Make-Believe Marriage by Dill Ferreira Read Free Book Online

asked realizing that everything was tidy
and in order.
    – Yes. My employee comes
here twice a week to clean. - He explained.
    - Your house is beautiful.
- She said when they were getting ready to leave.
    - Our house. - He
corrected. Although she knew the unreality of the situation, Amanda had been
happy to see that he tried at all costs to make everything look as truthful as
possible.
    - Now I'll take you to
lunch at my house. I think you have never given me this honor. - He remembered
making a face at her. “The promised day," Amanda thought.
    - I was never invited. -
She joked when they went out together.
    - If you had been, you
would not have accepted either - Antônio defended himself, opening the car
door.
    - Maybe I would. - Amanda
replied. Or maybe not. - They both looked up as a couple about to be at their
home and briefly that complicity between them appeared normal to Amanda's eyes.
    - Let's pretend that we
believe this. - He spoke skirting the car, got in and went to the other side of
town.
    Amanda already knew his house.
She had been there with her son for a couple of times. This would be the first
time that just the two of them would be together.
    - So today I will try your food. - She remarked as they went in
the garage and Antônio parked the car.
    - In fact we are actually
going to eat the food that Dora left ready - he explained - I never considered
myself a good cook – he confessed.
    - I can say the same. -
She had also decided to make her weaknesses clear.
    - So I believe that my
cook will be welcome in our home. - Amanda found the sentence strange. Was he
saying or asking?
    - There is no doubt that
she will be welcome, of course. She agreed.
    Amanda was invited to sit
while Antonio went over the kitchen to put the food in the oven to heat. The
house where he lived was a lot smaller than that where they would live. Antônio
would give up that beautiful and comfortable space to go and live in his own
home, and Amanda felt guilty about it. How would he feel at the end of the
agreement? When they had talked about it, he had said that the house was too
big for him to live there alone, but he would be alone in it, sooner or later,
and maybe he wouldn’t find a place as good as that one in the vicinity, which
would be her fault. He deserved to have someone better than her to spend his
time, she thought. Upset, she kept looking at the few photographs he had
displayed with the family.
    Lunch had been better than
she had expected. The food was really swell. The pasta was delicious. After
lunch, Antônio showed her a few projects he had been working on and others he
was preparing. Among the projects was the house where they would live. Watching
the details of the project, Amanda could see it was new, it had been drafted a
few months back and seemed to have been changed several times, as if ideas kept
popping up from a single observed point in time. Interesting: that conclusion.
    – Amanda. – he said
bringing her back to reality. – I entitled myself to draft a few possible dates
to hold the ceremony. – Antônio said, handling a piece of paper over to her.
    – Great Idea Antônio. We
have been talking about the wedding, but we have forgotten all about the date.
– She remarked picking up the schedule. – How about in two months? – Amanda
asked after reviewing the text.
    – Don’t you think it is
too long? - He said sorry for mentioning that date. The last date he had set,
just not to appear rushed, since all the others were for earlier dates.
    - It's enough time to get
used to the situation. In case you want to give up on it, you will have more
time. - She joked.
    - I will not give up – he
said seriously. - I'll be with you until the end. - Amanda was ashamed for
having made him think that she doubted his words. She knew that Antônio would
not leave her, although sometimes she wished he did, out of fear of hurting him
and why not, hurt herself, because the future was an enigma.  
    - Do not think