His Hired Girlfriend (9 page)

“Hmm?” he responded, finally
looking down at her face that didn’t seem so plain anymore.

“I’m sorry I hurt your
feeling,” she said. “Peter told me. I’m sorry. I should have kept
it a secret. I mean not mentioning it to you. But Peter told me
and...oh damn...I’m so bad at this. But I was just wondering, so
you like men?” she asked.

God, Jay
thought, she was so cute trying to apologise. She didn’t even know
how to go about this, so she wouldn’t hurt his
so-called
‘feeling’ even more. She
had gotten her words all mixed up.

As an answer to her question
about him being gay, he swallowed and managed to nod.

‘
No, you rascal, you know
you like women. You know you want women. You know you want this
woman standing in front of you, half-naked who thinks you’re gay.
My God, how ironic is this?’

“So it’s okay then,” she said
quietly.

“What’s okay?” he asked.

“Me being half dressed in front
of you,” she said. “I’m shy. But since you’re gay and all, I think
it’s okay. I heard people say having a gay friend is really nice,
like they’re not, you know... Maybe it’s good to have you as a
friend. I think you’re good man, Jay. I think that’s why Peter is
helping you out. And like can we not talk about this, you know, to
anyone. Can we like keep it a secret?”

Jay wanted to laugh at that.
She was drawing all the wrong conclusions about him. She considered
herself safe in his presence when she was half-naked? And she
thought him to be a good man?

At least, he thought, she had
now let her guard down around him. That was a good thing he
supposed.

“All right then,” he said.
“That’ll fix it.”

“What’ll fix it?” Alex asked,
looking up at him.

“I’ll get one of my shirts for
you since I’m the one who spilt beer on you,” he said and
reluctantly took a few steps back. “And yeah, we’ll keep it a
secret.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling at
him. “Can you like hurry cos I’m hungry.”

Jay nodded. “Right,” he said
and opened the door. “Back in a sec.”

Alex grinned and Jay closed the
door as he left. Alone, she turned and glared accusingly at her old
bra. It was the bra’s fault, of course. She couldn’t believe the
stupid thing had coiled with her singlet and came off. Gosh, she
really needed to buy a new one.

*****

CHAPTER 6

UNDER THE DIMLY lit dining
room, Jayden watched Alex from across the table, grinning to
himself. The atmosphere was that of a warm family dinner, and he
felt at home.

Alex had on his dark grey
jersey that he had bought in Queenstown. The jersey was way too big
for her person, but she managed to make it look as though it fitted
her perfectly, with the sleeves rolled up to her slim forearms. He
thought about his ex-girlfriend and how she would freak out at the
thought of wearing his jersey, this particular one especially
because a) it didn’t have a designer’s label and b) it was not
expensive.

“So how’s the house renovation
going, Pete?” Alex asked, glancing up from her plate of roasted
pork and various veges.

“Not too well,” Peter said.
“Did I tell you about that mould?”

Alex shook her head as she
popped some pork into her mouth.

“We have to take down the
walls. God, more labour cost and more materials needed now,” he
mumbled. “And Tracy is not very happy.”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t be happy
either,” Alex commented, thinking about the amount of money needed
for a house renovation.

“So, Alex,” Mr. Thompson said
from across the table, sipping his glass of white wine.

Alex looked over at Dr. Mark
Thompson who had only arrived five minutes before dinner. He had
been busy at the Dunedin Public Hospital and at the lab. Well, as a
head consultant haematologist, he was expected to be busy and he
was expected to be called in at any time.

“How’s Dad?” he asked.

“He’s not doing too good,” Alex
said, thinking whether to tell Mark that her dad was getting worse
day by day, even with the help of his medications.

Jay popped a piece of the roast
meat into his mouth and chewed as he listened to their
conversation. He wondered what was wrong with Alex’s dad. Was that
why she was reluctant to talk about her family back at SAN
café?

“He’s still having those
fainting spells now and again,” she said.

“I suggest surgery if it gets
worse,” Mark said.

“Like wise,” Peter agreed.

