Chapter 5

The aroma of coffee greeted Alex the moment she stepped through the door of SAN Restaurant. It was toasty warm inside compared to the sharp, cold air outside. She headed to the counter and ordered herself the hot chocolate she had been craving since Friday. Then she took a seat facing the door to make sure Peter would be able to spot her.

Alex glanced about her surroundings, noting the busy staff, the happy customers, and cozy decor of the restaurant.

SAN made the best hot chocolate in town, not to mention Cambodian food. She and her friends had always met here for their hot-choc sessions.

She took off her blue coat nervously. In fact, her insides were shuddering with anxiety as she waited for Peter and his friend, whoever he was, to show up.

Peter had called her late last night. After he sang her a happy birthday song loudly, he told her she shouldn’t be nervous meeting his friend, supposedly a nice person. She trusted Peter. He would never introduce her to anyone who had a questionable character, except for that one time with Andrew.

Peter said his name was Jayden, and Jay could help her with her problem. Peter hinted it was about her dad. Again, that anticipation rose in her chest.

A pretty waitress arrived and placed the tall cup of hot chocolate on her table.

“Thanks.” Alex nodded her head at the waitress in appreciation.

“No worries. Enjoy,” the young woman said sweetly and then went away.

Alone, Alex grinned and inhaled the steamy liquid, her nose almost touching the thick, brown, chocolaty foam. She picked up one pink marshmallow and dropped it into the hot liquid and then picked the white one and popped that into her mouth. She smiled as the light, sugary goodness melted on her tongue. She lifted the cup and took a sip, the warmth and sweetness of the liquid soothing the coldness in her body.

Who could Jayden be? And how can he help me and Dad?

She glanced outside through the cafe’s window and saw it was raining again. She watched as people wearing thick jackets with scarves wrapped around their necks rush back and forth in a hurry, even though it was a Sunday. She supposed they wanted to get away from the cold wind and rain.

She glanced at the entrance again. A part of her wanted to see Peter coming through that door, but the other part didn’t. She picked up her cell phone to check the time. It said 2:30 p.m. exactly. The tightness in her stomach intensified. Then she felt a breeze of cold air. She glanced up and saw Peter. Her heart skipped a beat. She straightened herself and stood up just a bit to get his attention. That was when she saw him.

Her heart did a triple skip.

It’s him. It’s Mr. Hot-Choc! So he’s Jayden?

Gosh, he looked so—non-Kiwi. Not that she was a full Kiwi herself. She was half-Cambodian. Her mom was a refugee Cambodian who migrated to New Zealand years ago just after the Pol Pot regime. Then her mom married her dad, a real Kiwi bloke to boot, who was one of the many refugees’ supporters along with Peter’s mom and dad.

Peter saw her after a quick scan around the cafe.

“Hey, Alex,” he said as he and Jayden advanced toward her. “How are you?”

“Fine, thank you.” She couldn’t help noticing her voice was shaking just a bit from nervousness.

“Alex, this is Jayden McCartney,” Peter said, nodding his head toward the handsome man.

“Hi.” Alex stood slightly, giving him a fleeting smile, avoiding his eyes.

“Hey,” Jay said, offering his hand.

Alex looked at it as though she had just seen a pig fly. Hesitantly, she put her hand into his. They shook.

Jayden thought her hand was cold, and it was so small it disappeared into his. She was also too thin. She still looked plain, wearing those skinny jeans and purple jersey. She must be cold because she still had her pink scarf wrapped around her neck even in this cozy cafe.

As they took their seats, he noted her snuggling her chin deeper into the thick scarf.

“Did it come off?” she asked, her voice low, her eyes watching him through her glasses.

Jayden had just noticed she was wearing a pair of glasses. He didn’t remember her wearing them on Friday or last night.

He glanced at Peter and saw his friend eyeing him quizzically. He said, “It did,” not bothering to enlighten his friend of what did come off.

“Oh, good. I was so worried it wouldn’t.”

“Don’t worry.” He didn’t know how because he hadn’t been the one who did the cleaning. The washing machine did, and Peter’s mom, Mrs. Thompson, the High Court justice.

“So, Alex, how’s Mom and Dad?” Peter asked.

“They’re okay,” she replied, avoiding his eyes and fiddling with the cup of her hot chocolate. “Hey, don’t you want anything to drink?”

Jay could tell she didn’t like talking about her family. He wondered why. He thought he sensed a hint of pain, sadness, and frustration in her soft, husky voice. Not a singing voice—just a plain, simple voice—like the rest of her.

