Hoax in One

| 32 |

The golf course looked like it was covered in glitter that morning. A shimmer blanketing every surface, everywhere I looked.

Tate looked like he was surrounded by a halo as he walked toward me. Just me and him again. It would always be me and him.

"I figured it out," he told me.

This was perfect. My life was perfect. I felt it. I knew it.

He twirled me around and kissed me. One eye was a sapphire and another a chocolate diamond. "I love you. Everything is okay. I'm okay. I did it."

"I love you, Tate. I knew you would." I smiled. My entire body was warm. We were fusing together.

I'd never seen Tate look so happy. "I can give you everything. I want to marry you, Devin. I want to be the father of your children. I want to grow old with you."

It felt too perfect. I frowned. I looked around.

Why were we the only people on the golf course?

No. I told myself to cling to it. I looked back into Tate's face.

"What'd you say?" I asked.

His mouth moved but no words came out.

"Tell me again," I begged. "Please."

But his features blurred.

No! I screamed in my head. Don't! Stay here, I tried to will my mind. It's perfect here.

Then I startled awake back to imperfect reality.

My face was still puffy. My body felt stiff. I'd cried all my tears out. There was nothing left. I was glad though because I wasn't going to subject Tate to my tears anymore after that.

I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face in my pillow. I needed to talk to him—sober, obviously.

I moved slowly around my room.

My espresso machine purred awake. I chose a pretty ice blue capsule and popped it in the machine. When it was finished, I popped in another. I needed the pick-me-up. My eyes looked like bloated sinkholes.

After I showered, I agonized over what to wear—possibly stupidly—because it seemed like a major decision. Color, length, and cut all seemed to say something, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to say.

Dress was we're thinking about the same thing.

Pink was press my body against his.

Low-cut was render him powerless.

I mean, there was no situation-appropriate outfit. I needed sensible (which wasn't really me).

I dug around in my suitcase and pulled out the thing I'd brought in case of an emergency—skinny jeans and a cute white blazer. I was cookie-cutter business casual, but still—I'd say I looked damn cute.

Now I just needed to fix my face.

A few makeup tricks and a nice curled blow out later, I was ready to venture out into public.

Of course, the golf course was not coated in glitter. Nothing was luminescent.

It looked the same as the day before. Maybe a little less idyllic.

I tried to blend in with the small crowd that had formed. The team started to trickle out onto the course, and Seth and I found each other immediately.

He looked around before he cast his worried gaze to me and took long, quick strides to reach me.