Alex could only nod in
agreement as she didn’t know what else to say.

Jay really wanted to know what
was wrong with her dad, and he thought that asking her right in
front of everyone was a bit rude. Besides, she still looked as
though she didn’t like talking about her family, especially about
her sick dad. He decided then that he’d prey it out of Peter
tonight. That decision made, he popped a piece of the roasted sweet
potatoes into mouth.

“You do like kumara, Jay?” Alex
asked, watching him.

Jay looked up at her with his
brows raised. “Kumara?”

“Yeah, kumara,” Alex said,
nodding her head. “You’ve had three big pieces already.”

“I have? I don’t remember
eating them.”

Peter and Mrs. Thompson started
to laugh. Then Peter said, “She means sweet potatoes.”

“Yeah, we call them kumara.
It’s a Maori word for sweet potatoes,” Alex said.

“Kumara,” Jay said. “I like the
name.” Everyone laughed.

After a good, hearty dinner and
then dessert of ice cream and fruits, Alex said good night to the
Thompsons and left. It was already very cold and dark outside as
she rushed to her car. She was about to get in when Jay called out
to her. “Hey, sorry to bother you.”

“That’s okay,” she said,
shivering and hugging herself against the cold wind. “Oh yeah,
totally forgot. Your jersey.”

Jay said, as Alex was about to
take her jacket off, “No worries. You can give it back to me
tomorrow.” A very good excuse, he thought, to see her again.

“Tomorrow? What’s happening
tomorrow?” Alex asked, confused.

“We have a lunch date,” he
said, grinning from ear to ear.

“We do?” she asked, her brows
rose, her heart beating just a little faster than usual.

“Yeah.” He came closer to her.
He could smell a hint of that lovely floral scent from her hair,
and he wanted to get closer. He also wanted to keep her out of the
cold wind because she was shivering.

“Peter told me you’ve agreed to
my proposal,” he lied. “I thought we should meet tomorrow for lunch
and arrange everything. How long do you have for lunch?”

“An hour.”

“Only an hour, huh?” He sounded
disappointed. “That’s too short. How about we change to
dinner?”

“Okay,” she said, nodding her
head and started rubbing her hands about her cold arms to get some
warmth.

Jay saw this and moved closer.
Now they were only inches apart. He thought that she was so close
to him maybe she could hear his beating heart.

“Dinner it is then,” Alex
confirmed, making a move to open the door. “What time?”

“How about straight after work?
What time do you finish work?” he asked, watching her getting into
the driver’s seat.

“I finished at five,” she said,
inserting the key to start the engine.

“How about six thirty? Gives
you time to go home and change,” he said, smiling at her.

“Why can’t we just meet at like
quarter past five or something? I don’t need to change.” She looked
up at him in the dimness of the night.

She didn’t need to change? Now
that was new to Jay. He thought every woman wanted to shower and
change into something nice before they go out to a dinner date.
Apparently not this one. Maybe she didn’t think this was supposed
to be a date.

“That’s cool, it’s up to you.
Five fifteen it is then,” he said.

“Can we go to SAN Café? I
missed my salmon. Your shout, right?”

“Yeah, it’s on me. SAN Cafe is
it. Good night.”

“Night, Mr. McCartney,” she
said and shut the door.

Jayden watched as she drove
away into the darkness. “Mr. McCartney, huh?” he mumbled as he made
his way back into the house.

He found Peter by himself in
the living room. He came to join his friend on the couch and
watched the sports news Peter currently had on the tele. Apparently
the Kiwis really love their rugby, and he found himself falling in
love with the sport too –what with the kicking, tackling, and
vigorous running. But he wasn’t a fan of the guy named Dan Carter
who did ads for all kinds of thing – especially for Jockey.
Apparently all the girls adored him because of his good looks. He
wondered if Alex was one of them.

A moment later when the ads
began, Jayden said, “Hey, Pete, what’s wrong with Alex’s dad?”

Peter glanced sideway at his
friend. “Interested, are you?”

Jay grinned. “If she’s going to
be my girlfriend, I have to know about what’s going on in her life.
Not all but just the basic.”

