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Me: Me. Fuck yes. Tell me when and where.
Rick: You free Wednesday?
I laughed.
Me: Make it early in the morning and I’m there. Have a function that night.
Rick: See you at six on Wednesday.
“HOW DO I look?” Raine asked, spinning around in a black evening dress.
“Nice.”
She frowned. “Nice? Blake, honestly, is that all you can give me?”
“Honestly? Yes, Raine, it is. I’m at a charity dinner pretending to be your boyfriend because you’re too chickenshit to tell your parents you were having an affair with a married man.”
Raine stared at me. “How foolish of me to think you might give me a compliment because we’re friends. And what in the world happened to you? You have a huge bump on your forehead.”
“I went caving this morning.”
Her mouth gaped open. “You’re still doing that crazy stuff? Why do you take that risk?”
Chuckling, I shook my head and looked around. “I like the thrill of it. Keeps my mind off of other things.”
Caving was something my therapist had suggested after my mother had passed away and I was dealing with all the anger and guilt. It was a way for me to push myself hard. A way to forget.
“Blake?” Raine asked, snapping her fingers in front of me.
Groaning, I shook my head. “Sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“No kidding. What is wrong with you, anyway? You haven’t been acting like your normal self. You haven’t made one sexually inappropriate comment about me or any woman we’ve seen walking in here. Are you sick?”
“Something like that.”
She paused and then looked up at me. “Holy crap, Blake Greene, have you met someone?”
“Not now, Raine.”
We walked around the ballroom, her arm hooked over mine as she smiled while people greeted us.
“How are you, Mr. and Mrs. Willfore? It’s so nice to see you,” Raine said with a fake grin. An older couple nodded their heads, and the gentleman smiled at me. He looked familiar.
Raine grabbed onto my arm tighter as we walked farther into the room.
“I’m not letting this go. You will spill the beans about who she is,” Raine said. “Okay, so my parents will ask how long we have been dating.”
“Three minutes?”
In a hushed voice, Raine said, “Ha-ha. Blake, please, I need you to play along. My mother has been riding my ass about settling down. She has threatened to take me out of her will if I don’t stop playing the field.”
“Raine, you honestly can’t tell your mother you are not seeing a man? Why can’t we be friends who went to college together? Maybe your boyfriend, Ryan, was busy this evening. Maybe he is at home, having make-up sex with his wife.”
She pinched me, and I laughed.
“If you do this for me, I will owe you. Besides, my folks know you. They’ve met you. It won’t be uncomfortable, and it will be more believable if I’m with you.”
“God, I hate playing games. This is just for tonight, right? I’m not going to have to show up for family dinners, am I?” I asked.
