“For the record,” he says, “you’d be plenty smart enough for anyone, and grumpy people are better to have around than optimists. Optimists don’t have a lot of patience for reality.”
I nudge him with my shoulder. “Says the man who’s agreed to be in a secret fake relationship with his stepsister.”
His smile catches me off-guard. It’s wider than usual, and his face lights up, all of his features getting in on the action. “You make it sound deviant.”
“Maybe it is,” I say. “You know, I thought about telling him the truth, but he came at me like?—”
“He was being an asshole. If he follows up, wewillgo.”
“I hate double dates.”
“So do I. Which is why I resent him for backing us into it. But if this is what you need to get to keep this place, then yeah, I guess we have to do it.”
“You know, you’re a pretty good secret fake boyfriend. You’ve been killing it today.” I don’t intend to do it, but I feel my fingers skating up to the corner of my mouth, as if his lips left an imprint.
He bows, the top of his curly head brushing slightly against my face. I have an insane urge to run my hand over his hair, but I preserve the illusion of my sanity and keep my arms by my sides.
When he looks up, he’s grinning at me. “Thank you. But my swagger has not improved. I told your cousin her hair looks like a round loaf of bread, and five minutes later, she came out of the bathroom with a new hairdo. So we probably have that to smooth over. Should we head back inside? I’ve got to set up with the band.”
“Shit. Are we holding up the reception?”
His lips twitch upward. “The lady I’m not allowed to call little and old is reading tea leaves. I heard her telling someone yours were very interesting.”
“I didn’t drink any tea.”
“Not to worry. Sounds like she drank it for you.”
“Let’s use the back door. This one locks from the outside.”
He nods and leads the way around the building.
I walk with him, his long strides quickly eating up the sidewalk pavement as we circle the building. He enters through the back door, and I have to catch it before it slams me in the face.
“I’ll give you this bit of dating advice as a free bonus,” I say as I follow him inside. “Hold the door for people.”
“Really?” he asks, turning around. There’s a studious look on his face, as if I’ve suddenly transformed into his romance professor. “Isn’t it more of a hassle? I always feel like I’m supposed to run when someone holds one for me, and it becomes this awkward dance when there’s more than one door in a row. One person holds it for the other, who has to hold thenext door open for them, and so on. It seems like it would be easier for everyone to just open doors for themselves if they can.”
I laugh, because honestly, he’s not wrong. “I get that. Still…people think it’s polite.”
“So it’s a way of acting polite without actuallybeingpolite.”
“Something like that. But if you want to get into a woman’s pants, you should probably still open doors for her.”
He shakes his head ruefully. “My mother might have taught me manners, but she had no interest in helping me get into women’s pants. This is useful. A bonus for my fake boyfriending.”
“Are you humoring me?”
The dubious look he gives me makes me laugh. “That’s for you to decide.”
CHAPTER FIVE
CORMAC
“There you are,” Liam says, striding toward us seconds after we reenter the tasting room. He’s a huge redheaded guy—as tall as I am and about twice as broad—so he reaches us quickly. “The guys in the band have been shitting a brick looking for you. Dottie stopped the tea leaves thing a while back, and your dad’s worried about being off schedule.”
Liam used to be in Garbage Fire, but he dropped out after taking a job as the head brewer of Silver Star Brewery. He doesn’t seem to regret that decision, given that he’s dating Nora’s friend Briar, who owns the place.
“Oh, crap.” I turn toward Nora. “I’ve got to go. We’ll talk later about Cookie.”And the double date from hell. But I don’t want to mention that in front of Liam. Odds are, he wouldn’t care or question me. Still, she wanted to keep it secret, and so do I. When my dad told me to be nice to Nora, I’m reasonably certain he wasn’t telling me to date her.
