“Would you listen to her?” Cash heaved a sigh and looked over at my grandmother for support. “Always so serious. It’s all work, all the time with that one. All work and no play. I’ve been trying to help her loosen up for the past two years. What are we going to do with her?”
“Cash has a point, Willow. Don’t make the same mistake I did. I admire your newfound drive, but don’t let it cause you any stress. No amount of success is worth the consequences.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This whole day was a setup to make her think I was more like her. And now she was telling meshewanted me to be more like me? Only I didn’t know how much ofmeshe could handle before she’d think I’d gone too far.
“Try to be a little more of a free spirit, sweetie,” Cash said. “I know you’ve got it in you.” He winked at me. I waited until Grandmother wasn’t looking and stuck my tongue out at him. Real mature, I know. But it felt good.
Grandmother pushed her chair away from the table and stood. “This has been a wonderful meal, but I should be going now. I have no doubt you’ll be the best food trucker Texas has ever seen, Cash.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Are you leaving so soon?” He sounded genuinely disappointed, but I had to admit, I was more than a little relieved. It had been a nice meal, but I’d had about as much conversation as I could stand.
“Yes, I have some business to attend to this afternoon. But I’ll see you both soon.”
Cash and I walked her to the door while Moose snored beneath the dinner table. There was a flash of awkwardness as I tried to figure out if I should go in for a goodbye hug or not.
I leaned in, but she flinched. I stopped mid-way with my arm suspended in the air. Then she shifted gears and seemed like she might give me a hug but stopped short when I flinched.
Yep. We were both kind of messed up, but I still had hope that we could build on our budding, yet still hug-less, relationship. After all, she said she cared about me.
We gave up on the hug, and she stepped out the door. I’m pretty sure we both quietly decided to pretend the almost-hug debacle hadn’t happened. “Love you,” I called after her.
She ducked as if I’d just lobbed something at her head. “Um, yes. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Grandmother power-walked out of sight, and I made a couple of mental notes while Cash called out his final farewells.
First, Grandmother moved quick for an old woman with heart problems. And second, she and I were definitely at theI care about youstage of our fledgling relationship, but not quite at theI love youstage. That was cool though. I could work with that. As long as I didn’t disappoint her again, she’d tell me she loved me one of these days. I just knew it.
“Does she want us to drive her to the airport tomorrow?” Cash asked, heading back to the table.
My stomach dropped. “No. I don’t think so.” My voice wavered as my mind raced. I remembered I hadn’t decided on the best way to break the news.
Somehow, I had the distinct impression that Cash would be in no mood forcutepet names after I told him what he was in for this summer. Whatwewere in for.
I had no more excuses for keeping the secret to myself any longer. I couldn’t put off spilling the beans for another minute. Maybe Grandmotherhadleft too early.
CHAPTERTEN
“I’m glad Granny doesn’t need us to drive her to the airport,” Cash said, taking a stack of dishes to the sink. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s nice and all, but I don’t know how much more faking it I could do. It was a lot harder than I thought it’d be.”
Something about his tone rubbed me the wrong way. He didn’t seem to have all that much trouble flirting during the meal we’d just eaten. I threw a hand to my hip. Fake boyfriend or not, the rejection crowding in on my heart was very real. “Oh? Is itthathorrible to imagine being my boyfriend?”
He turned and looked at me. We froze for a moment, the flash of anger in my gut fading away as his eyes searched mine. “No, that part’s easy.”
His deep voice rumbled in my ears, rattling my insides. It was easy for him to imagine being in a relationship with me? I wasn’t even sure what that meant, but it made my insides feel delicious. I held his gaze, but his stormy eyes only filled my head with more questions.
“It’s the faking it part that’s hard for me to deal with. I’m awhat you see is what you getkind of a guy when it comes to the important things in life. Keeping up an act like that is exhausting.”
What you see is what you get.What had I seen of Cash over the years I’d known him? I’d seen him flirt with every woman within a fifty-foot radius of him. I’d seen his cocky grin as he made sillier women than me giggle like schoolgirls. He said it was easy to imagine dating me, but flirting was too exhausting?
Something wasn’t adding up.
His kindness. His comforting touch. His thoughtfulness. None of it had felt like an act. I’d forgotten it had all been a trick of lights and mirrors more than once. But it was nothing more than the magic of his charm at work. He was scary good at what he did best—flirting—and I guessed I wasn’t completely immune to his wiles after all.
After only a single afternoon of playing our parts, I had to remind myself that everything between us was only an act, nothing more. I mean, I already knew it, but the goosebump factories residing in my arms seemed to keep forgetting. Datable Cash was just as mythological as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or a comfortable underwire bra.
He simply didn’t exist, and I wouldn’t let myself forget that fact again.
“I get it,” I said. “It isn’t easy for me to fake-date you either, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Grandmother isn’t flying home tomorrow.”
“She’s not? I guess I could handle another day if it’ll fill up my bank account. If things don’t go my way at the cook-off at the end of the month, I’ll have to come up with a hefty down payment for my rig soon.” The clanking dishes woke Moose up, and Cash tossed him a crust of bread. “At least it’s only another day. There’s no way I could keep up this act for very long.”
