Page 33 of Fake It For Glory

Hattie smiled again, a glimmer of affection in her eyes. “You give him time, space, and a lot of patience. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll let you in. Underneath it all, he’s a good person, Merida. You just have to get past the exterior.”

I supposed I could understand that a little, but there seemed to be more. I wanted to know why he was such a perfectionist. What made Jensen Loxley tick? That was all information I hoped to learn for the article I wrote.

“Oh, this is the one!” Hattie exclaimed and pulled out another dress. “Yes, yes, yes! Try this on!”

My initial reaction was hell no. It was not my style. But then everything I had tried on thus far wasn’t my style and it actually looked pretty good. I had to trust the process. As usual, the dress was very daring. I barely looked at myself in the mirror. I no longer trusted my own eyes. I was going to leave it to her to tell me if it looked good or not.

I stepped out of the dressing room in the sleek dress. It hugged my figure in all the right places, and I felt a sense of confidence wash over me as I looked at myself in the mirror. Hattie’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “Merida, that’s it! That’s the perfect dress for this weekend’s gala event for tech billionaires and investors. You’ll turn heads, I promise.”

I smiled, genuinely touched by her enthusiasm. “Thanks, Hattie. You have a knack for this fashion stuff. I know you like it and I think I like it, but what about Jensen? He seems to have a particular look he’s going for. Is this going to be okay?”

“It’s perfect,” she said, smiling. “Now, we need to get you some shoes. No flats.”

We spent another two hours buying heels and accessories for the many dresses and outfits Hattie put together. I could tell she was having a blast. Shopping was definitely her thing.

“Let’s go get a snack,” she declared. “I could really use a smoothie. There’s an amazing juice bar right here.”

We sat down with our green grass smoothies or something she promised was going to make me feel like a whole new woman. The curiosity that had been eating at me resurfaced, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. “Hattie, why is Jensen’s chip so large?”

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“You said Jensen had a big chip on his shoulder,” I clarified. “Why is it so big?”

Hattie chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, and I wondered if I shouldn’t have asked. But then she sighed and began to speak, her voice low and thoughtful.

“Between you and me, Jensen’s had some trauma in his life that he never dealt with properly. He’s never been much of a people person. He was bullied mercilessly growing up, and since he was so smart, he was always in classes with kids way older than him, so socially, he was always out of his depth. Making friends just wasn’t his thing. He was more invested in creating, building, and dismantling. Figuring out what made things tick. It’s why he hates not succeeding in what he sets out to do. All those older kids did what they could to make him feel like he wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t cool.”

I listened intently, absorbing every word she said. “That would be very hard.”

“Any need he had for a companion was filled by our father, who was a mechanic. I suspect that’s where Jensen acquired his passion for fixing things. Our father was a good man, but once he got injured at work and had to go on disability, he lost sight of himself and his purpose. He got sour, angry, and bitter. He started drinking. By then, Jensen was in his early twenties, and try as he might, he couldn’t save our old man from himself. Jensen had it in his head that if he just did a little more or was a little better, he could pull Dad back. He wanted our father to snap out of the funk he fell into. He thought if he could show him how successful he was, Dad would wake up one day and want to be part of our lives again.”

I hung on every word, my heart heavy with the weight of the story. “Where is your father now?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Hattie gave me a sad smile. “Buried in Greenwood Cemetery.”

My heart squeezed thinking about Jensen never getting through to his dad. I understood him a lot better in that moment.