“Yeah,” Peter said, getting up. “What do you want, Jay?”

“A flat white, thanks,” Jayden replied.

Peter nodded and walked off to the counter to order. Only he wasn’t the first in line because there was a bunch of Uni students before him.

Alex picked up her cup and nervously sipped the hot chocolate again.

Jay watched. He wondered if she was embarrassed about last night. But then again, she said she lost her contacts, and she didn’t see the drunken man coming. That meant she wouldn’t have been able to see him properly either. The look she gave him in that dim corridor said so.

Alex swallowed the warm liquid hard. It nearly choked her. She tried not to make a scene. He isn’t going to eat you, you ninny, she told herself. Just as that thought popped up in her head, she glanced at him and saw him smiling at her, a very sultry smile that sent her insides shuddering with excitement.

She lowered her cup and cleared her throat. “Sorry about that tea stain. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Can you guarantee it?” Jay asked playfully, his eyes twinkling.

She blinked at him. “Say what?”

“Is it a guarantee?”

“You mean me promising not to spill tea on you?”

“Yup.”

“I don’t know. It’s human nature,” she said, not sure where this was going. Of course she would never spill tea on him again. She was never going to see him again anyway.

It was such an odd conversation to have with a man. She was sure when a girl was with a guy like Jay, she’d talk about something else. She wasn’t sure what, but she was sure it wasn’t about spilling tea.

“Human nature and therefore not one hundred percent guaranteed,” Jay said, nodding his head and folding his arms across his chest. “Which means there must be some type of compensation.”

“Compensation?”

“Yup,” he said, leaning toward her, his elbow touching hers.

Alex tried not to notice just how good-looking he was and the fact that he was sitting beside her, very close to her, his elbow touching hers.

“What do you think?”

“All right,” she said, glancing at him. “I’ll wash the shirt for you if I were to spill tea on you again.”

Jayden chuckled. “You mean with your hands?”

Alex loved the sound of his laughter. She flashed him a smile. “What about using a washing machine?”

Jay’s face became serious. He simply stared at her. He realized right then that her eyes just kind of lit up when she smiled. He cleared his throat and said, “What if the washing machine destroys my shirt?”

“Well, I’ll just have to buy you another one. But I can’t guarantee it’ll be the same one. Maybe similar but cheaper.”

Jay threw back his head and laughed. Alex couldn’t help but smile back.

“That sounds fine by me.”

“Sorry, guys,” Peter said, taking his seat. “Apparently, it’s rather busy. It’s going to be a little wait.”

Alex nodded. Luckily she came in early because there weren’t a lot of people half an hour before. But now, however, the place was almost full, and there was a long line of people at the counter waiting for their turn to order. The town was always busy on a Sunday, even in winter. The three young women and two men at the counter looked hectic rushing back and forth, taking orders, and making drinks. She’d hate to see what it was like in the kitchen.

“So, Pete, how’s your holiday so far? Did you enjoy Sydney and Queenstown?” Alex asked.

“Yeah. What about you, missy? Isn’t it about time you get yourself a holiday?”

“I have been warned.” She shrugged. “I have too many annual leaves left.”

“Sounds like a holiday around the corner,” Peter commented. “Ah, our coffees.”

The waitress placed two small white cups in front of them.

“Didn’t take long at all.” Peter handed one to Jay. “Thanks,” he said to the waitress.

The young woman nodded. Before she left, she winked at Jay, who grinned back at her. Jay lifted the small cup to his lips and took a sip. He smiled in satisfaction and relaxed back in his chair. He straightened his long legs and accidentally kicked Alex’s. “Oh, sorry about that.”

“That’s okay,” Alex said, shifting back. “Pete? Can we, like, talk?”

“Hmm,” Peter began. “Let’s get on with it, then.”

“Wait,” Jay said to Pete. “I’ll do this.” He turned to Alex.

Alex glanced from one man to the other, wondering what was going on.

“Alex… May I call you Alex?” he asked.

Alex nodded, her eyes on him.

“Alex, I have a proposal for you. Just think of it like a business arrangement. It’s like I’m hiring you,” he said, watching her carefully.

Alex blinked as she listened, not knowing where this was going. “The problem is I already have a job.”

“Yeah, well, I know that. But this isn’t like a real job. I need your help.”

“What kind of help?”

“It’s kind of personal.” He repeated, leaning toward her. Looking deep into her eyes, he asked, “Can you pretend to be my girlfriend?”

Alex just stared at him. She got the word girlfriend, and that was about it. She blinked. “Sorry? I don’t get it. I’m lost.”

