Page 2 of Make it Real
“That came out wrong!” Her brow tugged together, her mouth twisted up in horror. She pulled a few napkins out of the dispenser on the table and thrust them my way. “I’ve been practicing how to say this all morning and then I go and lead like that. Ugh! Obviously, I meant to say I had a proposition for you, but it got all garbled in my mind and I said the wrong thing and now you’re all—”
She waved the napkins at me as though coffee had shot out of my nose like a Las Vegas fountain show. Should probably count myself lucky there.
I took the napkins and dabbed at my face, but my composure for this mystery meeting had exploded in a cloud of Americano.
She smiled weakly. “I’m sorry. Maybe I should have practiced more.”
“I’m fine.” I cleared my throat one more time. “What have you been practicing to say all morning?”
Like that didn’t pile on more dread. Maybe not as much as the wordproposition, but close enough.
She laid her palms flat on the table, glancing once around the café before her eyes fell back on me. After a beat, she leaned forward like we were telling secrets, her deep brown eyes brimming with a touch of embarrassment and a whole heap of excitement.
“I was wondering if you’d pretend to be my boyfriend for a while.”
I froze.
Her mouth pulled into an exaggerated smile, her eyebrows lifted comically. Couldn’t tell if this was a show of nerves or an attempt at a joke. Both, maybe?
“So, youdowant to proposition me?”
She rolled her eyes as thoughIwere the one not making sense. “Forget I said that. I don’t want to date you.”
Huh. Starting off strong. “I’m getting real mixed signals here.”
“Okay, I know. I should explain. See, I live with my granny, it’s just the two of us.”
I’d heard something about that through my sister, that Callie’s dad was long gone and her mom had passed away when Callie was in high school, but I didn’t know anything more. I hadn’t thought we’d really reached thepersonal confidencesstage, but apparently, we were zooming ahead.
“She has three best friends, they’ve known each other forever. They’re like bonus grandmas for me, which is actually really awesome until their affection goes completely off the rails and they overdo it and everything turns into death by meddling.” She took a breath and flashed another awkward smile. “Sorry. Babbling. Anyway, they’ve been talking about moving to Florida to live that Golden Girls life for years. They’re finally ready to do it, they have a condo picked out in Sarasota and everything, but now, my granny’s not sure she can leave me on my own. She thinks…”
Callie cringed, a tiny furrow forming between her eyebrows. “She thinks I need a man to take care of me.”
I guess that justified the cringe. “How very 1950s of her.”
Not that my pop was so different. He’d been dropping similar hints as subtle as a kick to the back since I’d first come home from the Army almost three years ago. He didn’t approve of my social life, and made his hopes for me settling down known at every turn. He had no notion I’d long ago ruled out settling down. I wasn’t meant for that life.
“Yeah, it’s not the most modern view. She and her friends keep setting me up on these awful blind dates, but since none of them are leading to second dates, Gran’s not sure she can move to Florida after all.”
Seemed a lot to put on Callie’s love life. “And you want her to move to Florida.”
“Of course I do. She deserves it, after everything we went through with my mom, and how she stepped up to help me through high school and college.” She ticked her head to the side, her mouth curling down. “I mean, it’s not all about me being generous. When Gran moves, I can do whatever I want with the house.”
“You want to decorate it?”
“I want to sell it. But now, she’s acting like she won’t go if I’m not satisfactorily entangled with a man.”
Didn’t sound like the greatest situation, but it had an easier solution than…whatever she was proposing. Propositioning.
“Just tell her you’re fine on your own.”
Tucking that stray hair behind her ear again, she shot me a look like she wanted to thump me on the head.
“Obviously, I’ve tried talking to her about this, but she won’t listen. She’s convinced it’d be the best thing for me. Mostly, it’s just been annoying, but now, it could ruin everything. Last weekend, I heard her telling her friends she might have to back out of their Florida plans entirely because she feels so guilty about leaving me alone. So I thought, what if I wasn’t alone?”
Ah. Thus, the proposition. I finally caught onto her scheme, however convoluted, and the dread from earlier worked its way higher up my chest. “That’s where I come in.”
“Exactly. If she thought I had a boyfriend, maybe that would be enough to convince her to go spend her golden years on the beach with her buddies.”
