His Hired Girlfriend (5 page)

Peter 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 trusts Peter. He would
never introduce her to anyone who has 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’s
about her dad. Again that anticipation rises in her
chest.

A pretty waitress arrives
and places the tall cup of hot chocolate on her table.

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

“
No worries. Enjoy,” the
young woman says sweetly and then goes away.

Alone, Alex grins and
inhales the steamy liquid, her nose almost touching the thick
brown, chocolaty foam. She picks up one pink marshmallow and drops
it into the hot liquid and then picks the white one and pops that
into her mouth. She smiles as the light, sugary goodness melts on
her tongue. She picks up the cup and takes a sip, the warmth and
sweetness of the liquid soothing the coldness in her
body.

Who could Jayden be? And
how can he help her and her dad?

She glances outside
through the cafe’s window and sees that it’s raining again. She
watches as people wearing thick jackets with scarves wrapped around
their necks rush back and forth in a hurry, even though it’s a
Sunday. She supposes they want to get away from the cold wind and
rain.

She glances at the
entrance again. A part of her wants to see Peter coming through
that door, but the other part doesn’t. She picks up her cell phone
to check the time. It says 2:30 p.m. exactly. The tightness in her
stomach intensifies. Then she feels a breeze of cold air. She
glances up and sees Peter. Her heart skips a beat. She straightens
herself and stands up just a bit to get his attention. That’s when
she sees him.

Her heart does a triple
skip.

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

Gosh, he looks so—
non-Kiwi
. Not that
she’s a full Kiwi herself. She’s 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 sees her after a
quick scan around the cafe.

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

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

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

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

“
Hey,” Jay says, offering his hand.

Alex looks at it as though she has just seen a pig fly.
Hesitantly, she put her hand into his. They shake.

Jayden thinks her hand is
cold, and it’s so small it disappears into his. She’s also too
thin. She still looks plain, wearing those skinny jeans and purple
jersey. She must be cold because she still has her pink scarf on
that is wrapped around her neck even in this cozy cafe.

As they take their seats, he notes her snuggling her chin
deeper into the thick scarf.

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

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

He glances at Peter and sees his friend eyeing him
quizzically. He says, “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, it came off,” he confirms, though he doesn’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 asks.

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

Jay can tell she doesn’t like talking about her family. He
wonders why. He thinks he senses 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 says,
getting up. “What do you want, Jay?”

“
A flat white, thanks,”
Jayden replies.

Peter nods and walks off
to the counter to order. Only he isn’t the first in line because
there is a bunch of Uni students before him.

Alex picks up her cup and
nervously sips the hot chocolate again.

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

Alex swallows the warm liquid hard. It nearly chokes her.
She tries not to make a scene.
He is not going to eat you, you ninny,
she tells herself internally. Just as that
thought pops up in her head, she glances at him and sees him
smiling at her, a very sultry smile that sends her insides
shuddering with excitement.
Fireworks! It feels like fireworks going off in her
body!

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

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

She blinks 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 says, not sure where this is going. Of course she
would never spill tea on him again. She’s never going to see him
again anyway.

It’s such an odd
conversation to have with a man. She’s pretty sure when a girl is
with a guy like Jay, she’d properly talk about something else.
She’s not sure what, but she’s pretty sure it’s not about spilling
tea.

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

“
Compensation?”

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

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

“
What do you
think?”

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

Jayden chuckles, “You mean
with your hands?”

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

Jay’s face becomes
serious. He simply stares at her. He realizes right then that her
eyes just kind of light up when she smiles. He clears his throat
and says, “What if the washing machine destroys my
shirt?”

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

Jay throws his head back and laughs. Alex can’t help but
smile back.

“
That sounds fine by
me.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The young woman nods. Before she leaves, she winks at Jay,
who grins back at her. Jay lifts the small cup to his lips and
takes a sip. He smiles in satisfaction and relaxes back in his
chair. He straightens his long legs and accidentally kicks Alex’s.
“Oh, sorry about that.”

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

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

“
W
ait,” Jay says to
Pete. “I’ll do this.” He turns to Alex.

Alex glances from one man
to the other, wondering what’s going on.

“
Alex... may I call you Alex?” he asks.

Alex nods, 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 says, watching
her carefully.

Alex blinks as she
listens, not knowing where this is 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 leans toward her. Looking deep into her eyes, he asks, “Can you
pretend to be my girlfriend?”

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

Jay glances at Peter for help. Pete leans toward Alex.
“Look, Alex, Jay has a hard time at the moment. His parents—well,
more like his mum and nana—are demanding that 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
tells Alex how annoyed he is. “I know we’ve just met,
but—”

Alex looks down at her
empty cup. Slowly, she begins to understand everything. “But what
about your real girlfriend?” She does not dare look at him when she
asks him that question.

“
We broke up.”

She studies him then, her
eyes questioning him.

Jay understands her
quizzical gaze. “It’s personal.” When he sees her hesitation, he
says, “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 blinks.
Money!
The
dollar sign suddenly appears before her eyes along with the ding,
ding, ding that sounds like Scrooge McDuck. She didn’t even buy a
lotto ticket, and she’s about to get a hundred thousand bucks just
like that? Is Jay rich? Well, she doesn’t need to ask him that
question. She can tell by his expensive clothing and his powerful
aura. He walks and acts as though he owns the world. Well, maybe he
does, parts of it, anyway.

Suddenly, her dad’s heart
transplant doesn’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 licks 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 glance at
each other.

Jay says, “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 murmurs, her eyes large
behind her glasses. Okay. Girlfriend stuff. Intimate stuff like
going out dating—movies, dinners, and picnics—stuff she isn’t
familiar with. Well, considering the fact she has 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 falls
for him when they are fake dating? And then his ex-girlfriend
decides to come back into his life?

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