“Oh, the joys of grandparenting,” she noted as she calmed herself, a tear rushing down her cheek.
Even Lucas seemed to have eased up somewhat on account of Cassie’s inquiry into what, to her, must have been this mystical unknown thing called “Grindr.”
“So you met my brother on some online site—Friendfest.”
“It was Friendzone.”
It had clearly been another test of Lucas’s, and Keegan was keeping right on top of his facts—the most basic ones we’d discussed after we’d agreed to put on this ruse.
“Yes, that’s the one,” Lucas said. “What changed your mind? What convinced you that he wasn’t this…jerk you thought he was? Enough that you were willing to come all the way to our country to meet him?”
“You don’t have to answer that, Keegan,” I said.
“No, it’s fine.” Keegan picked at his pancakes for a moment. “He can be kind of arrogant and full of himself.”
“Yes, he can,” Cassie added.
“Hey, not you too!” I said.
Keegan continued, “But then just as soon as you feel like he’s insulted you, he goes and surprises you by saying something so nice or special or asking just the right question and genuinely caring about your answer. I guess he proved to be a little cooler than I thought him to be.”
“Are you sure you guys aren’t getting married?” Cassie asked, which got Keeg, Mère, and me laughing again.
Lucas was no more amused than he had been throughout the rest of our conversation.
“Also, he saved me from the guards when they locked me in the dungeon,” Keegan continued, glancing around at the royal guard. “So I guess I felt like I at least owed him a date.”
“Yes,” Lucas said. “Perhaps it’s just the convenient timing with the parliament vote to be made in December that makes me wary of this whole situation.”
“Surely, we don’t have to discuss politics over breakfast,” Mère remarked.
“My apologies, Mère.”
“Can I have another biscuit?” Cassie asked.
“I’ll have another too,” Keegan said.
“Ooh, another thing we have in common!” Cassie mused.
Lucas rolled his eyes.
If only he knew how wrong he was. Yes, when we’d started up, it had been a ruse for all the reasons he’d suspected, but now it was more than that.
Really, it was as though we were at that stage we’d claimed to be at back then.
We chatted some more, Keegan talking in a more laid-back fashion about his life, without being the subject of an interrogation, as Lucas had initially set out to make it. Eventually, he and Cassie ran off to play a round of hide-and-seek, leaving Lucas, Mère, and me to finish our coffee and tea.
“He seems like a nice kid,” Lucas remarked.
“See? And here you thought you had something to be concerned about.”
His expression didn’t shift, though I knew him well enough to know that surely his agitation had intensified.
“Just keep in mind that when you’re done with your little game, this is someone who has feelings, maybe a little too many feelings for you, and you can hurt him.”
I was acutely aware of Keegan’s feelings in all this, but it wasn’t what Lucas thought.
Not anymore.
