Page 101 of It's a Date (Again)

Nash puts a hand up. “Don’t get too excited for me. We’re just pretending to date for my mom’s sake. It’s my gift to her, except it’s fake, but she won’t know that. And she’ll have one holiday not worrying about how single I am or trying to set me up.”

“I bet you two end up together,” Debbie says. “Those pretend-dating plans always lead to marriage. That’s actually how I got my first husband. Turns out the reason he was so good at pretending to be my boyfriend was because he was a natural-born liar. But hopefully she’s not one of those.”

Debbie lets out a snicker, and we laugh with her.

“Yes, let’s hope that’s not the case,” Nash says. “I’ll be in the kitchen prepping your next course. Please enjoy the chicken noodle soup.” He nods and ducks out of the dining room.

“I always liked him,” Robbie says.

“Me too,” I say. “He’s one of the good ones.”

“You know who’s not?” Debbie squints. “That Tyler fella. He sent me an invoice for ‘fixing’ my sink.” She makes quotation fingers around the wordfixing.

Maya’s mouth drops open. “He didn’t!”

“He did.”

“Did you pay it?” I ask.

“Heck no. But I did send him an invoice for that sandwich I made him.” She smirks.

“I’d pay a hundred dollars for one of your sandwiches,” Robbie says.

“And that’s exactly what I billed him for.” She gives a firm nod.

“That’s my girl,” Hanks says.

Debbie smiles fondly at him. “Before we dive into our soups, let’s have a cheers,” she says, holding out her glass.

We do the same and look to her. “Cheers to making new memories,” she says.

“And not forgetting the old ones,” Maya quips, glancing at me with a teasing smile.

We laugh, clink our glasses together, and tip them back. My eyes shift to Robbie, and I smile as Hank’s words come back to me—the ones he said the night of my accident.

Follow your heart. It’ll never steer you wrong.

Robbie is proof of that.

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