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“Hey, Reese. What’s up?”
There was a heaviness in his voice, as if he was either tired or had the beginnings of a summer cold.
“You okay?”
He sighed. “Just tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He hesitated for a moment. “Nah. It’s not important. How about you?”
She gave him the rundown of the entire conversation, and when she got to Grady, Cam let out a long whistle.
“It is a good idea, and it makes sense. Plus, the guy does have the hots for you.”
Reese groaned. “I almost considered not telling you because I knew you’d start in on that again.”
“I can’t help it, but I think it’s the right way to go. And maybe you’ll realize that you actually like him back.”
“Would you stop already!”
“I want you to be happy,” Cam said, the tone of his voice growing more serious. “Grady seems like a legitimately nice guy, and I think you’ve got to give him a chance. And what better way to do that than to have a fake relationship? You can try him out, see if you like him. You never know, right? And if you don’t click with him, you end it with no hard feelings since there wasn’t a relationship in the first place.”
He was giving her a lot to think about. But even though he was convinced that Grady had a thing for her, Reese wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t about to let herself get mixed up in another dead-end relationship. She’d learned her lesson with Jordy, and right now what she needed most was a break from men, even the ones who appeared to be good guys.
“And you’re sure you’re okay?” she asked, pressing again. Something wasn’t right. She knew Cam better than anyone else in her life, and he sounded down.
“It’s nothing. I promise.”
“You’re not having problems with Devi, are you?”
“No! Everything is fine.”
She wasn’t convinced, but she knew she wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. She’d save her interrogation for another day.
* * *
Reese didn’t want to be pushy and barge over to Grady’s apartment, so instead she did a workout in her living room, then took a shower. She glanced over at her tablet and bit her lip. She hadn’t wanted to do it before, but now she discovered that she had newfound confidence and flipped open her tablet and checked out what people were saying about her on her own social media pages. She wasn’t brave enough to venture into the realm of the worldwide web just yet. Not that she thought her own social media pages were safe spaces.
She read through the comments she knew that Daria had been through. Daria had been keeping a close eye on everything, and if she saw anything questionable, it was reported or deleted. How Daria kept up with all this, Reese didn’t know. But as she scrolled through one comment after another, she saw something that stopped her dead. One person was asking about Reese’s relationship with Grady and another person suggested they check out theLowdownfor more info. Reese followed the link provided and was brought to the latest post on the blog.
She sipped her water as she read through it. Whoever was behind the blog seemed to know a lot. They’d figured out that Reese had gone up to Muskoka to the Radcliffes’ place based on the backdrop of the workout video. They knew that Reese and Grady lived next door to each other and that someone had seen them leaving the building together. The blog’s author was convinced that Reese and Grady were dating.
Reese sat back in her chair and pondered this. Could she use it somehow? She texted Daria a link to the blog and asked just that. Daria would take it to PR and ask their opinion, she knew that much. In the meantime, she wanted to talk to Grady. They had a lot to discuss.
ChapterTwenty
Reese spent the whole day thinking, and before she knew it, it was early evening. After making a boring salad for dinner, she thought about texting Grady. Would it suddenly be awkward? If she agreed to do this fake relationship with him, would their budding friendship be blown to pieces because they were now trying to pretend to be a couple? She couldn’t stop thinking about all this when her phone buzzed and nearly sent her off her chair in surprise.
How you doing today?
Did he know she was thinking about him?
I’m good. I know John talked to you. You sure you’re okay with this fake boyfriend/girlfriend thing?
Totally. But if you want, we can talk about it.
She took a minute to think about that, those feelings of awkwardness resurfacing again.
