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“That normally happens when you’re dating a guy,” he said slowly. “That’s what the Granville rumor mill says anyway. I have to rely on that sinceyouhave been avoiding my texts. Mom is baffled, but she says you seem happy. Toby is ecstatic, according to her, which is also weird as fuck, because the kid I left here a few weeks ago would not be ready to see his dad move on, and moving on with a man would surely throw him for a loop even with a fabulous set of uncles like me and Garrett. So, what gives?”
I chewed my lip. “You gotta keep this to yourself.”
“Of course.”
“We’ve been faking our relationship.”
Kevin leaned forward and flicked my forehead with his middle finger. “What. The. Fuck?”
“Ow. No need to resort to abuse.”
He snorted. “That remains to be seen.”
Thelma, the waitress on the floor today, arrived with two glasses of water. “All right, boys, what will it be? We’ve got meatloaf on special. Comes with mashed potatoes.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll take it.”
“I’ll take the veggie omelet, fruit on the side, and um…a slice of the apple pie to go, please.”
“Ooh, pie.” I looked down at my gut, which was reasonably in shape for thirty-eight but nowhere near the flatness of Kevin’s figure—or Clark’s, for that matter. “Nah, better skip it.”
“You only live once,” Thelma said, then added with a twinkle in her eye, “I don’t think you have much to worry about. You’ve already caught your man, to the great regret of a whole lot of single ladies.”
I chuckled weakly. “Guess so. Fine. I’ll take a piece of lemon meringue.”
“Good choice.”
As soon as she walked away, Kevin kicked my shin. I jumped. “Ow, again. Damn. I didn’t know you were so violent.”
“Start talking, Hunter. What’s going on with you and Clark? And just so you know, I don’t approve of stringing sweet gay men along in some sort of fucked-up game of pretend.”
My eyes widened. “Whoa, ease up. I’d never do that.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So you’re not playing pretend with a sweet gay guy for some benefit of your own?”
I grimaced. “You make it sound so bad.”
“Because I’m the voice of reason?”
“Yea—no.” I shook my head and leaned in, lowering my voice. “Listen, we both had reasons. It benefited both of us. I wasn’t misleading him, okay? I like Clark.” When he looked skeptical, I added, “I like him a lot, Kev, as in…I think I want to date him for real.”
That got Kevin’s attention. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious.” I wiped my hands, which were suddenly clammy, on my jeans. “I don’t know ifheis, though. He kinda bailed on me last time we were together.”
“Together. Doing…what?”
I flushed. “Um.”
“Just how far has this gone?”
“Just making out a little,” I said. “I told him I thought we could just do what felt right, and then he said he needed to think and took off.” I drummed my fingers on the table. “Did I fuck it up?”
Kevin shook his head. “Do I look like the gay psychic or something? I don’t know.”
“Come on, Kev,” I groaned. “I’m out of my depth.”
Our food arrived, making for a short diversion as we dove into our meals. The meatloaf was delicious, but then, I’d had no doubt. The best thing about the diner was that it was run by a grandma, and her food was pure comfort. It was Toby’s favorite place to come on the weekends—other than his grandma’s house.
