“Thank you again for agreeing to this,” Asher says as he glances at me from the driver’s seat. He came and picked me up this morning to start our road trip to Maine. And this might be the fourth time he’s thanked me in the two hours we’ve been driving.
I can tell he’s just as nervous as I am right now.
“You don’t have to thank me, Ash,” I tell him, offering a friendly smile as he looks back and forth between the road and me. “I have no problem helping a friend when they’re in need.”
Asher smiles before looking back at the road in front of him as we continue to speed down the freeway. “I really appreciate it. I just don’t want my family to be too overbearing or anything. I told my mom that we haven’t been dating that long, so we don’t have to act like this is already an established relationship.”
“I think I’ve known you long enough to be able to play the part,” I tell him, picking at the cuticles of my nails. “You’re a pretty simple person, Asher. I honestly feel like I’m at a bit of an advantage because of being friends with you for the past few years. You don’t have anything to worry about. The whole thing will be totally believable.”
“I hope so,” he murmurs, his body swaying back and forth to the soft hum of the music that plays through the speakers. “I just want my mom to be proud of me for once, you know?”
“What happens after Christmas? We go back to life the way it was before, but what are you going to tell your family about us?”
Asher is silent for a moment, his jaw tightening as he effortlessly shifts lanes. “I don’t know. I’ll wait a little while to tell them, just so I don’t kill my mother’s joy too soon. And things just don’t work out sometimes. Perhaps we both realized that we want different things in life.”
A snort escapes me and I glance out the side window. “Well, that wouldn’t be a lie,” I mumble, more to myself than anything.
We fall back into the comfortable silence as we cross state lines, making our way closer to Asher’s hometown in Maine. Grabbing the handle on the side of my seat, I put the back down and settle deeper into my seat with my pillow. Asher reaches into the back seat behind him and pulls out a blanket before handing it to me.
“We still have a few hours,” he says softly, his lips tilting upward into a small smile. “Take a nap and I’ll wake you when we get close.”
“Thanks,” I smile back at him, taking the blanket from him. My hand brushes against his and his warmth feels like an electric shock as it ripples along the nerves traveling up my arm. Asher stares at me for a moment, his eyes widening before he pulls his hand away from me and grips the steering wheel.
Turning away from him, I roll onto my opposite side and face the door. I cover my body with the blanket and hug my pillow to me as I close my eyes. It’s hard trying to sleep, knowing that I’m trapped in this small space with him. He occupies too much of it, his scent overwhelming as it wraps itself around me. I bury my head into my pillow and wait for the car to lull me to sleep.
With the thoughts of my fake boyfriend drifting around in my head…
“Syd, hey,” Asher’s voice is soft as he lightly shakes my shoulder with his massive hand. “We’re almost there.”
Peeling open my eyes, I wipe a bead of drool away from the corner of my mouth. Lifting my head, I pull the pillow away and slowly sit up right as I put my seat back up. Asher is pulling his car down the street of a cookie-cutter development and I stare out the window, my eyes scanning the houses as we drive through.
They’re all modest houses, nothing like what I grew up in, in California. Then again, my parents are loaded with more money than they know what to do with. And after living the extravagant life with the two of them, I wanted to get as far away from them as possible. Which is exactly what brought me to Wyncote University in Vermont. It was far enough away from them that I didn’t have to continue living the same lifestyle and it was remote enough that I didn’t know a single soul when I moved there.
I was able to create a life of my own—one where everyone didn’t know that my father was one of the most powerful attorneys in the area. I didn’t have to live up to the Phillips name. Instead, I was just Sydney Phillips, your average student who was trying to complete a degree in psychology.
Asher never really talked much about where he came from. When his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, he had confided in me about that, but that was as far as he went with divulging into his personal life. As we continue deeper into the neighborhood, I think it’s safe to say that Asher’s parents gave him a good life.
We pull into a cul-de-sac and he steers his car down the driveway of the largest house in the neighborhood. As a family of six, I can only imagine that they needed the space with all of the kids in the house.
“Is this where you grew up?” I ask Asher as he pulls his car behind one of the SUVs parked in the driveway.
He glances over at me as he puts it in park and nods. “We moved here after my younger brother was born. Our house before this one was much smaller, but my father had started his own construction business and it really took off. He actually had his crew build our house.”
“That’s really cool.” I smile back at him, wishing I had some awesome story like that. I don’t know. We lived in the Hills, in a house that was already constructed. My parents preferred to outsource everything, including having our house cleaned and our food cooked. God forbid that they lift a finger or get their hands dirty themselves.
“Yeah, I was really fortunate as a kid. I know that our house may not be much, but it was more than we ever needed. And they were able to pay for all of the extracurricular activities for four children and provide for us.”
Tilting my head, I raise an eyebrow at Asher. “It’s a lovely house, Ash. Seriously, I wish I lived in something like this and with an amazing family like yours.”
“Didn’t you live in, like, a five-thousand-square-foot house? And you think that this is lovely?”
A sad smile creeps onto my lips and I shrug. “Do you know how lonely a huge house like that is when you’re an only child and your parents are too concerned with their own lives? I would have traded everything we had to have a family like this.”
Asher is silent for a moment, his eyes scanning my face as he doesn’t bother offering any bullshit words. There’s nothing that he can say and there’s nothing that I can do. We were both born into two different lives, but I want him to know that the monetary shit doesn’t matter. The material things my family have don’t matter to me, not when we didn’t have a love like Asher’s family does.
