just been correcting papers while waiting for his order when the stranger appeared at his table. Her blonde hair was pinned hastily, her breathing quick, her hands trembling as she clutched a leather handbag.

“I’m sorry?” Derrick asked, lowering his glasses.

“My name’s Emily Lawson,” she said quickly, glancing nervously toward the glass windows. “Please—don’t think I’m crazy. I just need you to play along for a little while. My father is outside. He doesn’t know I filed for divorce, and he’ll never accept that I left my husband. If he sees me alone, he’ll drag me back to Ohio.”

Derrick’s brow furrowed. He had no reason to get involved. This was none of his business. He’d been through enough messy relationships himself, and the last thing he needed was to be caught in someone else’s drama.

But the desperation in her eyes unsettled him. Emily looked like someone running out of options.

Before he could respond, a tall older man in a dark overcoat entered the café. His presence was commanding, his eyes scanning the room with suspicion. Emily’s grip tightened on Derrick’s arm. “Please,” she whispered.

Emily straightened, forcing a smile. “Dad,” she called, “you remember Derrick, don’t you? My husband.”

The man’s eyes froze on Derrick. The silence in the café thickened as though everyone else had disappeared. Derrick stood, extended his hand with practiced calm, and said, “Sir. Good to finally meet you.”

The father’s grip was cold, testing, and his stare sliced through Derrick as if measuring whether he was worthy—or a fraud.

The café conversation stretched uncomfortably. Emily’s father, Charles Lawson, asked sharp, calculated questions. What did Derrick do for a living? Where did he and Emily live? How long had they been married?

Derrick, a history teacher with years of storytelling under his belt, leaned on improvisation. He said they’d met at a volunteer literacy program, bonded over books, and married three years later. Emily added details smoothly, as if she’d rehearsed the script in her head.

Still, Charles seemed unconvinced. “Emily, you’ve always had trouble choosing the right people. Are you sure this is the life you want?”

Emily’s knuckles whitened around her cup. “Yes, Dad. I’m sure.”

Derrick noticed her hand trembling under the table. He placed his palm over hers—firm but gentle. To his surprise, she didn’t pull away. The act of touching, though staged, steadied her.

Charles sighed. “Marriage is hard work. I just hope you’re not making another mistake.”

When Charles finally left, Emily exhaled so deeply her whole body seemed to deflate. Derrick slid his coffee aside and leaned closer.

“You want to tell me what’s really going on?” he asked quietly.

Tears welled in her eyes. “My father doesn’t believe in divorce. He thinks a woman’s role is to obey, no matter what. I married young, to a man who controlled everything—my job, my friends, even my clothes. I left him six months ago. But if my father finds out, he’ll try to force me back.”

Derrick rubbed his temple. “So you needed a stand-in.”

Emily nodded. “I’m sorry for putting you in that spot. I just panicked when I saw him.”

Derrick could have walked away right then. But something about her courage—filing for divorce despite her father’s dominance—struck a chord. He remembered his own mother, who’d raised him alone after leaving an abusive marriage. Maybe that was why he’d agreed without hesitation.

“Look,” he said, “I don’t know your full story. But if you need me to back you up—today, at least—I’ll do it.”

Her eyes softened with relief. “Thank you.”

Neither of them knew that this small act of pretend would change both of their lives.

The next day, Emily called Derrick, apologizing again for dragging him into her personal war. She offered to buy him dinner as thanks. Against his usual cautious nature, Derrick agreed.

Over barbecue at a modest Southern restaurant, they talked freely. What began as polite small talk deepened into hours of conversation. Emily confessed how she’d studied art history but abandoned her passion because her ex-husband had belittled it. Derrick shared how he’d almost left teaching when the system wore him down but stayed because he wanted to give kids the hope he once needed.

They discovered laughter between them. Emily teased Derrick’s obsession with baseball stats; Derrick mocked her inability to eat ribs without staining her shirt. The walls around both of them—his guarded reserve, her constant fear—slowly cracked.

Weeks passed. They met again and again, no longer pretending. The fake husband role became irrelevant. Instead, Derrick found himself invested in Emily’s journey toward independence. He encouraged her to apply for a gallery job downtown. She, in turn, pushed him to publish the book on civil rights history he’d been quietly drafting for years.

One evening, while walking out of the gallery where Emily had just been hired, she stopped on the steps, looking at him with gratitude.

“You know what’s funny?” she said. “I asked you to pretend to be my husband just for one day. But you’ve been more supportive than the man I married ever was.”

Derrick smiled, shaking his head. “Life’s full of surprises.”

Months later, when Emily finally introduced Derrick to her father again—this time for real—Charles studied him with the same icy suspicion. But Emily stood taller now, steady and unshaken.

“This is Derrick,” she said firmly. “Not my pretend husband. My partner.”

The unexpected ending wasn’t just that Emily found someone new. It was that she reclaimed her voice, her choices, and her freedom—and in the process, Derrick found a love rooted not in pretense, but in truth.