She let a breath out. It had been her biggest worry. As people got older they were only too aware of the fact that they wouldn’t have their parents for ever.
But if it wasn’t that then there was only one thing it could be. ‘It’s the business, isn’t it?’
He leaned back in his chair again. Studied her face for long seconds while she raised her eyebrows in question. Then eventually he nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Well, then, we’ll find a way to fix it together, all of us. It’s what we do, remember?’
His eyes filled with sadness. ‘This can’t be fixed that easily. I’ve allowed this to happen through my own stupidity and there’s nothing more I can do now.’
Caitlin’s face transformed into a look of dogged determination her father knew only too well.
‘If it’s a money thing we’ll find the money.’
‘I already found the money. Three times now.’ He sighed with resignation. ‘And now it’s not just the business we’ll lose.’
‘What else?’
‘The house.’
Caitlin’s breath caught. Not home. Not the one place in the world that could be relied upon for security and unquestioning love. It was a haven for all of them. A place filled with a million memories. They couldn’t lose that after all this time. They just couldn’t.
‘What’s gone wrong?’
‘Cashflow. That’s all. Downfall of many a business before this one, and I’m sure we won’t be the last. People don’t pay us, so I can’t pay the people we need to pay. I borrowed until I had to remortgage, and now I can’t borrow any more.’
His words circled around her head and took long moments to be absorbed into her brain. When eventually she’d grasped the severity of it all she blinked slowly as she asked the obvious. ‘How much would it take to get us out of the hole?’
Brendan smiled a small, sad smile. ‘More than you could get.’
‘How much, Dad?’
Leaning back in his chair made the leather creak beneath him. The sound filled the silent room as he considered not telling her. But the determination in her eyes was unwavering. ‘Seventy thousand.’
Caitlin’s eyes widened. It was way more than she had in her own savings. Probably more than her brothers and sister could manage from their own savings. Hell, probably more than they all had combined.
She studied her father’s face again. And she could see it. The defeat. The disappointment. The sense of failure. It broke her heart to see him that way. The strong bear of a man who had possessed enough love to solve a million smaller problems for his growing children. But not enough means to hold together the business he’d spent most of his life building.
Immediately her mind jumped to Aisling, the friend of a friend she’d spent most of yesterday evening on the phone with. Aisling had had a proposal to put to her. One that Caitlin had laughed about for hours.
Suddenly it didn’t seem so ridiculous.
Now it was an escape route.
Nodding at the decision she’d silently made, she pushed the chair back from the desk and walked around to wrap her arms around her father’s neck. ‘We’re going to get through this, Dad. You wait and see. You’re the one who taught us that we’re stronger together than apart.’
The breath he took was shaky. ‘There’s no way out of this one, sweetheart.’
‘Yes, there is. There’s always a way. Everything happens for a reason.’ She leaned back from him, her face barely inches from his, and smiled, ‘No more secrets, Dad. That’s what family is for. Someone wise told me that once.’
He nodded with a small smile at her words. ‘All right. No more secrets.’
She kissed his forehead, her eyes closing. No more secrets. Apart from the massive one she was going to have to carry to get them out of this.
‘God, I’m thrilled you’re doing this.’ Aisling hugged her tightly after she’d walked into the airy office. ‘You’re going to be just amazing.’
Pulling back from the embrace, Caitlin looked at her with narrow eyes. ‘I don’t know about the amazing part, but I’m glad one of us is thrilled.’
‘It’s an exciting project for all of us.’ Aisling moved back and sat down on the large sofa that took up half of one wall in her office. ‘It’s taken eighteen months to set it running, and I for one can’t wait to get started.’
‘Mmm.’ Caitlin moved across to join her. Taking a breath, she turned on the sofa, tucking one of her legs beneath the other. ‘Can we just go through it again?’
‘You’re not nervous?’
‘Me?’ She laughed. ‘Nah. Hell, I always lie to my family and friends for money from a TV show.’
‘You are nervous.’ Aisling smiled a smile that said Trust me. ‘That’s understandable. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. I’d be nervous too.’
‘You’re not the one who’ll be living a lie.’
‘Why do you think I was so keen on it being you?’
Caitlin raised an eyebrow at the question. ‘Because as someone you already know I’m less likely to sue you if it all goes pear-shaped?’
Aisling laughed at her reasoning. ‘Well, that’s one I hadn’t thought of, but I guess I can tick that box now too.’
‘I tick off boxes?’
‘Tons of the things.’ She started counting them out on her long fingers. ‘You’re single and unattached; you’ll be sensational on camera; you have this amazingly close family and you have good reason to want the pay-off at the end.’
Dark eyes widened ever so slightly at the last ‘tick’. ‘What good reason, exactly?’
Aisling looked surprised she’d even asked. ‘What a strange question.’ She frowned. ‘You do still want that restaurant of yours, don’t you?’
It was all she’d wanted ever since she’d trained as a chef. Her own place to be creative in. But her priorities had changed now. There were other things, much more important, that needed the money.
Another lie wouldn’t make much difference, though. ‘Sure I do.’
‘Well, then…’
‘What about the guy?’
‘Aiden?’ Her face lit up, ‘Oh, he’s a blinder. We all just adore him. Wait ’til you meet him…’
Caitlin cringed at the thought. She didn’t want to meet him. Ever. Given the choice.
If he was as unsuitable for her as Aisling thought he would be then she was going to hate every moment of being around him.
But that was the whole premise of Aisling’s new show. Two completely different people pretending to be in love. All they had to do was persuade their families and friends that it was true. Then, to collect, they had to say their fake ‘I do’s with all of their family and friends present. Easy as pie, right?
Three months. Three months of living a lie with a camera crew following their every movement. But it would be worth every torturous moment of invasion of Caitlin’s precious privacy if it saved her father’s business and the magical place called home.
Caitlin’s chin raised a notch. She could do this. She had to. Even while her stomach churned and her hands were clammy. It was only three months.
And, after all, how bad