Page 22 of Make it Real
“You mean make it easier for you to win.” I laughed at her unapologetic half-shrug. Not a trace of guilt from these women.
“Someone’s got to.”
“You look nice tonight, Callie.” Rita accepted her pieces for the game and lined them up in front of her. “Are you headed out?”
Gran’s eyes hit me like a hawk searching for a field mouse to devour. Her disappointment at hearing I wouldn’t be seeing Greg a second time had been hard to take, but I’d powered through knowing I had Jed up my sleeve. So to speak.
“I’m going out, yes.” I figured if I just blurted out I’d magically started dating someone in the last forty-eight hours, nobody would believe me. Not that they were the most discerning—none of them had figured out any of the guys they’d set me up with were less than stellar, for one. But leaning too hard into lovesickness too fast might raise suspicions, and I needed to keep them appeased.
“Who are you going out with?” Her question sounded casual enough, but the eagerness in her eyes said it all. The dud date with Greg hadn’t turned her off finding me a man. “Harper?”
“No.” I dragged out the word, playing it as cool as could be. Working them into a lather about Jed’s imminent arrival would surely result in some hearty embarrassment for everyone involved, and I didn’t need him bowing out of this agreement before we’d even had our first fake date. “Her cousin.”
“I like that June.” Linda shuffled the game cards, making a softsnicksound. “I’d have her redecorate my house if we were staying. Think she’d come to Sarasota to do the condo?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not June.” Speak of the handsome devil, a truck pulled up outside. Time to rip this bandage off. “I’m having dinner with her brother, Jed.”
That announcement threw the room into total silence. Linda froze, cards halfway slotted together. Carmen held a handful of pretzels poised over a bowl. Rita’s fingers paused over her game pieces she’d meticulously laid out. Granny was the only one who moved, but even that seemed stuck in slo-mo. Like the creep of a glacier, her eyebrows lifted, stunned surprise giving way to a curious smile.
Her shock made sense, I guess. I hadn’t been on a spontaneous, willing date since I’d come home from college. But her joy did me in, that spark of delight on a face that lately had held so much worry for me.Thatcemented my determination to sell this thing with Jed. She shouldn’t be spending her days stressing about my love life and how I’d manage on my own—she should be packing her things and deciding what to wear on the beach every day of the week.
“Jed? As in, a man?”
Okay, that was a little too incredulous. “Yes, a man, Granny. And I think he’s here, so all y’all need to act natural.”
As if they’d read the same grandma playbook, they blinked around at each other as though my plea were mildly offensive to their delicate sensibilities. Sure. We’d just see.
The doorbell rang, and I crossed the living room before any of them could get ideas. I’d planned to just let them have a quick peek to confirm Jed’s existence before high-tailing it out of there, but when I threw the door open, my brain went totally blank.
He wore a plain navy blue T-shirt and jeans with sneakers. Nothing fancy, and yet everything about him seemed different. I couldn’t pinpoint it. Maybe just because he stood on my porch, where he’d never been before, waiting to take me on a date, which we’d certainly never done before. His smile sure hadn’t changed, though. It sent a rush of tingles from my chest outward, zooming all the way down to my fingers and toes.
“Hi,” he said, totally unfazed by the collection of eyes fixed on him.
I swallowed hard, my mouth weirdly dry. I got it now. How Jed never wanted for company. Not that I’d ever questioned it, but seeing him standing there, grinning like he’d been waiting all day to see me—I could get used to this.
“Invite the man in, honey,” Gran called before I’d untied my tongue.
I lifted my eyebrows at him in silent warning. “Come on in.”
He stepped into the house, and suddenly, everyone jumped to their feet, cutthroat gaming forgotten in favor of crowding around the new guy. If this had been a genuine first date, I probably would have been mortified to have them so obviously eager on my behalf, but since it was all just for show—well, no. Still pretty mortifying.
“Jed, this is my grandma, Suzie Howell.”
He moved forward, hand outstretched. “Good to meet you, ma’am.”
“Ooh, ma’am, I like that,” Linda said behind us.
Ignoring that outburst and follow-up laughter from the others, Gran shook his hand. “Jed. I don’t think I recall Callie mentioning you before.”
He turned his mega-watt smile my way. “You never mentioned me? That hurts, Callie.”
I shot him a look for the faux reprimand. I didn’t need to be down even more points in the granny crew’s eyes already.
“I told you about June’s brothers.” I’d definitely mentioned him a time or two, even if everything I’d told her about Jed had been a big fat lie.
She furrowed her brow at me, wheels turning. “You said both those boys were married.” She looked him over, searching for evidence of a recent divorce—or worse, proof he was a cheater. Like he might have a tattoo somewhere declaringI cannot be trusted.
“Wade’s married. I must have got it confused when I first met them.”
