The Fake Wife

Scared of the Truth

Jake

When the front desk called saying Alison was coming up, I more than excitedly walked to the elevator to welcome her. She had not been in my office since the time she barged into it before France.

This morning while she was in school, I texted her, inviting her to lunch. Alison was too quiet lately and going to bed at a similar time to the children. In the last two weeks, Mum had mentioned she was getting the children from the Manor straight after school.

Alison only shrugged and said that Stormy was busy when I asked why she was not prolonging her stay in the city. Straight away I realised it was a lie, and I knew all her quietness was because of his absence, but I could not be happier. Hopefully, he was ditching her and getting ready to move to another State.

Stormy had stayed in New York for far too long and even if Alison was getting depressed by his lack of empathy towards her. I would gladly pick up the pieces and help her move on.

She looked surprised when the doors opened, and I stood just outside the elevator. I gave her a quick sweet kiss on the mouth. And she smiled, stretching out her neck to look at me. "That is a warm welcome."

I laughed at her being sentimental and grabbed her hand. "Come, let's go to my office. You've not seen your pictures hanging there yet."

We passed by Jessica, and Alison smiled at her for the first time. "Good afternoon, Jessica!" Alison said low, maybe ashamed of her past unacceptable behaviour towards the woman.

But Jessica was too professional to let anything slip and smiled brightly. "Welcome, Mrs Stewart."

We entered my office and not fast enough. I closed the door behind us and attacked Alison's mouth, pressing her against the wall. I winked at her when I finished. "Now, that is a warm welcome, little wife."

Alison giggled and playfully hit my arm. She has not been this carefree in a while and with every passing day; I felt more and more like she had got her memories back and was hiding from me. But Doctor White thinks that the possibility of her recovering her memories is nearly non-existent.

I tipped my head to the far end wall where her pictures hung. "So, what do you think? They look great up there. I even received compliments for them already."

Alison's eyes shone, and she asked eagerly. "Really???" And I nodded because that was the real reason I called her for lunch.

I checked the time and got my wallet. "We should go now, Alison. We don't want to be late for our reservation."

Alison left her school bag on my sofa, and we walked to the restaurant, holding hands. Her hand was clammy, and every time I looked at her, she forced a smile out. Nothing about her was natural today.

We were already in the middle of lunch when I touched on the subject. "I was looking for a pen on your desk and I saw your laptop opened. I need you to close the little shop you've opened on Etsy."

Alison looked at me with a deep frown and stopped with the cutlery. I continued the reason for her visit. "Sorry, but I invest in the competitor, and I can have my wife selling things in that shop."

Her hands fell to the side of her plate, and she said low, looking at the plate. "Jake, I need this."

I put my hand over hers and rubbed my thumb. "Did you do this to see if people will like your pictures? You don't need to do it, darling. That's why I brought you here to tell you that people liked them at my office."

I smiled at her. Did the silly girl think her work was not good enough? I returned to my food, but Alison did not. I watched her reaction. Alison clenched her fists tightly, struggling to hold back tears.