Page 26 of Strictly Pretend

“Brooks Salinger made me an offer,” I tell her, because I have to talk to somebody about this. I can’t tell Granddad, obviously. And I don’t want to tell Mia either. She’s too close to the situation. And if I decide to go through with it and pretend that Brooks and I are together…

No, I’m not going to do that. I don’t know why I’m even considering it.

“What kind of offer?” Rita asks, pulling the pins from her mouth and sticking them into a pin cushion shaped like a man. I saw her ex-husband once and there’s a striking familiarity there. “Like a swimming with the fish offer?” she asks, leaning forward, her voice hushed. “A horse’s head in the bed kind of offer?”

“No.” I wrinkle my nose. “He’s not trying to kill me.” Or at least I don’t think he is.

“Then what?”

“He’s found a new building for us all. On the other side of town.”

“He has? What kind of building?” Her face lights up, and I send up a prayer to the god of leases that she wasn’t around when Brooks showed up today. She would have snapped the offer up.

“That doesn’t matter. We’re not moving.” I wave my hand. “But he wants me to see it.”

“Can I come?”

I sigh. She’s not getting with the program here. “But he’s thrown in a caveat,” I tell her. And then I unleash the whole sorry story. From Will’s white ass thrusting in the bathroom at Mia’s wedding to Brooks’ offer of being my date at Cassie’s wedding.

She listens carefully, her brows pulled together in concentration. Only twice does she stop me to ask questions.

“He paid for your room? That’s so sweet.”

I blink, because yeah, itwassweet. To distract myself from that memory I tell her about him threatening to tell Granddad.

“He’s blackmailing you? What an asshole.”

That’s more like it. “I don’t know what to do,” I tell her. “If I do this, he’ll go away. He’s promised.”

“Do you trust him to keep his promise?” Rita asks.

The stupid thing is, I do. Because as much as I’m trying to separate the two men in my mind, Brooks Salinger is in fact one person. The same person who took care of me when I was barefoot with a malfunctioning dress and nowhere to sleep is now trying to negotiate with me.

“I think so.”

“Then I don’t see why you wouldn’t do this,” she says. “It’s a win for you. You get to stick it to your ex…” She shakes her head, looking at her pin cushion. “What I wouldn’t give to do that. And anyway, you’ve only agreed to look at the new units, not sign a lease, though I’m interested in seeing what it looks like. If it has good storage it’s one up on this place.”

“It feels… grubby,” I say.

“Then take some shower gel with you.”

I laugh. “And Will will probably see right through it, anyway. How the hell is he going to believe Brooks and I are an item when I’m shooting daggers at him every time our eyes meet?”

“Brooks,” she says. “You called him Brooks. Not Mr. Salinger. Not his full name. You’re sweet on him.”

“Oh, I’m so not.” I widen my eyes to get across hownotinto Brooks Salinger I am. “I hate him.” It almost sounds convincing.

“Sure you do,” she says, the grin still on her face. “You should think about taking his offer. You have nothing to lose.”

“Except my dignity,” I say, my voice low. But when it comes to Brooks Salinger I have a feeling I lost that a long, long time ago.

BROOKS

My brother opens his front door and lifts an eyebrow. “Well, this is a surprise,” Linc says. “A voluntary visit from the disappearing brother. Have you come over to help me with bath time?”

He steps aside to let me in, and I follow him through the brightly painted hallway with walls that are plastered with photographs of his family. There’s a basket full of clean laundry by the stairs and discarded shoes are scattered everywhere across the floor. Abigail is crawling toward the stairs and Linc scoops her up and passes her into my arms. “If you’re here, you can be helpful,” he says. “You can feed Abby while I sort out the laundry.”

If you’d met my brother before he got together with his wife you would never have believed he was the same man. He was all designer suits and smooth talk. Most of his career was spenton an airplane, flying from country to country, keeping clients happy by schmoozing them with dinner and evenings out.

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