Just Pretending: An Age Gap Enemies to Lovers Romance (Alpha Billionaire)
Just Pretending: Chapter 2

“We’re ordering lunch. Do you want anything?”

I looked up at the annoying sound of Harleigh’s voice. I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers against my forehead. I swear, it didn’t matter how many times I told that girl not to interrupt me. That this room was no longer to be considered a part of the house, but my office for while I was here, she was constantly barging in interrupting my work.

“Harleigh,” I started.

“I know. I know. I just figured this would be easier for you to not have to arrange for your own delivery or make something yourself. It’s the cook’s day off. I’m going to leave now. I’ll let you figure out you’re hungry and place an order and have to wait for your delivery. So that’s a no for you.”

She flipped her hair as she turned to face my assistant Tanya.

“Would you like to put an order in?”

Tanya’s eyes cut between me and Harleigh. I shook my head. I didn’t care.

“I’ll take care of ordering our lunch later,” Tanya said with a sigh.

I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed with me or with the intrusion by Harleigh. I guess it could have been worse, it could have been Tina, the old man’s wife. That was a woman who ignored all social cues.

“Okay, more sushi for me.”

“Harleigh,” I said, stopping her before she opened the door.

“What?” She turned with the practice of a model. But I knew with her, that was simply natural training from her youth. Her mother’s influence.

“You should have mentioned sushi.”

I listed off several rolls that I wanted, along with miso soup. Tanya put her order in. I glared as the two women exchanged a few more words. I continued to glare until Harleigh left.

I didn’t have time to play games. Everything was functioning in high-stress emergency mode. The old man’s impending death wasn’t a secret among his business’s suppliers and clients. It felt like everyone was panicked about there being a disruption in the supply chain when he died.

No matter how much I reassured and reminded that the old man hadn’t been hands-on with the business for the past several years, there was still an atmosphere of impending dread among the ranks.

I reorganized the stack of client files I needed to go through and make contact with. I had just organized these when Harleigh had burst in and interrupted everything, messing up my workflow. I hated being relegated to the small back parlor. I really needed to be in the office where I could properly focus.

Tanya was doing her best with a make-shift desk on the other side of the room, but I knew she was feeling the pressure of not having all of her resources at her fingertips.

It also didn’t help that on the floor above us was the old man. I needed to be here. It would be better if I could be as the dutiful son he expected of me, that I expected of myself. I wanted to focus on making sure he was comfortable, instead I was putting out fires and moving my office into the house so I could be close.

When it was time, I didn’t want to be away, stuck in a meeting, or trapped in traffic. I wanted to be here, by his side. He may not be my biological father, but he certainly had taken me in and treated me like a son since I could remember.

“I need a break,” I announced. I stood and loosened my tie.

Tanya mumbled something and nodded.

I slipped out the door, and without calling attention to myself, made my way through the back of the house and up the servant stairs to the second floor. The raisers on the old staircase were small, and I took the stairs two at a time.

I knocked and opened the door to the old man’s room. He saw me and began waving me in with feeble gestures before his nurse noticed I was there.

“He’s had some pain medication,” she started. “Don’t be surprised if he falls asleep on you.” She spoke in soothing hushed tones.

I sat in the chair next to the professional quality hospital bed.

“My boy,” his voice was thin and raspy like dried leaves, or old fragile paper.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked. I asked every day, and every day he said the same thing.

“I’m old. Devin, I need you to tell me.” He gasped and struggled to get the words out. It was so much work for him. “Tell me, why haven’t you married my Harleigh?”

I thought I was prepared for any question he could throw at me. I wasn’t. I didn’t have an answer for him.

“I don’t know.” It was easier than telling him the truth. I had never looked at Harleigh from that perspective before. It had nothing to do with me considering the old man as a father figure, and with her being his actual daughter. Logically, maybe I should have been paying different attention to her. After all, she was going to inherit the bulk of the old man’s wealth.

But I had never been after his money. And he had promised me the business many different times over the years. I said I don’t know because it was kinder to pretend ignorance than to tell him I didn’t like her.

“You should take care of that. Take care of Harleigh,” he said and he closed his eyes.

