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She smiled, her whole demeanor more relaxed now that the awkward truth was out of the way. “That’s exactly it,” she said. “You’re a great friend, Beck. But I don’t know how to convince Iola of that.”
“How about we just go out to dinner as friends?” I suggested. “We can tell Iola we went on a date, so her work is done. If it doesn’t work out, well, it just doesn’t, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we could try that. But what if it doesn’t work? What if she wants to keep setting us up on more dates, or with other people?”
“I don’t know. Dodge her for the rest of our lives?”
“Or keep pretend dating each other?” Anna said. “Get fake married?”
“Hey, it works for some people in this town,” I said with a grin. “But I don’t think it’ll come to that. I mean, we can always go into Witness Protection.”
We both busted up laughing just as Wes approached.
“Hey, man, what’s keeping… Oh. Anna. Hey.”
His tone wasn’t unfriendly, but it wasn’t Wes’s normal level of Golden Retriever warmth either.
“Hey, Wes! Beckett and I were just catching up.”
“Oh? What about?” Wes said, as if he didn’t know.
“Just planning our date,” she said with an impish smile. “You remember what those are, right, Wes? It’s where you actually take a woman to dinner instead of straight to your bed.”
“Hey, I know how to date,” he protested.
“I’ll have to see it to believe it,” she shot back.
I’d forgotten the animosity that had always come to the surface between these two.
“Actually, Wes is going to double-date with us,” I said before they could escalate into a full-on snarky war of words. Going on a fake date with Anna would be tough enough without the added tension. And if Wes was going to come along, and I knew he was determined to, I at least wanted everyone playing nicely.
“Really?” Anna sounded surprised. “Did Iola get to you too?”
He chuckled. “Nah, but I’m sure it would just be a matter of time. Might as well head her off at the pass, right? If she sees Beck and me are happily coupled up, she’ll back off.”
My heart skipped at his phrasing, but Anna didn’t seem to read any double meaning into it.
Because she doesn’t suspect the truth. This is good.
“So, who are you bringing on the date?” Anna said. “It better not be Janine.”
He barked a laugh. “No way I’m giving her any more ideas.” Wes and Janine had a brief fling while I was dating Anna, and there’d been a period where Janine was weirdly possessive and jealous and started fights with nearly any woman in his vicinity, even those entirely uninterested, like Anna, who was my girlfriend at the time and had never found Wes anything other than annoying. “I’m bringing Bobbi.”
“Bobbi.” Anna laughed. “Okay, well she’s fun, but there’s no way you’re really interested in her. I doubt even Iola will fall for that one.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Wes said. “Lots of friends become lovers, right? You never know when people’s relationship might change in unexpected ways.”
I held my breath as Anna looked from him to me. Then she shrugged. “Okay, whatever. Text me the details. I need to get going.”
“Yeah, us too. Thanks for playing along.”
She rolled her eyes. “As if Iola is giving any of us a choice. Pretty sure she’ll match up half the town, willing or not.”
I carried the bottled drinks to the line at the register, Wes on my heels. I sensed his heavy stare on the back of my neck. “See? It’s fine. It’s not a real date.”
He huffed. “That didn’t stop Hunter and Clark.”
I shot him a look. “Don’t turn into Janine. You hated how possessive and jealous she got.”