Peter
chuckled. “You mean your
fake
girlfriend?”

“Nobody supposed to know except
for you, me, and Alex. Got that?”

“Got it,” Peter said. “And
Alex’s dad, Jacob, has heart problems. Long story short, if he gets
any worse, he’ll needs a heart transplant. I personally think he
needs it right now, but Alex doesn’t have the money.”

“I see,” Jay said, nodding his
head.

They both were silent as the
ads ended and sport news continued. Jayden sat there and watched,
though his interest had already waned. He was thinking about Alex
and her dad. She needed money for her dad’s heart transplant. Maybe
that was part of the reasons why she had agreed to help him because
he had offered her money.

The thought of his money
helping Alex and her dad lifted his spirit. It made him feel good.
Funny how he had never felt that good before when he had made
donations to many of the sport clubs back in New York.

***

“
SHIT!”
JAYDEN SWORE
under his breath. He was
in a total panic, wondering where he was supposed to find a white
singlet. He had been searching in every God’s damn shops that sold
women’s clothing across this small town for a whole day and still
hadn’t been able to find a single white singlet.
Where had Alex bought that darn thing
from?

He glanced at his watch and saw
that it was nearly five o’clock. That meant Alex would be finishing
work soon and she’d be meeting him for dinner at SAN Café.

He was now in the Meridian, one
of their so-called ‘big’ malls, looking like a lost ignoring charge
duckling. Not that he was little, for God’s sake. He was over six
feet tall and every female he passed – young or old – were gawking
at him from head to toe.

Geez, he thought, he really
hated shopping. How could people say shopping was fun? Even worse,
he wondered, how could people get addicted to shopping?

Hold on, hot
shot! You’re a guy, and guys never like shopping.
Period!

He walked towards the exit,
shoulders slumped. The stupid weather didn’t help with his mood
either. It was raining again.

Oh whatever,
he’d just have to give up.
‘Sorry,
Alex,’
he thought,
‘can’t replace your singlet because—’

What the!

He did a
double take and grinned. There it was –
the
singlet.

He hurried into the small
underwear shop that was hidden away from sight, his spirit now
lifted. He browsed through, wondering what size Alex was. Small?
Yeah, she’d be a small. He picked one white, size small and then
thought that he’d better take two instead. Grinning to himself like
an idiot because he felt very proud indeed for finding the very
same singlet he had damaged, he strolled over to the counter where
the young woman there was watching him with interest. Then his eyes
caught the bras. Oh God! He had never been into a lingerie shop
before and this experience was completely new to him.

His eyes were big and wide as
he took it all in, bras all in different colour and sizes, some
plain and some with frills. He placed the two singlets on the
counter and said, “Hi.”

“Hi,” the young woman replied,
smiling at him, her eyes appreciating what she saw. She picked up
the two singlets and said, “You’re not from around here, are
you?”

Jay shook his head as he eyed
her name badge. It said Brandy. He glanced at her pretty face and
said, “No.”

She nodded and said, her
shapely brows rose, “For your girlfriend?”

Jayden hesitated. Did buying
underwear for Alex meant that she was his girlfriend? He didn’t
know. Then just to be on the safe side, he shook his head. “No,
it’s for, erm, my sister.”

Brandy laughed merrily. “Whoa,
I’ve never seen guys coming into lingerie shops like this to buy
his sister underwear,” she said, her dark green eyes intense on his
handsome face.

Jay smiled
pleasantly and said, “Well, I’m not like most brothers.” Damn, he
never thought he was
that
good at lying.

Brandy grinned as she scanned
the singlets barcode into the computer. She glanced up at Jayden
and smiled prettily at him, fluttering her eyelashes a few times at
him. She really did her best flirting with him. Only he wasn’t
paying her the least bit of attention. His interest was else where.
He was intensely looking at the rows of bras on the other side of
the shop.

“You want to buy your sister
bras, too?” she asks curiously.

Jay glanced at Brandy and
nodded. “Yeah,” he said, walking toward the rows of bras.