Let's Pretend [Niall Horan]

Chapter 7

-Mrs.Gray-
••December 26, 2012•• 

I shut the door, flipping the lock and dropping my newest heavy coat, spotted with snow, onto the marble floor. Our housekeeper, Lisa, walked over and picked it up, then took the jacket Faith handed her.

"Thank you," Faith told Lisa. I rolled my eyes. Faith was way too kind to our housekeeper - it annoyed me. Lisa worked for us.  Her thanks were in the fat paycheck I handed her every month.

I walked into the kitchen, knowing Faith would follow behind me, considering it was 7 pm and Lisa had supper on the table for us.

My daughter walked over to the gleaming stainless-steel sink to wash her hands as Lisa poured us both fresh glasses of ice water.  I sat down at my seat at the head of the kitchen table, unfolding my napkin and placing it primly on my lap.

"Mother, why didn't you invite me into the house we visited today?" Faith asked, making me drop my fork onto my napkin.  I quickly picked it up again, hoping she hadn't noticed; it would not do for her to know that the visit earlier today was anything out of the ordinary.

"You usually have me go with you because you always say that I need to learn to be as great as you," Faith finished, wiping her hands with a towel before walking over to her seat and taking a sip of her water.

"Oh," I scoffed, "I didn't think that one was necessary." I cut my grilled chicken, putting a piece into my mouth and chewing slowly.  Lisa was a good cook, at least; I think she might actually last, unlike our previous few housekeepers.

Faith started to eat, enjoying her supper.  "Okay, if you say so."

"Niall was the worst kid I used to know..." I sighed, getting straight to the point.

"What?" Faith asked, looking up from her meal, but I kept my eyes on my chicken as I cut off another bite.

"It was dreadful, honey!" I exaggerated, looking straight into Faith's dark eyes as convincingly as possible. "Niall probably did drugs!" I shook my head in disgust.  "You know, I think just pretended to be your friend because he was using our money for his… distasteful interests."

Faith had her mouth slightly gaped open, obviously shocked.  Well, of course she was shocked – I had never even mentioned Niall to her, as far as she could remember.  But I knew for a fact that she was interested in getting back in touch with her old friend, and that would not do in the slightest.  

I had a hard time not showing my excitement as I watched Faith struggle for words; my plan was working exactly how I had hoped.

"But… I- I-" she mumbled.

"I understand you want to meet your old friends, but Niall is not a good influence. He hated you, Faith," I forced on, trying to make a point. "Do you understand?"

I hid my smirk as best as I could when I saw Faith nod mutely from across the table, agreeing with me.

I put on my best motherly smile as I chewed a huge bite of the divine chicken. I had gotten Niall and Faith to stay away from each other. Thank God this went well! Now I could move on with life... We would probably move to America or Dubai, and start a new life without any trace of Niall Horan.  Right after the surgery, we had moved away from our old town, but we couldn't move too far away because of Faith's hospital followups and paperwork.  Now that all that was finally finished and I had ensured that Faith and Niall would never contact each other again, I could hardly wait to start a new life with my daughter.

I let out a happy sigh of relief, taking another slice of chicken and planning out where we would move.  Everything seemed like it was going exactly as I planned.