SWNOVELS The Charade: Chapter 18
‘THANKS FOR GETTING that chicken for me, babe,’ Ava said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek when I reached the table and handed her the plate of food. ‘You’re the best.’
‘Y-you’re welcome,’ I said stiffly, caught off guard by the kiss on the cheek and term of endearment since last I’d checked, she’d rather die than sit at the table with me after how badly I’d botched our earlier interaction.
But when she turned to my ex-girlfriend and the guy I’d been replaced with and said, ‘Carter saw me drooling over his plate and was so sweet to get me some of that amazing chicken his chef grilled,’ I knew that even though she was probably still annoyed at me, she was putting it aside for the moment to continue with the fake boyfriend/girlfriend plan we’d agreed to before coming down here.
Ava had said that her sister was the one who was going out for the school’s next theater production, but based on the past few seconds, I couldn’t help but feel she had yet another calling in life: a career on the stage.
Apparently, Ava was a girl with a plethora of hidden talents.
‘Marie’s chicken is my favorite,’ Sofia said, a broad smile on her lips as she spoke to Ava. ‘I’ve tried to copy her recipe so many times, but it never turns out as good. I even tried to get Carter to sneak into Marie’s recipe box when she wasn’t around, but he never found it.’
‘I’m ninety-percent sure she burned all the copies of that recipe and just relies on her memory now, so no one can ever steal it,’ I found myself saying as I sat back down in the chair beside Ava.
‘You’re probably right,’ Sofia said, her eyes lighting up. ‘She knows how addicted your family is to the stuff. She probably keeps the secret locked down tight so that your family has to keep her on forever.’
‘Marie is crafty like that,’ I said with a smile.
I glanced back at Ava and noticed a look of surprise on her face. It took me three full seconds to realize why.
I’d just talked to Sofia like we were friends.
So, not wanting to give anyone the wrong impression, I cleared my throat and quickly removed the friendly smile from my face, replacing it with my usual neutral expression.
Sofia must have noticed the shift in my demeanor because her smile disappeared as well.
‘Anyway…’ Sofia cleared her throat awkwardly. ‘The reason why I wanted to stop at your table was to introduce Simon to you.’ She gestured at the tall guy beside her who had short brown hair that curled slightly at the ends, green eyes framed by dark-rim glasses, and a neatly trimmed beard that I knew Sofia must be in love with from how many times she’d tried to get me to grow out my facial hair in just the same way.
‘I’m Simon Bailey,’ Simon said on cue in his British accent, holding his hand out for me to shake. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
I considered ignoring the friendly gesture, but since I didn’t want to look like the petty and jealous ex, I introduced myself as well and gave his hand a firm shake—squeezing slightly harder than necessary to prove—what? I didn’t know exactly. That I had strong hands?
After giving me a weird look, he shook Ava’s hand. ‘And what’s your name?’ he asked.
‘I’m Ava,’ she answered, a slight flush filling her cheeks. ‘Ava Cohen.’ From her blush and what she’d said in my room earlier, I almost expected her to ask if he’d take a selfie with her right then and there. But she surprised me by returning her hands back to her lap and simply adding, ‘It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness.’
Simon chuckled for a moment before saying, ‘You can just call me Simon.’
‘Okay, it’s nice to meet you, Simon.’ Ava giggled, and from the way she ogled him, I got the feeling that if she stayed in his royal highness’s presence for much longer, I may not only lose my ex-girlfriend to the dude but also my fake girlfriend.
‘So, what brings you all the way over here from London?’ I asked Simon in as conversational a tone as I could manage. ‘Do you have business in the states?’
‘I’m not here on business.’ Simon shook his head and glanced over at Sofia. ‘I missed seeing my girl, and so I came here as a surprise this weekend.’
‘That’s so sweet,’ Ava said, her voice slightly higher than usual.
‘It is.’ Sofia looked down at her hands with a slight smile on her full lips, like she was both happy about Simon’s thoughtfulness but also uncomfortable that I was witnessing it. ‘Simon’s always surprising me with things like this.’
When she lifted her gaze to Simon again, the way she looked at him with her brown eyes was like a knife in my heart. Because she was looking at him like he was the center of the universe and all she wanted was to be in his orbit.
I’d always thought she cared about me as much as I’d cared for her when we were dating, but with that one look, I knew she couldn’t have because she’d never looked at me the way she was looking at Simon.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, hoping to keep my disappointment from showing. But I must not have hidden the pain in my expression very well because when I caught a glimpse of Ava out of the corner of my eye, she was watching me with a sad smile on her face. As if she knew exactly how much it hurt for me to come face to face with the reality of how I hadn’t measured up to Sofia’s expectations and how Simon did.
Ava slid her hand onto my leg and gave me a gentle squeeze just above my knee.
Sofia must have noticed the gesture because she asked, ‘So, tell me about what’s been going on with you two? It seems like you’ve been inseparable since you met.’
‘Things are so good,’ Ava said with the biggest smile on her lips. ‘When I saw Carter that first day, I thought for sure that he was taken already. I mean, he’s just so gorgeous that there was no way he wasn’t already dating someone.’ She glanced over at me and slid a little closer, slipping her hand around my left bicep possessively. ‘But then I found out he was actually single, and I knew I had to get on his radar fast since guys like him don’t stay single for long. I mean, he’s so smart and witty and we were able to connect on a different level than I usually do with guys, since we have some things in common.’ I was guessing she was talking about our common thread of not always knowing who our fathers were. ‘And I know it probably seems pretty fast since we just met, like, five days ago, but I just think that if you two hadn’t gotten together behind Carter’s back and he hadn’t been available, I never would have had a chance with him. So, thank you.’
Did she just diss Sofia and Simon for cheating on me?
Had she just buttered them up over the past few minutes, only to turn the tables and give them the smackdown?
This girl was an evil genius.
When I watched Sofia and Simon for their reactions, the shocked expressions on their faces told me they were as surprised by the sudden turn of events as I was.
‘D-did Carter tell you that I cheated on him?’ Sofia finally said after processing Ava’s words.
‘Oh, no.’ Ava put a hand to her heart all innocently. ‘Did I assume wrong? I just thought that someone as famous as you probably has all sorts of offers from guys, and so when one from a prince came through you couldn’t resist. Was I wrong? Did my sweet Carter dump you?’ She squeezed herself closer to my arm. ‘He’s just been such a gentleman so far that I didn’t think he would break someone’s heart like that.’
I watched Simon and Sofia carefully, interested in their answers since I myself had been wondering the very same thing for months. Had they gotten together before she broke up with me?
‘I—we—’ Simon cleared his throat, fumbling for an answer.
But Sofia put her hand on his to stop him. ‘You don’t need to answer that, honey.’ Then tilting her head up so she was looking down her nose at Ava, she said, ‘I don’t know what gossip you’ve heard, but I’d be careful before you start spreading rumors about us.’ She stood up and said, ‘Come on, Simon. I think it’s time for us to move along, so I can introduce you to some of my closer friends.’