I popped the fruit in my mouth, buying time to compose myself. Of course, I remembered. How could I forget? The contract might as well have been tattooed on my brain. One year of being his girlfriend in exchange for my mother's medical care. Simple. Clean. Temporary.
"I haven't forgotten," I said, steadying my voice.
"Then why do you keep treating this like some cold business transaction?"
Because that's exactly what it was. Because in twelve months, this would all be over. Because getting emotionally invested would be the stupidest thing I could do. I'd seen enough romance movies to know how that ended - the poor girl falling for the rich playboy, only to get her heart broken.
But I couldn't say any of that out loud. Instead, I focused on cutting my eggs benedict into precise triangle