Jay glanced at Peter for help. Pete leaned toward Alex. “Look, Alex, Jay’s having a hard time at the moment. His parents—well, more like his mum and nana—are demanding he bring home a girlfriend or they’ll start matchmaking him again.”

“So?”

“So? Alex, it’s a big deal. I’m simply sick of them trying to sort out my life. I’m thirty.” That last bit he said with an exaggerated frown and a shrug of his powerful shoulders, which told Alex how annoyed he was. “I know we’ve just met, but—”

Alex looked down at her empty cup. Slowly, she began to understand everything. “But what about your real girlfriend?” She didn’t dare look at him when she asked him that question.

“We broke up.”

She studied him then, her eyes questioning.

Jay understood her quizzical gaze. “It’s personal.” When he saw her hesitation, he said, “Look, I’ll pay you. Like I said, you’re like my employee. I’m hiring you to do this. You just name the price. A hundred thousand?”

Alex nearly choked. She blinked. Money! The dollar sign suddenly appeared before her eyes along with the ding, ding, ding that sounds like Scrooge McDuck. She didn’t even buy a lotto ticket, and she was about to get a hundred thousand bucks just like that? Was Jay rich? Well, she didn’t need to ask him that question. She could tell by his expensive clothing and his powerful aura. He walked and acted as though he owned the world. Well, maybe he did, parts of it, anyway.

Suddenly, her dad’s heart transplant didn’t seem so out of reach after all. Maybe she could also use the money to pay off the mortgage, and her mum wouldn’t need to work so hard.

Okay. So what if she agreed? She licked her lips nervously.

“So, um, what do I have to do to pretend to be your girlfriend? Hypothetically, that is, if I were to agree with this, um, proposal of yours?”

Peter and Jay glanced at each other.

Jay said, “You know, the usual girlfriend stuff. I’ll take you back to New York and introduce you to my family. It’s my sister’s wedding. It’ll only be two weeks max. I promise.”

“All the way to New York, huh?’ she murmured, her eyes large behind her glasses. Okay. Girlfriend stuff. Intimate stuff like going out—movies, dinners, and picnics—stuff she wasn’t familiar with. Well, considering the fact she had never dated or had a boyfriend, she shouldn’t blame herself for being so ignorant about this boyfriend-girlfriend stuff. But what if she really fell for him when they were fake dating? And then his ex-girlfriend decided to come back into his life?

She glanced at Jay, who was watching her, waiting for her answer. No, it wouldn’t be hard to fall in love with him. She thought she was actually starting to do that right now. Oh, God, she didn’t want to get hurt. Yeah, Alex might be a romantic, always dreaming about some hot guy like Jay coming into her life and making a difference, but she was also a realist. Nothing like that ever happened in real life.

She pushed her cup away and put on her jacket.

Jay and Peter both watched her. Jay thought she was getting colder. Peter, however, knew differently. He knew she was backing out, and there was nothing he could do right now.

She picked up her satchel and said, “I’m sorry, Jay. I don’t think I can help you.” She got up and rushed to the door.

Jay shot up. He was about to go after her when Peter stopped him.

“What the hell happened?” he asked, confused. The girl was truly odd. One minute she was sitting there, listening and questioning them, and then the next—poof! She was gone.

“She needs time to think. The offer is too much for her.”

“Ludicrous, more like it. I think she thinks I’m nuts,” Jayden said, lifting his coffee cup to his lips.

“Maybe.”

“So tell me about her,” Jay began, setting down his cup. “What is she like?”

“Sweet, innocent, and loyal,” Peter said. “There, I’ve summed it all up for you.”

Jay narrowed his eyes. “Very funny, Pete. Has she had any boyfriends before?”

“Nope. Zippo.”

Jay cocked his head to one side. “Maybe that’s why she’s scared.”

“What?”

“She’s afraid of men. That explains her nerves around me. She’s probably afraid I might hurt her. That explains why she never has a boyfriend. Tell me, has she been abused?” He was actually thinking about last night. Perhaps that kind of things was common in her life.

Peter had to try hard not to laugh in front of his friend’s face. As far as he knew, Alex had a loving family. Jacob was the best. He loved his wife and children to bits.

“No, at least I don’t think so.”

“You have to convince her to help me, Pete.”

“Me?”

“You’re close to her. She’d probably run away again if I approached her.”

“You’re right.” Peter agreed.

“Do something. Anything.”

“Anything, huh?” Peter said, nodding his head. He knew just how to go about it. Oh boy, this is going to be fun.