Chapter eight
Oliviadirectedhimupher parents’ long driveway to the giant two-story mansion they’d moved into when she was ten. Her father’s furniture company had made it big and her mother got the house of her dreams. Since then, the family business had only grown. Jake whistled from the driver’s seat.
“Nice place.”
“It’s a bit big for my tastes. But it was Mom’s dream house.”
“How many siblings did you say you had again?”
“It’s just me and Matt.”
“And he’s younger.”
“Right.”
“Wait – is that a pool?”
Olivia snickered as Jake pointed off to the left of the house. Off the deck was an inground swimming pool. Not a huge one, but big enough.
“Yeah, but it’s closed up and winterized for the fall. They won’t open it again ‘til it warms up.”
“Seems a little early to me. Early September is still warm.”
“You can thank my second cousin Ben. One year he nearly drowned at the reunion ‘cause he fell in while drinking. Ever since then, they close it up before the party.”
Smoke billowed from the grill on the deck. The great big fire pit out front had chairs ringed around it for later. The only other cars that were there were her brother’s and her parents. Thank goodness they had made it before the rest of the guests. Mom would never have let her live it down. She always wanted them to present a united front as a family, even when Olivia had moved to another state.
Olivia took deep breaths in an effort to slow her heartbeat. This was crazy. Why had she lied? Would they be able to pull this off? A hand slid over hers, and she looked up into Jake’s mossy green eyes.
“Relax. We’ll be fine. How serious do we want them to think we are?”
She chewed on her lip in thought. “Nottooserious.”
“Can you be more specific?” He chuckled.
Olivia let out a sigh. “She drives me crazy. My cousin Cassie got engaged and Mom likes to throw it in my face. Because somehow, at twenty-four, I’m almost a spinster or something.”
“Isn’t that a little old-fashioned? We’re in the twenty-first century here.”
“I should have mentioned this before we got here.” She unbuckled her seat belt and turned in her seat to face him. “Mom and Dad met at nineteen and got married in their early twenties. Mom dropped out of school when they got married and stayed home. So when they look at me they realize I’m the same age as Mom was when she had me, and since I haven’t had a serious relationship in years, they’re worried I’ll never give them grandchildren. And with my disappointing them in not taking over Dad’s company, that’s the least I could do.”
Jake blinked. That was probably too much to drop on him all at once. Oh well.
She continued. “So we just need to convince them we’re serious enough that Mom won’t worry, but not so serious that she thinks we’re getting married next year.”
“Got it.” He squeezed her hand, then got out and came around the car. She let him open the door for her, knowing if her parents were watching, it would endear him to them. She just had to sell this fake relationship as real. “And for the record, that kind of pressure is really unfair to you.”
Olivia looked up at him as she slid from her seat. “Thank —”
“Livvy! You’re here!” Anna Lundholm came running down the steps, her husband Sven right behind her. Her mom’s blonde hair was grayer than she remembered, and her dad had no blonde left at all. Olivia’s heart lurched at her first sight of her parents in several months. Matt hung back on the porch, observing. Her mom came up to her straight away, arms outstretched.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.” Anna wrapped Olivia up in that familiar embrace, then her dad was next.
“How are you, pumpkin?”
“Dad,” she whined at his old nickname for her.
“And this must be …” Sven’s question hung in the air as he held out his hand to Jake.
