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<\/p>\nFamily gatherings were the worst for Lara, especially since her sister, Emily, began to make fun of her love life, or lack thereof. Determined to sit through her father\u2019s birthday dinner, Lara decides to hire a boyfriend for the night. Little did she know that something reminiscent of a romantic comedy would soon play out.<\/p>\n
I love my family, but family gatherings used to be a nightmare for me. Every single time we got together, my sister Emily would find some way or the other to poke fun at my single life.<\/p>\n
Last Thanksgiving, she took it too far and even set a place at the table for my \u201cimaginary boyfriend,\u201d complete with a hand-drawn face on a napkin. Everyone around the table laughed while I forced a smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny, Lara!\u201d she would say whenever I brought up the incident.<\/p>\n
I stared at him, my heart pounding.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we only met because I hired you for this night,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, life is funny like that, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes these things happen when we\u2019re not looking for them. I\u2019d like to try things officially. With you, I meanI nodded, smiling.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
We joined the family and sat down to eat large slices of cake.<\/p>\n
Even now, months later, Jake and I are still together and happy. We never quite told the family that I hired Jake. To them, he was the boyfriend who showed up and swept me off my feet. And in a way, that was true.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re telling me that only I know the truth?\u201d Kate asked as we sat in my living room with face masks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes!\u201d I replied. \u201cJake and I didn\u2019t want to tell my family the truth because you know how Emily is. She\u2019ll have a field day about this. Her pathetic younger sister who couldn\u2019t find herself a boyfriend, so she hired him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you did find a boyfriend,\u201d Kate pointed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did,\u201d I admitted. \u201cAnd he has also left the agency as well. So, he\u2019s serious about this. That\u2019s new for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, I went home to my parents\u2019 house for tea. For once, I wasn\u2019t dreading being there, because they knew about Jake.<\/p>\n
But it was there that Emily revealed something to me. We were in the kitchen, doing the dishes when my sister turned to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry I\u2019ve been so nasty,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t mean to be so harsh with Jake when he came over for Dad\u2019s birthday. It brought up some stuff for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t tell you this, but I broke up with Paul. He wasn\u2019t away for work during Dad\u2019s birthday. Our engagement has been broken off for months. I\u2019ve been bitter about your happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t understand why my sister carried the burden by herself, but at least she was open to talking to me now.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how long this new, vulnerable version of my sister will last, but let\u2019s see what happens next.<\/p>\n
What would you have done?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Family gatherings were the worst for Lara, especially since her sister, Emily, began to make fun of her love life, or lack thereof. Determined to sit through… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n