Liam leans in and speaks quietly in my ear. “Sorry. I hope you don’t mind me bringing you in on that joke. I just couldn’t help myself.”
I turn, and now his face is so close to mine, our noses are almost touching. Giving him a conspiratorial smile, I say, “Don’t be sorry. That was just plain fun.”
He turns and picks up his beer. “Good. I would have felt bad if I’d made you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all,” I say, hoping he’ll lean back in. When he doesn’t, I have three very long sips of my iced tea. “Not a bit, really. Besides, all these Meddling Matildas deserve it.”
He smiles, but it’s more of a friendly smile this time. “Maybe it’ll teach them to stay out of peoples’ love lives for once.”
“One can hope,” I say, having another couple of gulps. “You know, if this were a romance novel, we’d have a fake relationship just to get everyone to leave us alone.”
“Would we?” he asks.
“Mmm-hmm. In our case, it would be a whole opposites-attract angle—handsome, rugged Canadian fisherman-slash-contractor falls for uptown American writer.”
“Handsome, eh?” he asks with a little smirk.
My face flushes so hot, I wonder if I’m starting menopause early. “I didn’t mean you. I meant a character in a novel.”
“A handsome, rugged character based on me …”
“I didn’t mean it. I meant if we were going to pretend to be a couple.”
His blue eyes dance with laughter. “But you said it, and there’s no one else listening, so …”
“Oh, I get it. You’re messing with me now, aren’t you, you bastard?”
“It’s hard not to, you’re easy pickings.”
“I am not easy, sir,” I say, pretending to be offended.
“Is this our first fake fight?”
“Yes, but don’t think we’ll be having pretend makeup sex.”
“What a shame. I think I’d like that,” he says, shaking his head.
A high tone flickers out of a flute from the end of the table and Liam turns from me and lifts his violin to his chin. The moment is over, and I’m glad to have a second to gather my thoughts and catch my breath again. That definitely felt like real two-way flirting. Eunice, who is sitting on the opposite side of the horseshoe, gives me a knowing smile. Oh, I have a witness. She definitely saw it, too.
By the time the first set of songs is over, I’ve almost finished my second drink, which means nearly three ounces of alcohol have gone to my head. Liam is turned away from me talking to James Campbell, his part-time moving partner, and I find myself staring at his back and fighting the urge to reach out and touch it.
“Hey Abby,” a male voice comes from the other side of me. I turn to see Colton, who has slid into the seat beside me. “How’s it going?”
“Good. I thought kitchen parties were for old people.”
Covering his mouth with his hand, he says, “I’m trying to find more clients. It’s fall clean-up time, which means I could make a lot of scratch if I hustle.”
“Excellent. So, you’re enjoying the work then?”
He shakes his head. “No, I hate it. It’s so boring, I want to shoot myself. But I still can’t afford to move out of my parents’ house.”
“Bummer,” I say, then finish my drink. “Say, if you hate landscaping, why don’t you do something else?”
“I don’t know what I want to do.”
Suddenly, I turn into tipsy career-counselor Abby. “Well, what do you love?”
“Gaming. Streaming videos of me gaming. Watching other streamers.”
