Page 108 of Fauxmance

"She's good," I said.

"Glad to hear you and my grandma had a good time. What'd you two do at tea?"

"Drink Earl Grey and talk about you mostly."

His grin grew. "Sounds scintillating."

"It was."

"I'm always an interesting topic of conversation."

I still couldn't believe he was standing in front of me. "Am I dreaming right now?"

"Hmm, good question," he said. "Do you want someone to pinch you to make sure?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm good. I think."

Isabel pinched me anyway, and I yelped.

"Hey, I said I was good!"

She shrugged. "Just trying to help."

Sure she was.

"Now that that's cleared up, I have another question," Hayden said. "And it's important. If you were dreaming, would I be wearing so many clothes?"

I choked on nothing, and Isabel full-on cackled.

"What an interesting reaction," he said. "We'll have to discuss this more later."

"We absolutely willnot," I said.

Hayden's eyes were bright with laughter as he watched me regain my cool.

"Ah, Magnolia, you're no fun," Izzy said then shifted her eyes to my fake boyfriend. "Nice one, Hayden."

"Thanks, Iz. I try."

"Your sense of humor almost matches the high-quality shine in your boy-band-esque hair."

Hayden chuckled. "Not sure if that's a compliment."

"Oh, it is."

"Then thank you."

The two did some kind of weird fist bump, and I raised my brows.

"So, you guys served all the spooners and became friends," I said with a nod. "Nice. Maybe I should be late more often."

"Would've been even better if you were here," Hayden said.

"Yeah," Isabel added. "Plus, you know how the saying goes. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Joan's almost thrown them out twice."

"Them?"

As if in answer, three more bodies came stumbling out of the kitchen, and Joan was wielding her ladle at them like a sword.

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