“You ready to get in there and meet everyone?” He shifts gears, changing the subject as he smiles at me. “I’m pretty sure Andrew and Evelyn are here, although Evelyn will be going and staying with her parents since the wedding is tomorrow.”
“I’m ready.” I grin at him, undoing my seat belt as I grab my purse and my pillow. Asher climbs out of the car, grabbing both of our bags from the back seat as I get out and follow after him. We walk up to the front door together and just as he’s about to reach for the doorknob, it’s pulled open.
A petite blonde woman, who looks exactly like her son, stands in front of us with a huge smile on her face. She pulls Asher in for a hug, wrapping her arms around him as she holds him for a moment before breaking apart. “How was your drive? No problems?”
“Nope.” Asher smiles, shaking his head at her. “Mom, this is Sydney,” he says, glancing back at me with the same smile that he gave her. “Syd, this is my mom, Rachel.”
“Sydney,” his mother beams at me, her eyes trailing over me as she steps toward me and pulls me in for a similar hug. “It is so nice to finally meet you. I always wondered what the girl who finally got my boy’s attention would be like. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”
I choke out a laugh as it gets half caught in my throat, resembling more of a cough than anything. “I can promise you that I am nothing special.” I laugh lightly, offering her a shy smile as we break apart.
“I highly doubt that,” Rachel says, glancing back and forth between the two of us. Asher steps closer to me, wrapping his free arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t the two of you take your stuff upstairs and meet the rest of us in the den? I apologize that we don’t have any open guest rooms.” Rachel offers the two of us a strained smile. “I know, bad mom to expect the two of you to sleep in the same bed, but you’re both adults.”
Asher falls tense beside me and he inhales sharply before glancing down at me with an apologetic look on his face. Rachel doesn’t see the exchange between the two of us as she disappears inside the house, leaving Asher and me in the doorway.
“Shall we?” he says, his voice low and strained as he motions for me to go in through the door. I nod and step inside as he follows behind me, pulling the massive door shut.
The house is just as warm as Rachel’s personality. It’s decorated with various family pictures and different quote-type decorations. It matches their whole family vibe and is honestly exactly what I expected. I love it. I grew up in a house that had art hanging from the walls that were more expensive than other household items.
And I’m not saying that I’m ungrateful for that. My parents taught me a lot about art and different ways to interpret it and appreciate artists’ talents. But this is what I always wanted. Somewhere that felt warm and safe. Like you could actually live in the house, not one that felt like it was staged and you couldn’t get a fingerprint smudge on anything inside.
Asher heads up the staircase that leads to the second floor and I follow after him. He passes by all of the different doors, instead heading toward the back of the house to a door at the end of the hall. He slowly opens it and it reveals another staircase.
“My room is up here,” he tells me, ducking his head slightly before he begins to make his way up the stairs. I follow after him, leaving the door open behind me as we head up into the attic. As we reach the top of the steps, it opens up into a huge room that expands over the top of the garage.
It looks like Asher hasn’t changed his decor in here since high school. A queen-sized bed is situated in the middle of one wall, along with two dressers and a desk. A large TV hangs from the wall across from the bed. There aren’t many decorations, but all of the ones that are hanging are either hockey pictures or a shelf full of trophies.
“Your mom didn’t want to change this into a guest room or anything?” I question Asher as he drops both of our bags onto the bed.
He looks over at me, wincing slightly. “She struggled with empty nest syndrome when we all left. I think part of her didn’t want to disturb any of our rooms in case we eventually came back. Although, she did change both of my sisters’ rooms since they got married. I imagine that Andrew’s room is next and then probably mine.”
“That’s actually really sweet,” I tell him honestly. “You can tell how much she loves her family. And that’s something you should never be embarrassed about.”
Asher smiles at me and it’s genuine. It touches his eyes, his dark gray irises dancing under the lights in his bedroom. “I’m sorry that we have to share a room,” he offers softly, shrugging. “I can sleep on the floor and you can take the bed.”
Tilting my head to the side, I raise an eyebrow at him. “Are you afraid to sleep in the same bed as me, Asher Golding?”
His throat bobs as he swallows hard, but he quickly recovers. A crooked grin works its way onto his lips. “Of course not. I’m just trying to be a gentleman here.”
“So, we can both sleep in the same bed and nothing will happen. There’s no sense in either of us being uncomfortable when there’s plenty of room for the two of us in here.”
“Are you sure?” he questions me, his voice hoarse and strained. Asher’s eyes bounce back and forth between mine as he nervously shifts his weight on his feet.
“Yes, I’m sure.” I pause, dropping my voice to a whisper. “This is just a fake relationship, remember? There’s no reason either of us need to worry about something happening.”
“You’re right.” He smiles, recovering from his nervousness. “If you decide to change your mind, I have no problem sleeping on the floor.”
A laugh falls from my lips and I roll my eyes in exaggeration. “I’m holding you to your promise, Ash. So, as long as you keep your word, then we don’t have anything to worry about.”
His head cocks to the side, an eyebrow raising as he stares at me for a moment. “You’re something else, Syd.” He pauses, chuckling softly as he motions back to the stairway that leads down to the second floor. “Ready to meet the rest of the family?”
A smile consumes my lips. “Let’s do this.”
