Page 15 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

I could only stare at the sharp line of his jaw as I fought a massive wave of emotion. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, whether it be relief, guilt, or concern, but it made my throat close up.

“Fuck, Henry.” I cleared my throat, trying to play it off. “Thank you. I owe you big time.”

“You don’t owe me anything, other than patience when I need very specific instructions. Fake dating is something that I have no experience with.”

“Luckily, you’re talking to the pro.” I laughed, but his face was serious, so I thought about it.

“Mainly, it’s about the cameras. Being there when filming.

When your work schedule accommodates, of course.

Maybe I’ll crash on your couch and come from your place to make it look like we’re spending time together.

” I paused when he looked a little green at the suggestion. “Or not.”

“Yeah, I don’t ... My house is my place. I’d like to keep fake dating out of that.”

I could respect that. I even took a step toward his gate to give it space.

“Noted. All it would entail is hand-holding. Maybe a coffee or some other gift. A kiss here and there.”

“Okay. Hand-holding. Gifts. A kiss.”

After the last one, I was looking forward to doing that again.

“And off camera, we’re friends. Just like before.”

“All right. Clear rules. I can work with that.”

“Seriously, I owe you whatever you want. Just say the word and I’ll make it happen.”

“It’s fine.” He shook his head. “Besides, you’ll be busy answering questions. I’m sure people are still talking about it.”

“At least Mollie’s at home. I’m kinda glad she was busy today. I can at least explain.”

Henry frowned. “It’s probably already in the group. Actually, I bet it was in there the second it happened.”

My face fell. “Shit, really?”

“Absolutely. No one wastes time here.”

My stomach churned. “Oh no.”

Like clockwork, my phone rang, and it was the one other person who would have wanted a warning.

“Shit,” I said. “I need to go get yelled at by my best friend. And grab my stuff from the set. Thank you for literally saving my ass.”

I waved as I ran away, sending Mollie to voicemail so I could book it to the farmhouse and tell her all that happened in person. And then I could freak out about fake dating Henry.

I had a ton to do.

“Facebook?” Mollie hissed the second I walked into the farmhouse. “I had to find out you kissed Henry from Facebook ? What am I to you? Dirt?”

“No!” I rushed to say. “Kissing Henry was completely unplanned and kind of an accident.”

“An accident? In front of the whole town?”

“Accidents always happen in front of the town,” Cain said. His voice was at least calm. Hopefully he wasn’t as mad at me as she was.

“Don’t talk to me when I’m scolding Wren!”

Cain only shrugged and walked away. I rubbed my face and prepared for more.

“I’m all for you doing batshit-wild stuff whenever you want, but can you at least give me a warning?”

“Next time I’m running to make a split-second decision, I’ll text you first. Or right after. This time, I had to make sure Henry wasn’t gonna explode.”

“He had you kissing him. I bet he felt like he won the lottery. God, when did this happen? When did you two get together?”

I braced myself for what I was about to say next. “Mollie, it didn’t happen. Kissing him was a split-second decision because we were never together.”

Her eyes went wide. “ That’s how you made a move?”

“It wasn’t a move! It was to get out of doing it with Jude. It was fake .”

“Oh . . . my . . . God .”

“Yeah.”

“So, you’re not really dating?”

“Nope.”

“Dale won all that money for nothing?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that your first thought here?”

“Well, no. My first thought is a bunch of confused exclamation points. But the second is that if he knows he didn’t really win, that’s gonna be huge .”

“The goal is for no one to know. We look like we’re dating and we have to.”

“When did Henry agree to this?”

I cleared my throat. “After I did it.”

Mollie gasped. “Wren!”

“I know, I know. Not my best decision. He wasn’t thrilled with me, but we worked it out. I owe him big-time, but he’s on board.”

“So, he’s dating you for show to get you out of everything with Jude, and what is he getting in return?”

“Nothing right now. He said he didn’t want me to do it either.”

“He’s saving your ass and asking for nothing?” She let out a laugh. “What a guy.”

“I’m gonna figure something out ... eventually. I have to tackle one problem at a time. And the next problem is gonna be my director.”

“Was she mad?”

“Furious.”

“Well, maybe she shouldn’t be pushing you with a guy like Jude. Or with anyone at all, for that matter.” Mollie crossed her arms. “Serves her right.”

“She’s not gonna take this lying down. She wants Jude and me to pretend to be together, but I can’t . Now that I have an out, I have to use it. Seeing him today was miserable.”

Mollie narrowed her eyes at me. “You’ve been sad ever since you finished season one. What did he say to you to start all of this?”

“Nothing that’s worth mentioning.”

“Is it not worth mentioning, or are you not wanting to talk about it?”

I shrank into myself and looked out the window. “You’re gonna hate him when I tell you.”

“He’s already not my favorite person.”

“Okay, fine. He said he could never see himself being with someone so ... manly.”

Mollie’s jaw dropped. “He ... what ? How dare he! You’re a fucking catch .”

“I know,” I lied. “I’m definitely a catch.”

Maybe if I said it enough, I would believe it. But deep down, I knew how off-putting I could be. It had happened many times before. To people important to me. People who should have loved me.

“I can’t believe him. No wonder you wanna get away.”

And I needed to. I didn’t know how I would get through this season if I hadn’t made up something to get me away from Jude.

My phone rang, and I cringed when I saw it was Madison.

“Time to go face the music. Be right back.”

“Give ’em hell!” Mollie called as I went upstairs. When I was in the guest room, I filled my lungs with much-needed air before answering.

“I hope you’re ready to see sense now,” Madison said without any sort of greeting.

“I am seeing sense.”

She let out another groan, which didn’t mean anything good for me.

“You’re under contract,” she said. “Which means you do as I say.”

“Did you give Jude this lecture when he kissed someone else?”

“He said that wasn’t serious.”

“And yet he started all of this. Henry and I connected when that happened, you know.” It was a version of the truth. Sure, we hadn’t actually gotten together, but Henry was one of the few who got me to open up.

“I don’t care about Henry. I care about making this show what it should be.”

“And as the star of the show, I’m telling you I can’t be with Jude this season.”

“ Renovating with Love is based on you and Jude. You have no choice.”

“I’m with someone else,” I snapped. “So it’s a no!”

“I don’t care who you’re with. You have an obligation, so whatever’s going on can be put on hold.”

Anger flooded me. Even though I wasn’t with Henry, the idea of putting a real relationship on hold to act for a camera was ridiculous. “Are you serious?”

“Obviously, you don’t know how show business works, but this is it. You do what’s best for the show. Your personal life can wait.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll sue you for contractual breach. And considering you just wasted your money on a run-down library, I highly doubt you’d have the money for what I’d do to you.”

My jaw dropped. “You have to be kidding me.”

“Try me, Wren. I’ll do what it takes to make this show successful. No matter the cost.”