She nodded at the living room. “I’m pretty sure you’d hear a robber coming from a mile away. Your place is booby-trapped better than Macaulay Culkin’s inHome Alone.”
I winced. My apartment was slightly chaotic. Strewn around the living room was every kind of cat toy—string, ball, feather, light-up—plus cat brushes, a cat tree, scratch pads, and catnip.
“What’d you do,” Lee asked, “buy the entire cat aisle at PetSmart?”
I sank onto the couch. “I hope so. How else am I supposed to know what Patches likes?” I was determined to be a good cat mom, even if I had to sell my soul to PetSmart to do it.
Lee raised her eyebrows. “You know cats are fine playing with a cardboard box, right?” She leaned over and hugged Patches tighter. “Though this little angel does deserve the world.” Lee cradled Patches on her back like an infant, rocking her back and forth.
“Is that how you’re supposed to hold cats?” I practiced, making my arms into a bassinet.
“Oh, oops.” Lee halted her rocking. “I’ve been holding too many babies lately. You’d be shocked at how people just hand their babies over to politicians. Like what am I going to do, bless it? I’m not the Pope. Anyway, glad you bit the bullet and got Patches. How’s motherhood?”
I was trying not to be jealous of how blissful Patches looked in Lee’s arms. Patches had been glued to my side since I brought her home, but if she was willing to cozy up to strangers at the first invitation, I guess that was fine. “Going well. We’re getting to know each other.” I threw up a hand. “Wait, stop doing your Lee-distracting-thing. Why did I find you sitting in my living room like a movie villain?”
Her eyes darted away, which was suspicious. “You know, I got quite an earful from Mom about what a foul-mouthed, softhearted sweetheart Logan is. You realize you’re going to break her heart when the two of you fake breakup, right?”
I gulped. “It’s a good thing she’s gotten used to my heartbreaks. Par for the course.” I flung my hand at my living room. “And look, now I have a cat. The last missing ingredient for peak spinsterhood. I accept my fate. Mom will, too.”
“So nothing’s changed on the Logan front? You two are just business partners who will go your separate ways once the voters are properly hoodwinked? No romantic feelings?”
I straightened, holding my head high. “For your information, I’ve finally broken my toxic pattern. Logan and I are just friends, and I’m good with that. No pining. No trying to make us into anything we’re not.”
“Excellent.” Lee clapped her hands so suddenly Patches startled and leaped away. “Then you’re ready to hear my favor.”
“You’re calling it in already?” I’d expected Lee to hold on to her leverage for a while, if for no other reason than to torture me.
“I am. In exchange for endorsing Logan, I want you to go on a date with Will Laderman.”
I had to be hearing things. “As in Ben’sbrother?”
“Exactly.” Lee brightened, giving me a very Vanna-White-presenting-a-car-smile. “As you know, Will moved back to Austin to do his residency at Dell Medical Center. He’s asurgeon, Alexis. A handsome, funny, nice surgeon, and Ben and I think the two of you would really hit it off. I’d actually describe Ben as downright giddy about it.”
I shook my head. I’d met Will a few times, but he always seemed to witness me when I was at my lowest. For example: he’d been at Lee’s house when Chris Tuttle and I broke up for the final time. Will had heard Chris call me a timid mouse who was bad in bed. “What makes you so sure Will even wants to go out with me?” That last scene hadn’t exactly been a ringing endorsement of my skills in the girlfriend department.
“He said yes immediately,” Lee said. “Between you and me, I think Will’s had a crush on you for a while.”
He had? I let this strange—and strangely flattering—news sink in.
“And the thing is,” she added, “Will’s lonely. It’s hard for him to meet people since he works such long hours at the hospital. The head of his cardiology department invited him to his wedding in two weeks and he really needs a date. Ben and I figured, Will’s lonely, you’re lonely—”
“I’m not lonely,” I said quickly. The idea of Lee thinking that was mortifying. Besides, even if thathadbeen true a month ago, ever since I’d met Logan at the Fleur de Lis, my life had been a whirlwind of people and projects and—come to think of it, I hadn’t felt alone once. “Besides, I’m not allowed to date anyone while I’m fake dating Logan. That’s rule number one. It would be a PR nightmare if I got caught.”
“Will knows about your deal with Logan—”
“Youtoldhim?”
“He says he’s not bothered by it! He’ll cook you dinner at his place, where no one will see you. Completely private. You can test the waters. If you like each other, maybe you can be his date to the wedding. He makes a mean chicken cacciatore, according to Ben.”
“I really can’t. It’s too risky.”
She narrowed her eyes and leaned back, folding her arms over her chest. She was wearing the same look on her face Mom had when we’d pushed into hour sixteen of filming. Dangerously stubborn. “If you want this endorsement, all it takes is one date. Maybe two, if you’re willing to go to the wedding. Don’t worry about being exposed there—Will says most of the surgeons are too busy to track politics. It’s a really big deal for him, Lex. All of his colleagues are bringing dates.”
I hated the idea of letting someone down. And Lee was just talking about one date,maybetwo. Private events, with a person who was guaranteed, since he shared so much of Ben’s DNA, to be a pretty good egg. I recalled Nora’s warning:Whatever it takes to get that endorsement.
“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll test the waters with Will. But this is the last time you matchmake for me. Promise. You’re a real-life Emma Woodhouse, and that’s not a compliment.”
Lee sprang off the couch. “Easy promise. Because you and Will are going to fall in love and I’ll never need to matchmake again.” Her voice turned softer as she walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. “In all seriousness, Lex. You deserve more than a fake relationship. You deserve someone who worships you.”
