that I see her,” a voice says. I don’t need to lift my head to know who it is. His shiny black shoes are right in front of me.

“Ugh…” Lizzie groans again.

All four of us glance up, and sure enough, Sterling Caldwell stands before us. His head is dipped, his eyes lowered to Lizzie. She just stares at him with wide eyes, as if wondering how in the world he knows she’s under there. Well, she did kind of shriek loudly…

Sterling Caldwell bends down, holding out his hand to her. Lizzie, eyes still wide, slowly places her hand in his. She crawls out, her hand still gripping his.

She gets to her feet, shifting from one foot to the other, glancing at anything but him. Her dark red hair is a mess, but she tries to straighten it out.

Sterling keeps his gray eyes on her for a few seconds before nodding with a “Hmm,” and turning around to return to the front of the diner, where he accepts his food from the woman behind the counter.

Clutching the bag tightly, he walks out of the diner and gets into a black car. He drives off.

Lizzie plops down on her seat with a heavy sigh. “Oh my gosh, that was the most mortifying thing I’ve ever experienced in my life!” She smashes her head on the table. “And I need to see him tomorrow. Why is this my life?”

Emily and I pat her back. “It’ll be okay,” I tell her.

“He probably won’t even remember this,” Alex tries to reassure her. “Billionaires like him don’t give peasants like us the time of day.”

Emily nods in agreement.

Lizzie lifts her head. “Unfortunately, the guy has an impeccable memory. He’ll look at me like I’m such a loser. Maybe I should quit.”

“No, don’t do that,” Alex says. “Just forget about this and focus on the things that make you happy.”

“Like us,” I tell her with a smile.

“And books,” Lincoln adds.

She returns a small one. “You’re right. Whatever happens tomorrow, I’ll have to deal with it. Besides, he’s just my boss. I only have to interact with him for, like, half a day. And sometimes even less than that. Maybe you’re right and he won’t even care about what happened today. I mean, after all, I am just a lowly peasant and he’s the richest person in Spring Falls.”

“The hottie billionaire of Spring Falls,” Emily corrects.

Lizzie bangs her head on the table again. “Don’t remind me. Do you know how many hours a day I spend admiring his beauty? Ugh, can we please, please talk about something else so I won’t think about what happened?”

As we do that, I can tell that Lizzie isn’t here. Her mind is reliving the events that took place only a few minutes ago. She looks like she wants to dive under the table again.

I pat her back, which she seems to appreciate. I hope she feels better and is ready to face her boss tomorrow.

As strict as Sterling Caldwell is, he has a successful gaming company. Lizzie cares about it as much as he does and wants to help him bring it to a whole new level. And I have confidence that despite their problems they’ll make it happen.