Bliss’s phone rings. She looks at the name on the screen. “It’s my mom. She never calls me in the middle of the day. I’d better take this.”
She taps the screen and answers the call. “Mom, is everything okay?”
I can’t hear what she’s saying because there’s an unintelligible jumble.
But Bliss relaxes back against the pickup seat.
“Mom, calm down,” she says tiredly. “Yes. Yes, I am. No, I didn’t. I am. Yep.”
I’d pay a lot of money to know what her mom is saying because Bliss has rolled her eyes twice now.
“He’s sitting right next to me. No, you can’t talk to him. Okay. Yes, yes, I will. Okay. Love you too. Bye.”
She hangs up the phone and stares at it for a moment. “Well, cat’s out of the bag now.”
“What did she say?”
“A lot of things.” Bliss looks at me with wide eyes. “She wanted me to invite you to dinner sometime this week. She wanted to know if I was ever going to tell her that I was dating you. And she also wanted me to know I made her the happiest mom in the world and to not mess this up.”
I grin in the face of her distress. “Isn’t that nice?”
She glares at me. “She could have acted slightly concerned about me and who I was dating. Instead, she acted like you were the answer to all her prayers.”
“I can see how I would be,” I reply with a smile, knowing Bliss will get mad.
“Zane, I hope you realize you need this marriage more than I do …”
My grin drops fast, and I narrow my eyes at her.
She continues unhurriedly, “You have to be nice to me. Or else.”
I slide an arm along the back of the seats. “How nice exactly?” I ask in a low, quiet voice as I rest a hand on her shoulder.
“Not that nice!” she squeaks and turns around to swat at my hand.
I laugh as she levels me with a glare.
“Watch yourself, Madden.”
I hold up my hands in an innocent gesture. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was so much fun to tease you. I would have started a long time ago.”
Her scowl slowly creeps into a smile. “Just know that makes you fair game too.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think you’re supposed to tease your boyfriend. I think you’re supposed to be infatuated with him.”
She attempts to scooch away, then glances up at me from beneath her lashes. “You mean like this?” She bats those eyelashes at me and gives me a demure look.
“Stop making it weird.” I laugh.
She makes a silly face and then points out the window. “Are we actually going to eat lunch or just sit here and fog up your dirty pickup?”
“I think a foggy pickup would help the rumor mill better.”
She snorts. “Probably. But I’m hungry.”
“All right. Let’s go eat lunch.”
We are not prepared for the amount of interest there is in the two of us walking into the Pine Ridge Market together. All thanks to Dad running around and practically heralding the factthat we’re dating now. Maybe we won’t have to fake date for long after all.
