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Devon shook her head. “I’m not really dating Cole.”
“But...you just told your mother that you were. How long do you think it’s going to take before that gets around?”
“After her objections, do you really think she’d start spouting it to everyone on Main Street?”
“No, but I can see her cornering Cole and telling him to stay away from you because you’re destined to be the wife of a future governor or something.”
The sinking feeling in Devon’s stomach was almost audible.
“And how in the world did she get this idea in the first place?” Mandy asked.
Trying to quell the feeling that she’d just taken a nosedive into quicksand, Devon recounted what had happened the previous evening at the meeting and then out at the Davis ranch.
“Dang,” Mandy said when she was finished, sounding disappointed.
“What’s that mean?”
“I was hoping maybe you were actually sneaking around with Cole. That dude is hotter than a grill on the Fourth of July.”
Devon couldn’t disagree, but she shook her head at the idea of them dating. “And us actually being a couple is about as likely as igloos being built next to that grill.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Mandy—”
“Don’t Mandy me. You’re smart, successful, fun, beautiful.”
“I appreciate the best-friend pep talk, but it doesn’t help me out of this mess I’ve obviously made.”
I’ll play fake date when you need to get your mom off your case.
Cole’s words echoed in her head. Had he really meant it, or was he just joking around? Would he maybe agree to fake it for just long enough for her mom to get wrapped up in some project that would give Devon some peace for a while? Could she fake it without letting him know that she really did find him incredibly attractive?
But her mother’s insistence that she knew what was best for Devon ate at her, driving her toward doing something she’d normally never do. As a rule, she despised lying, but nothing she said or did ever seemed to make a dent in her mother’s determination to run Devon’s life for her.
“What’s that expression?” Mandy asked. “It feels like I’m watching a plan come together.”
“I need to make a phone call.” Before she could chicken out, Devon grabbed her cell from her purse and hurried to the storeroom, ignoring Mandy’s parade of questions.
Once she stepped behind the curtain that hid the storage room from the rest of the store, her hands shook so much that she nearly dropped her phone. What she was considering was a totally crazy idea, right? She was sure to say or do something to give herself away. How could she possibly hide the fact that, yes, Cole Davis was indeed as hot as a grill on the Fourth of July? If that grill was on the face of the sun.
But was faking it a little while any worse than allowing her mother to know that she’d lied to her about Cole? She leaned back against the wall and brought her palm to her forehead. Why couldn’t she have been like most kids who grew up with overbearing parents and moved far, far away once she was old enough? Why did she have to love Blue Falls and its people? Want to make her life here? Could fake-dating Cole for a while finally get her mother to stop meddling in her life?
Only one way to find out. She took a deep breath and started to dial Cole’s number, only to realize she didn’t have it. She could have taken that as a sign that her plan was a really bad idea. Instead, she remembered the list of trail participants she’d gotten the night before and how Gina had showed them how all the contact information for the artists and craftsmen was on a dedicated page of the Tourist Bureau’s website. One quick search later, and she was looking at Cole’s number.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she called Cole and almost hoped he wouldn’t answer. Instead, he picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?” Cole said a second time, with that decrease in friendliness that said he thought perhaps it was a telemarketer on her end of the call.
“Oh, hey. It’s Devon Newberry.”
“Hey. What can I do for you?”
“Um, well, you remember how you said you’d...that you might be willing to go out on a fake date to help me out with my mom? Yeah, how serious were you about that?”
The hesitation on the other end of the call made Devon’s stomach churn. Oh God, she’d made a horrible mistake, just as her mother had predicted.
No, she couldn’t let her mom be right.
“I might be convinced to hang out if there was some pizza involved.”
Devon couldn’t help the relieved laugh that escaped her. “Buddy, I will buy you whatever kind and however many pizzas you want.”
Chapter Four (#ulink_dd5cdf26-ebb9-5d8f-9fa2-058f195acd28)
Cole stood in front of his closet, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. This wasn’t a real date, so no need to dress like it was. But to help Devon out with her mom, he needed to expend at least a little thought on what to wear so he didn’t look like he’d arrived straight from working in the barn all day.
“Wear the blue one.”
He looked toward his bedroom door to see his mom pointing toward his open closet.
“Don’t get any ideas,” he said. “We’re just doing this so Angela will lay off Devon for a while.”
“Hate to tell you, but I doubt Angela will stop trying to foist some fancy suit-wearing guy on Devon, even if you two convince her that you’re really a couple. And if you’re convincing enough, who’s to say it might not become real?”
Again, why had he agreed to this? He needed Devon to fulfill her end of the bargain as well by telling his mom their “dating” was totally fake, that he truly had no interest in getting serious with anyone ever again. In hindsight, he realized he hadn’t thought his offer through before opening his mouth. His deal with Devon would have worked better in a sizable city where they didn’t know everyone in town and gossip hadn’t been perfected to an art form.
He wore a green shirt, instead. One a couple of years old but still presentable. As best he could guess, it walked the line between not feeding the hopes his mom had of marrying him off again while also not embarrassing Devon.
