When I thought about it like that, I realized how dumb this whole thing was.
But the good news? No one but Reece—well, and Brooks—knew it was fake. So theworst-case scenario was that Mom and Dad would find out I had a boyfriend I hadn’t told them about. Okay, not a great scenario, and it was inevitable. Theywouldfind out. Today. Dad wouldn’t be thrilled, and I’d have to endure a lecture about not including them in my dating life and getting their approval and all that. But the good side was that they wouldn’t know about all the deception.
And deception would be the principle Dad would get hung up on. He wouldn’t even have a significant issue with me dating once I made it through the initial lecture. He would be irritated that I hadn’t mentioned Brooks until now and that he didn’t know Brooks—but as long as we could move forward, it’d be okay. Mom and Dad could meet Brooks. A week from now, I’d let them know we’d broken up. Aunt Elle could wallow in her disappointment, and I’d be free.
So yeah. This was okay.
As long as Brooks kept playing along as he’d promised.
“Well?” Aunt Elle started for the stairs. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Sure. Why not?
It was a game. I needed to play it.
Just like baseball. I was up to bat.
I just hoped I didn’t strike out.
Chapter 8
Brooks
I’m already regretting my agreement to “date” Brielle Walters. Mostly because her aunt is nuts. In a nice way, nuts, but nuts all the same. She gave me a fifty-dollar bill and told me to take her niece somewhere “lovely” for dinner. Who does that? Then she gave me four tips for meeting her older brother, who was Brielle’s dad.
Look him in the eye.
Keep your answers short.
Don’t infuse any emotion.
Whatever you do, don’t lie.
Well. So much for that last one. I was going to do whatever I could to avoid Brielle’s dad. I’d told her a week, and I’d give her a week, but there was no way I was getting inducted into her family any more than I already was.
Although kudos to the Walters family, they had a killer basement set up for staying in shape during the baseball off-season. Their floor was pretty much all rubber gym mats, and aside from an old couch and TV in the far corner, they’d turned the entire length of the house’s basement into a gym. There was a mirror on one wall to check swing mechanics. Reece stood in front of it,taking swings with his bat and analyzing his form, because even though he didn’t have to bat, he wanted to. There was a section of the room that had an agility ladder, resistance bands, a medicine ball, and, at the far end of the basement, a rebounder net for throwing. The Walterses were serious about Reece’s high school pitching career. Reece had told me it was his goal to get into the Minor Leagues and, from there, hopefully the Majors.
Big dreams. Sure. But why not?
In the meantime, I was downstairs working on resistance training when this peppy, middle-aged woman came bounding downstairs with Brielle. As Brielle’s Aunt Elle handed me a fifty and asked me a zillion questions, Brielle stood behind her with a wide-eyed expression that begged me not to out her. I wouldn’t. I didn’t.
One week, I mouthed.
She nodded.
After her aunt left to go back upstairs, Reece had also retreated upstairs for some electrolyte-infused water. That left me alone with my brand-new, totally unexpected girlfriend.
“So,” I started, “that’s your aunt?”
“One of them.”
“There are more of those where she came from?” I joked.
Brielle winced. I wasn’t sure if it was because she loved her aunts and thought I was being critical, or the idea of all of her aunts at once was overwhelming. Maybe both.
“I have four aunts on my dad’s side, and a pile of cousins. But if you stick around long enough, you’ll meet Jake and Jadon. They’re . . . special.”
Not sure what that meant, I just nodded, bending to pick up a tennis ball. I tossed it between my hands. “So. We’ve got fifty bucks. Where do you want to go?”
