We were silent the rest of the time it took us to eat our food. No one even said a word as the dishes went in the sink. The next step for us was to go our separate ways in the house, but that was something I didn’t want to do right now. Part of me wanted to learn more about Zaden Keaton. I couldn’t just leave it on the fact that he was just an abandoned child. There had to be more about him. For example, why did he become a doctor in the first place?

Zaden started to head for his office at the bottom of the stairs when I called out to him, “Zaden?” He looked at me, “Maybe we should spend the day getting to know each other. You’re always working, so it just feels like you are a stranger whose house I’m staying in.”

He looked at me, unsure what to say. It was clear on his face that he was wondering what I was planning. To tell the truth, I had no idea what I was thinking. I just wanted us to get a little closer other than two strangers pretending to be a couple. Especially if everyone expected a wedding by the end of the month. I had to see if such a thing was possible.

But the longer he stood there silent, the more I doubted my idea of getting to know each other. Maybe he didn’t want to get married after all, since he was in love with someone else. I tried to laugh it off as I spoke, “Or, we can just continue pretending to everyone. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Zaden then let out a sigh as guilt washed over his face, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that was something you wanted to do.”

I nodded in understanding. Ever since I got here, I have been cold to him. I could understand the impression that he got from me. The impression that I was forced to do this in order to save my career and nothing more. But I was guarded and couldn’t trust anyone anymore after what happened with Jax Moon. Note to self, don’t date musicians ever again. Especially ones that were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Guilt washed over me as I apologized, “I should be the one who is sorry. You are only giving me the reaction I expect from you.” I then smiled at him and held out my hand, “Why don’t we start over? My name is Riley O’Day, your everyday actress.”

He smiled as he took my hand and shook it, “Zaden Keaton, your everyday Thoracic surgeon.”

Being reminded of what kind of surgeon he was still took me by surprise. I knew it was an impressive field, even if I didn’t fully understand it. I made a mental note to myself to check up on what kind of surgery he had done. But it also reminded me that he wanted a profession that was as impressive as the woman he admired. Just remembering that made me feel like this marriage wasn’t going to go anywhere.

Guilt washed over his face once again as he let out a sigh, “Let’s pretend I never mentioned myself admiring an impressive woman.”

To know that he felt bad for bringing it up in the first place was nice to know. I couldn’t blame him for being so madly in love with someone that he wanted to be at their level. I would have done the same if Jax Moon wasn’t so much as the wrong package at the right address. It was my fault for falling for a puzzle piece that was a good enough fit and not the right fit.

Nodding my head, I accepted his request, “I’ll try to pretend that you never brought her up. But why suddenly ask that?”

“Because, like you. I want this to work,” he answered. For some reason, I found it hard to believe that he would just drop the woman he loved for a stranger. There was something he wasn’t telling me. But before I could say anything, his cell phone suddenly rang, making him answer it, “Dr. Keaton.”

He listened to what the person on the other side of the line spoke. I watched as he asked a few medical questions as he left the room to go towards his study. It looked like to me there was an emergency at the hospital and he would have to go in once again. Part of me was a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be continuing this conversation.

With a sigh, I grabbed my cell phone and decided to call my manager. I needed to do something soon before I felt like I was mooching off of Zaden. Most of my schedules were either canceled or paused until the whole Jax Moon Scandal was sorted out. But I had to do something. It was asking too much from me to just sit in a house all by myself and do nothing.

“Riley, you know what your mother said,” my manager said as he answered the phone.

“I know what she said, but she also knows that I can’t just sit around and do nothing,” I complained to him, “Tell me that you can give me something to do. Even looking over some scripts would be fine.”

“Everyone has been informed that you are taking a break to prepare for your wedding at the end of the month,” my manager informed me.

“What do you expect me to do when my fiance is always working?” I asked him.

My manager didn’t even bother to cover up his annoyance, “This is for the best, Riley. Just see this as a vacation.”

He didn’t say anything more as he hung up the phone. I couldn’t help but scowl at my cell phone before putting it down on the kitchen counter. There was literally nothing for me to do in this house. Also, I didn’t have any hobbies because I made sure that I was always busy with work myself. So I never took the time to pick up anything I liked. Now that I had the time, I regretted finding anything of interest.

Out of pure boredom, I did the one thing I was told to not do during my little ‘vacation.’ I looked up what the media was saying about the situation. I found articles about the charges Jax Moon was facing along with some of his friends. Em’s boyfriend was facing different trafficking charges. There was even an article about Em. So far, I didn’t see anything about me until I refreshed the page. Right in my face was a picture of me with Zaden walking into the hospital with the headline “Riley O’Day happily visits the hospital with a mystery man. Pregnant or not pregnant?”

“Son of a bitch,” I cursed. They were ruthless and didn’t bother to get pictures any way they could. They didn’t even bother to ask me if it was okay. Instead, they just took a random picture and stated whatever they wanted. Just seeing it made me want to call my company and ask them to do something about it. But sadly, it also helped with the story of me getting married in a month.

Defeated, I went exploring the house. It wasn’t as big as I was led to believe. The dining room was under mine and Zaden’s bedroom, with the living room under the guest room and bathroom. Zaden’s office didn’t have anything over it other than the roof. The kitchen was a similar set up. From the outside, the house looked to be like a rectangle with two wings.

The only thing I really appreciated was that the living room led out to the patio. The patio had a small area where people could sit comfortably around a fire pit and next to that was an outdoor kitchen with a grill. Behind all of that and further in the backyard was a large pool. I have made plans to do some night swimming in the near future. Also, I never knew why I didn’t notice it before, but the whole property was surrounded by a six-foot stone wall. It was like Zaden had bought this place as if he had one person in mind. Me.