Page 44 of Maybe We Can Fake It

I subtly check my phone for the time, wishing May were here. But unfortunately, she’s back at school today, meaning it’s up to me to entertain her grandparents on my own. I tried to convince her to take a few more days off, ready to write her a note feigning illness, but my little smartypants wasn’t having it.

My excuse of having to work only gets me so far when Elise and Grant insist on coming here to have lunch with me.

Thankfully Addison appears before Elise can find something else to criticize, strolling out of the kitchen with three plates of food balanced on her arms. She could’ve sent out a server, but I know she’s trying to make the best possible impression on these two for my sake. Even through her own panicked state over everything going on, she’s already noticed how tense having them here makes me.

This morning when I lamented to her about how I’d have to take a break to eat with them, she actually stepped away from her food prep long enough to awkwardly give me a few pats on the back. So I think I’m wearing her down on the friendship front. Me being a mess has seemed to make her like me more. I’ll take it as a win, I guess.

“This all looks wonderful,” Elise says, taking in the fancy lunches Addison whipped up for us. I revel in the praise, even if it’s more a compliment for my chef than for me.

Already digging into his food the moment Addison leaves the table, Grant asks, “Will we be seeing Travis again tonight?”

“Yes, you told him he needs to come for game and movie night, didn’t you?” Elise says.

“He’ll be there. He’s looking forward to it.”

That last part is a big fat lie, but he did promise to get coverage for the diner’s dinner shift so he could make it.

Honestly, I didn’t expect us to have to do so much to keep up this ruse. I expected that Elise and Grant would want to spend most of their visit alone with May. And with me too, I guess,since May and I are basically a package deal. I thought Travis would only need to pop in for a couple guest appearances. But they seem determined to get to know him and treat him as part of the family. Not that I’d actually call this weird thing the four of us have a family.

We eat in silence for a bit until Grant asks me, “So that event you had here went well?”

“Oh yeah,” I tell him, spearing a baby carrot with my fork. Normally, I hate carrots, but Addison put some kind of glaze on these that made them deliciously sweet. If only all vegetables could come sweetened.

Grant watches me a few seconds, and when I don’t elaborate, he says, “That’s good. Would you like us to move into a room here now that it’s over? We don’t want to keep putting you out.”

“Yes, we’re sorry. We didn’t realize we were coming at such a bad time,” Elise adds. “But I am glad we’ll be here to see this spring festival May’s been telling me about.”

It occurs to me now that they haven’t given me an end date for their stay. It makes sense that they’d want to stay for the festival, but I assume they’ll be leaving right after. They never like to slum it here for more than a week.

Unfortunately, because of the festival coming up, the inn is still booked solid this week. I mean, that’s not unfortunate for the inn. Only for my mental state, since I can’t move them here.

When I tell them as much, I make sure to hide my feelings about the situation.

Elise apologizes again, while also assuring me they’re happy to stay at my house. “And we’ll find things to do on our own,” she adds. “We won’t keep bothering you at work.”

I’m not sure if she’s intentionally using reverse psychology on me, but her implying that they’re bothering me actually makes me feel bad, so I wind up saying, “Oh no, you’re not botheringme. I can always make time to have lunch with you. I’m the boss, after all.”

Elise looks happy, while I try not to cringe at my own words. This weekend can’t come fast enough. I’m not going to let them ruin my fun at the festival with May. And then after it, they’ll be gone, and my life can go back to normal. No more faking, no more sleepovers with Travis.

As I chew another carrot, the sweet taste turns almost bitter in my mouth. For a second, the thought of going back to my normal friendship with Travis disappoints me.

Only for a second, though.

Mayistoogoodat board games. When she was a kid, I used to let her win. She was around eight when I realized I was no longerlettingher win—she was just beating me at everything. You might say most board games are primarily about luck, but I don’t know. It seems like she finds a way to outsmart me every time.

After winning two games of Clue, she asks if anyone wants to play Scrabble. Thankfully, Grant is happy to take her up on it so the rest of us can bow out. She really makes me look like a dummy when she kicks my ass at that one. I should stop letting her read so much.

Elise stays to watch, but Travis and I sneak off to the kitchen to take care of the cookies we’re baking for the movie later. Well. The cookiesTravisis baking. From scratch.

I might not cook, but May and I are big fans of sweets, so I do know how to pop some pre-packaged cookie dough in the oven. I even remembered to stop at the store to buy it. But when Travissaw, he scoffed and ran out to get ingredients to make his own cookies.

Show off.

I watch him as he takes the bowl of dough he mixed out of the refrigerator and finds the cookie sheet in the right cabinet on his first try. He looks particularly good today. His jeans seem tighter than usual. Or maybe they’re not. Maybe now that I’ve let myself acknowledge how hot he is, my eyes are just more drawn to his ass.

God, the things I could do to that ass if he’d let me.

No.

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