“Can You Pretend to Be My Wife for 1 Week?”—He Begged the Stranger to Save His Daughter’s Birthday

Practice Runs and New Connections

Natalie appreciated that. She looked at Lily again, this little girl who’d already known too much loss.

She thought about her own childless years and the quiet ache of an empty home. She thought about how she’d always thought she’d make a good mother if she’d been given the chance.

“Four days,” she said. “Friday evening through Monday night.”

“Then we start pulling apart naturally over the next week or two.” “You tell people it wasn’t the right fit, that we’re better as friends, and I go back to being just the baker who made Lily’s birthday cake.”

Hope blossomed on David’s face. “Does this mean…?”

“It means I must be crazy,” Natalie said. “But yes, I’ll do it for Lily.”

“Thank you.” David’s voice was thick with emotion.

“Thank you so much. How much do I owe you for your time, for the disruption to your life?” Natalie waved away the question.

“We’ll figure that out later; right now we have work to do.” “If I’m going to convincingly be your girlfriend in two days, I need to know everything: your favorite foods, your routines, your quirks.”

“And you need to know mine.” They spent the next two hours talking, sharing the intimate details of their daily lives.

Natalie learned that David drank his coffee black and that he was left-handed. He’d played basketball in high school but hadn’t touched a ball in years.

He read science fiction novels to relax and he couldn’t cook to save his life. His greatest fear was failing Lily, not being enough for her.

David learned that Natalie woke at 4:30 every morning to start baking. She was trying to learn Italian from an app and she collected vintage teacups.

She’d always wanted to travel to Paris but had never made it happen. She missed having a family—the noise and warmth of it—more than she usually admitted.

By the time they finished, something had shifted between them. They weren’t quite friends yet, but they weren’t strangers anymore either.

They were co-conspirators, bound by this strange mission to give a little girl one perfect birthday. “We should practice,” David said as they were preparing to leave.

“How we’ll act around each other. Would you be comfortable with that?” “Probably wise,” Natalie agreed.

David stood and extended his hand to help her up. She took it and he pulled her gently to her feet.

They stood there for a moment hand in hand, and Natalie noticed details she’d missed before. There was a small scar above his left eyebrow and flecks of gold in his brown eyes.

She noticed the way his suit jacket didn’t quite fit right in the shoulders, as if he’d lost weight recently. “Hi,” he said softly.

“It’s nice to see you.” “Hi,” she replied, understanding the exercise.

“I’ve been looking forward to today.” “Me too.”

His thumb brushed across her knuckles, a small gesture that felt more intimate than it should. “Have I told you how much I appreciate this, what you’re doing?”

“Once or twice,” Natalie said, smiling. “But I can stand to hear it again.”

They both laughed and the tension broke. It would work, Natalie thought.

They could pull this off because they both genuinely wanted to and because the cause was worthy. Lily ran over, tugging at David’s jacket.

“Daddy, can we go to the park?” “Maybe tomorrow, sweetie; we have errands today.”

David looked at Natalie. “Would you like to join us for the errands? It might be good to spend more time together before Friday.”

Natalie checked her watch. She had a few hours before the afternoon rush.

“Why not? Let me lock up the front.” They spent the afternoon together running mundane errands: picking up David’s dry cleaning, grocery shopping, and stopping at the hardware store.

To anyone watching, they must have looked like a regular family. They seemed like just another father, girlfriend, and daughter going about their day.

At the grocery store, Lily insisted on riding in the cart and Natalie pushed while David navigated. At one point, reaching for cereal on a high shelf, Natalie stumbled slightly and David steadied her with a hand on her lower back.

The gesture was automatic and protective, and it sent an unexpected warmth through her. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“Of course,” he said, and something in his expression suggested he’d felt it too—that unexpected connection. They had lunch at a small diner.

Lily chattered happily about her upcoming party, which friends were coming, and the princess dress her grandma had bought her. Natalie listened, asked questions, and found herself genuinely enjoying the little girl’s company.

“You’re good with her,” David observed quietly while Lily was distracted by the jukebox at their booth. “She makes it easy,” Natalie replied.