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“All of them if they’ve been drinking,” she said, smiling back. She appreciated that Liam was trying to distract her from her absurd habit of torturing herself by watching Sullivan hit on other women.
He laughed. “I’ll take it. Anyway, listen. This plan starts with you telling Sullivan you cannot babysit Finn whenever he asks. That sometimes you need to say no because you have a social life, you have plans. Dates.”
She looked at Liam, already uncomfortable. She loved Finn and spent a lot of time with him. Sullivan was a single dad and that was challenging. “That seems harsh. He counts on me.”
“You can’t make it easy for him by always being available, Lilly. It’s not like he’s working three jobs to pay the rent and needs your help. He’s taking advantage of you to watch his son to see other women. That’s messed up.”
Lilly groaned. “You’re right.” He was right. She knew he was right. Sullivan did do that. “But I don’t have a social life or dates.”
“This is the good part. You tell him you do. With someone that will get his attention. That will make him think.”
She tried to follow the logic. He was suggesting someone who might make Sullivan jealous. Someone Sullivan wouldnotwant to see her with. His best friends were all in relationships. His cousin wasn’t though. “Who, like Torin?” She glanced over at the other bartender. He was inked up like Liam was and while known for an active social life, was also known for being a serious grump.
At the moment, Torin looked like he was arguing with Sullivan, who was waving his hands back.
One grump in her life was plenty. She was already dealing with Sullivan’s surliness on a regular basis. She turned back to Liam.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Torin would never agree to keep a secret. He also wouldn’t agree not to actually pursue you. Which isn’t the point.”
“Then who would this person be?” She lifted her glass and took a sip.
“I was thinking me.”
Lilly choked on her beer.
As the liquid caught in her throat and went up her nose, she tried to process what the hell Liam had just said. Fake date Sullivan’s dad? Oh my God, the idea was insane and ridiculous and… brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant.
If that didn’t get Sullivan’s attention, then nothing ever would. End of story.
Liam patted her on the back. “Are you okay?”
He handed her a napkin as she nodded, trying to catch her breath.
“Did you forget how to swallow?” Sullivan asked, moving down the bar past her. “You should do it more often.” He gave her a smirky best friend grin.
She wiped her mouth with the napkin and glared back at him. Sometimes he could be a real dick. Once he was out of earshot she crumpled the napkin and dropped it on the bartop, saving it to throw at Sullivan later.
“How would that work exactly?” she asked Liam, her throat tight.
“We would tell him we’re dating. We’d have to go to dinner, be seen around town together. It would all be platonic, hands off. No fake kissing in public or anything like that because the goal is to get you together with Sullivan. We don’t want to blur any lines or make it weird.”
She was pretty sure it was going to be weird, no matter what. “I wouldn’t even know how to fake kiss.” What did that even mean? Kissing like actors did, with choreography? Or leaning in really, really close but not actually touching?
Yep. Already weird.
“Won’t this interfere with your social life?” she asked. Liam, unlike her, seemed to casually date on a regular basis in the last year or two.
“Nah. I didn’t date for fifteen years, what am I going to miss out on for a few weeks?”
“Potentially the love of your life. You never know when you’ll meet someone.” She did believe that. All of her guy friends had experienced twists of fate like that in recent years. They were just cruising along, being single, and then bam, relationship. She didn’t want to be the reason Liam missed out on something fantastic.
But Liam’s eyebrows rose. “The love of my life? In case you hadn’t noticed, my life is more than half over. If she hasn’t shown up yet, I’m not holding my breath.”
“Then why do you date?” That was the point of dating in her opinion. To find a partner.
He laughed. “Because I’m bored and sometimes lonely. Because I have free time now after busting my ass my whole life. Because I want to have sex and someone to hang out with on occasion who doesn’t call me dad or grandpa. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Huh. Interesting take on dating that she was completely incapable of achieving herself. He was basically describing a friends-with-benefits situation and she knew she could never do that. She attached, plain and simple. She wanted a relationship, a marriage. “That seems a lot healthier than what I’m doing.”