“I will.”

No sooner had he closed his eyes than he was snoring. He needed his rest.

I gave the nurse a curt nod as I left. What the hell did he mean I should take care of that? Of course, I would make sure his daughter had an allowance and didn’t blow all of his money. But take care of that? Did he want me to marry her? I shook my head at the ramblings of an old man.

I arrived in the kitchen shortly after the lunch delivery.

“Oh good, you’re just in time,” Tina sounded far too happy for my mood.

I grunted. “I’ll let Tanya know lunch is here.”

“Oh, I already sent Harleigh off to get the two of you.”

“Fine,” I said as I sat down at the long kitchen table. I spread my hands over the thick wood butcher-block tabletop. How many meals had I eaten right here? I was suddenly feeling nostalgic. It was surreal to be eating sushi while upstairs the old man was having one of his last naps.

I ate in silence. Mostly I focused on the food in front of me, but at times I would get lost in my thoughts. I tried to ignore the women. I didn’t want to hear the details of a successful shopping trip or the celebrity gossip of people they may or may not actually know. Harleigh and Tina had roped Tanya into a conversation about manicures and facials. God save me from vain women.

The back door opened.

“Mr. Sanderson!” Tina announced before I bothered to turn to see who it was. “If I knew you were coming by today I would have ordered enough sushi.”

“You’re very kind to offer, but I’ve already had my lunch. I came to check-in, to see how everyone is holding up.”

He patted me on the shoulder. I had known Sanderson almost as long as I had known the old man. He had served on the company’s board in many capacities over many years. Most of all he was a valued confidant for both the old man and myself.

Tina sighed dramatically. She lifted her eyes and tilted her head to look at the ceiling as if she could see the old man through the walls. She batted her overly made-up lashes. “He’s holding on.”

She turned the full force of her feminine wiles on Sanderson with more batting of her lashes. “Harleigh has been a constant source of comfort since she moved back in.”

“I’ve only been back for three days,” Harleigh grumbled.

“Never underestimate the power of your compassion.” Tina should have been an actress, instead, she settled for the life of a rich, pampered, trophy wife. She sighed again. “I’m treating Harleigh to a well-deserved spa afternoon. The stress is so wearing. Our masseuse should be arriving soon to set up. I have the full spa experience lined up, facials, nails, massages. The weather is so nice, we’re setting up on the back patio around the pool.”

“Shouldn’t you be sitting with your husband?” I asked.

“The nurse says I wear him out. I will sit with him before dinner. Otherwise, I’m just sitting there watching him sleep. He doesn’t need an audience to sleep.”

I stood up. “I have to get back to work.”

Manicures, massages. The lack of respect made my stomach turn.

“You should give them some grace,” Sanderson said as he stepped into my make-shift office.

My brows lifted in question. Grace? Those women were only thinking of themselves.

“Not everyone approaches death the same.”

I shrugged. “At least they aren’t out shopping. I’ll grant them the benefit of having the presence of mind to at least schedule at-home treatments. He’s up there fighting for every last breath, and Tina and Harleigh are in the backyard picking out what shade of pink to paint their toes. It’s all pink.”

I hit a stack of papers, knocking them to the floor. The documents scattered.

“Hopper, sit down. You are getting upset over the minutia. When we’re done, I’ll go and sit with him. The wife is right, she’s too much for him, always has been. He needs his steadfast friends and calm.”

I continued to pace until Sanderson nodded at the chair. And then he sat.

“I wanted to have a chance to talk to you about the will and necessary arrangements before we are overwhelmed.”

“The old man had the legal team in before he started failing. We’ve had meetings with them off and on for the past few years. I don’t know the specifics. What are you wanting to know?”

“He had a prenup, correct?”

I chuckled. “His prenups are ironclad.”

“So was the Titanic,” Sanderson said sardonically.

I let out a heavy breath. He wasn’t wrong, punching holes in strategic places could sink even the tightest of legal documents. “He accounted for his possible death in the prenuptial agreement. As far as I know, he always has.”

The old man treated wives the way some men bought cars. He picked the pretty ones, drove them around a bit, and traded them in before they had too many miles on them for a newer model.