The CEO's Second Chance

Chapter 5

Please, Sara. I need you.

Ryan's words echoed in her mind since he'd said them, looking at her with pleading eyes that would have made any other request impossible to deny.

Any other request, except posing as his girlfriend. What was he thinking? Two days ago, they hadn't spoken since high school. Now he expected her to swoop in and pick right up where they left off. His old pal, doing him yet another favor. Like it was no big deal. Just a simple business arrangement.

Too bad for Sara that nothing ever stayed simple when it came to Ryan Clarke.

Sara snatched an old quilt from the back of her mother's couch and turned up the volume on the TV, trying to drown out Ryan's voice in her head with old sitcom reruns. She could still hear her mother a few feet away in the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and running water while preparing their traditional Saturday morning breakfast.

This Saturday, however, breakfast was rapidly turning into brunch. It was past ten in the morning before she'd arrived at her mother's Sunset Park row house in Brooklyn. She'd slept in later than usual after her night with Ryan. Still feeling groggy, Sara stretched out on the couch and snuggled in under the quilt.

It was comforting to lie there in the apartment she grew up in, staring at the familiar faded wallpaper and smelling the faint lemony scent of her mother's laundry detergent lingering on the tattered quilt. For a few moments at a time, Sara could look around and almost pretend she wasn't an adult and didn't have to make adult decisions.

Maybe if she stayed on the couch forever she wouldn't have to face her Ryan predicament.

When she'd arrived late that morning, her mother had immediately known something was wrong. It wasn't like Sara to be late. Or distracted. Or to stay out into the early morning hours.

"What happened to you?" her mother had asked, no doubt noticing the dark circles under her eyes. She'd rolled out of bed late, tied her hair into a messy bun, and thrown on a pair of faded sweatpants and a wrinkled tee shirt. Sara figured she must have looked like something their old cat coughed up after a night on the prowl.

Ryan Clark is what happened to me, Sara thought. She hadn't yet had the chance to tell her about their whirlwind reunion. It had all happened so fast.

Sara's mother had listened as she'd explained the events of the previous day, completely engrossed in her story. It wasn't often that Sara had anything remotely dramatic going on in her life, and she almost never mentioned anyone she was dating.

Not that she and Ryan were dating. But they might be soon. Or at least pretending to date. It was all so very confusing. Sara didn't think it was possible, but the whole idea of posing as his girlfriend sounded even more preposterous as she tried to explain it to her mom.

After she'd finished, Sara waited for her mother to agree with her assessment of Ryan's request. To affirm that indeed the whole situation was bizarre and completely unthinkable.

To her surprise, her mother had asked, "What's so ridiculous about it? It makes sense to me. You guys were best friends. Who better to be his girlfriend than you?"

"Fake girlfriend, mom," she'd corrected with an exasperated sigh.

Of course her mother didn't see anything wrong with it. She'd always been Sara's biggest fan. To her, there was nothing Sara couldn't do. Snag a billionaire? Why not?

Her mother should know better than anyone that the Ryan Clarkes of this world did not end up with girls like Sara. Her parents' history was proof enough that pretending otherwise would only end in heartbreak.