And he was giving a damn shirt way too much thought.
After he finished dressing, he headed for the front door. His mom was sitting in the living room working on her latest quilt. When she looked up, she just shook her head. She didn’t need to say what she was thinking—that he was being deliberately stubborn.
Reining in a grin, he walked over and dropped a kiss atop her head.
“Be back in a while,” he said.
“Take your time.”
He had too many things to do to spend too much time on this fake date. He suspected Devon did as well and probably resented having to spend the time and tell the lie her mother had forced her into. Despite his mom’s tendency to try to fix him up, he realized he’d gotten darn lucky in the mom lottery. If he’d had a mother like Angela, he doubted he would have ever come back home. It made him wonder why Devon had stuck around Blue Falls. She could have started her business and had her farm in a million different places, and yet she’d stayed.
If he thought about it, maybe his leaving a family with whom he got along well made about as much sense.
When he reached Gia’s Pizza in town, he spotted Devon sitting in a booth toward the back working on a tablet computer as she sipped on what looked like a glass of water. Should he have picked her up? Meeting here seemed more like friends getting together, which of course was more accurate even though he wasn’t sure they were technically friends yet.
But if tonight was supposed to help convince her mother that they were dating, he should have picked her up, opened the door for her. Too late now. He’d just be sure to pay the check.
She looked up as he approached and smiled a little, almost as if she was uncomfortable. Before he had a chance to say anything, she spoke.
“Sorry about this,” she said as she slid the tablet to the side.
“About what?”
“Pulling you into this mess.”
He waved off her concern. “Don’t worry about it. Doesn’t take a lot of arm-twisting to get me to come eat some pizza.”
She sat back against her side of the booth. “Figured you were more of a classic meat-and-potatoes kind of guy.”
“Wouldn’t argue with that either, but you get used to eating what’s fast on the road. Burgers, fries, pizza.”
“Heart attack waiting to happen.”
“I think my mom agrees with you. I’ve noticed a lot of vegetables on my plate since I moved home.”
“So you’re King of the Green Bean now?”
“Among other things. Let’s just say this will be a treat.”
Devon lowered her gaze just as their teenage waitress slid menus in front of them.
“What kind of pizza do you like?” he asked Devon.
“Pretty much anything. I’d say no to anchovies, but no need since I’m almost certain an anchovy has never crossed the city limits of Blue Falls.”
“I’d say that’s a safe bet.”
When she insisted that she truly didn’t care what kind of pizza they got, he went for a classic pepperoni.
When the waitress left, he leaned his forearms on the table. “So what did your mom do that prompted the quick call?”
“Showed up at my shop to chastise me for being rude to her and Steven.”
“Pot, meet kettle.”
“Exactly,” she said as if relieved she’d finally found someone who understood where she was coming from.
“Has she always been on your case like this?”
Devon laced her fingers together atop the table, and for a moment he thought she might not answer.
“Unfortunately, yes. Not always about whom I should date, but there was always something.”
He realized this was a bit of a heavy conversation for a first date, even if it was all an act. Still, it didn’t seem forced at all.
“Why did you stay here?”
“In Blue Falls?”
He nodded.
“I’ve asked myself that I don’t know how many times, but the short answer is that I love it here, always have, and I hated the idea of leaving my friends.”
He thought she must really like the town and her friends to put up with her mother trying to run her life, but he didn’t say it.
“I always thought you’d go off to a big city somewhere and do something like cure cancer or become a bestselling writer.”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“What would make you think I’d do either of those things?”
“You were so good at school, in every subject. Blowing the curves for everyone.”
When Devon lowered her gaze to the tabletop, he realized how that must have sounded.
“Which wasn’t your fault. The rest of us just should have studied more.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind that I was a bookworm. I still am. Being a nerd is cool now, don’t you know?”
She said the words, but he wasn’t sure there wasn’t some hurt there anyway.
“Did your mom make you study a lot?”
“She expected good grades, but...let’s just say that kids who aren’t popular often retreat into books. It’s our happy place.”
It was a strange thought, her being unpopular while also being probably the wealthiest kid at their school. He guessed it shouldn’t be so surprising. Some of the happiest people he’d ever met probably hadn’t had ten bucks in their pocket. Still, the faded memories of her from high school—shy, withdrawn, bookish—made him wonder if she’d been unhappy. If books were her happy place, did that mean the real world was the opposite?
“I’m sorry if I was ever a jerk to you in school.”
She looked up at him and shook her head. “You weren’t. Can’t say the same for your girlfriend, though.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Devon’s eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise, as if she hadn’t intended to voice her thoughts out loud.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That was rude.”
“Not at all. In fact, I agree with you. I was just too stupid to realize it until about a year into our marriage. I stuck it out another year, hoping in vain I hadn’t been so wrong about her.”
“What happened?”
“You mean besides the fact that once we left high school and she was no longer the center of attention, she couldn’t handle it and blamed me?”
“Oh, ouch.”
He shrugged. “We were young and dumb.”
