The Fake

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Epigraph A Note from Camilla before You Start Reading Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Epilogue A Final Note from Camilla Dedication Acknowledgments Other Titles About the Author Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Contents Start Copyright Print Page List v vi ix 3 4 5 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 193 194 vii 195 ii 197 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Fake is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 Copyright © 2023 by Zoe Whittall
 All rights reserved.
 Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
 Ballantine is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Whittall, Zoe, author.
 Title: The fake : a novel / Zoe Whittall.
 Description: First Edition. | New York : Ballantine Books, [2023]
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022026655 (print) | LCCN 2022026656 (ebook) | ISBN 9781524799441 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781524799458 (ebook)
 Subjects: LCGFT: Novels.
 Classification: LCC PR9199.4.W48 F35 2023 (print) | LCC PR9199.4.W48 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022026655
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022026656
 Ebook ISBN 9781524799458
 randomhousebooks.com
 Book design by Fritz Metsch, adapted for ebook
 Cover design and illustrations: Ella Laytham
 ep_prh_6.0_142845113_c0_r0
 
 
 
 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Epigraph
 
 
 A Note from Camilla before You Start Reading
 
 
 Prologue
 
 
 Chapter 1
 
 
 Chapter 2
 
 
 Chapter 3
 
 
 Chapter 4
 
 
 Chapter 5
 
 
 Chapter 6
 
 
 Chapter 7
 
 
 Chapter 8
 
 
 Chapter 9
 
 
 Chapter 10
 
 
 Chapter 11
 
 
 Chapter 12
 
 
 Chapter 13
 
 
 Chapter 14
 
 
 Chapter 15
 
 
 Epilogue
 
 
 A Final Note from Camilla
 
 
 Dedication
 Acknowledgments
 By Zoe Whittall
 About the Author
 
 
 _142845113_
 
 
 
 
 Novelists tell that piece of truth at the bottom of every lie. To a psychoanalyst it is not so important whether you tell the truth or a lie because lies are as interesting, eloquent, and revealing as any claimed truth.
 —Italo Calvino
 
 
 
 
 
 1
 EARLIER THAT YEAR
 Gibson is getting head from an enthusiastic woman he met three hours earlier. It’s probably the fastest a terrible day has ever turned around. His migraine had finally lifted at noon, which always makes him feel a combination of reborn and disoriented, like he doesn’t quite know who he is anymore. He hasn’t left his one-bedroom apartment in three days, nor has he unpacked more than two boxes since he’d moved in the week before. They are all lined up against the one wall in the already too-narrow hallway, across from the staircase that leads to the street-level entrance. He sometimes worries he might pitch over the banister to his death when he gets up to pee at night. It’s an apartment that was designed to be the second floor of a family home, with one long hallway and three separate rooms meant to be bedrooms, now badly disguised as an entire apartment. His kitchen was small, at the top of the stairs with a door to the back patio, then a bathroom meant for children, a small living room that only fit a love seat, and a bedroom that overlooked the street. He’s plugged in his TV and the coffee maker and made makeshift chairs out of boxes. His mattress is on the floor, covered in one thin sheet and a sleeping bag. It hurts his knees to stand up every morning.
 He only went out because it was Julian’s birthday party, in the back room of one of those generic pubs on College Street. His divorce was so recent that he’s still in the stage where he has to remember who his friends are and how to be a friend, the way you don’t have to when you’re married. He can barely remember the kindergarten-level truths about friendship, let alone how to pick up a new lover. Something about being near middle-aged and trying to be more than casual buddies with another guy didn’t make sense.
 Gibson knows every blowjob is a good blowjob, but this one makes all the others obsolete. She did all the work at the bar, and she is doing all the work now. He’s like a newly hatched chick with a dumb, bewildered look on his face, just happy to be alive. His ex-wife Veda was good at