“I’m sorry, what?” I ask, blinking because I think she said—
“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, Aaron,” Garret says smoothly. His gaze holds mine like a shark.
He knows I don’t have a boyfriend. He doesn’t know about my plan, thank God, but he does know I’m single as a fucking piece of cheese.
I hold his gaze steady.
“Yeah, I must’ve forgotten to tell you overdrinksthe other night.”
Take that, asshole.
Garrett smirks. “Seems we have more catching up to do, then.”
“Yes, I think that’s a lovely idea, Betsy,” my dad says, smiling warmly at my mother.
“I’m sure your little aspiring bestseller would find much to inspire him at the beach.”
I know this is do or die. This is the big leagues. My father isactuallyconsidering me as a possibility. I can’t fuck this up. I look at Garrett, fear rising in me. Is dad consideringhim? Or his father?
“I will bring it up to him later,” I say, panic rising in my chest.
My mother smiles at Rebecca.
“Oh, you’ll love Jacob. He’s a writer. Romance,” my mother says as if he’s already famous.
Fuck.
“He sounds darling,” Aunt Shannon chimes in. “He must be quite special if you introduced him to your parents.”
Chris raises a brow at me. “I have to take a piss. I’ll be back.”
“You know what? Me too,” I say, not bothering to excuse myself as I follow Chris through the restaurant and onto the street. Thankfully, no one can see us from the back, so they won’t know we’re out here.
“What the fuck, man?” I say the minute we get outside. I run a hand through my hair nervously.
“Seems your plan worked a little too well,” Chris says with a huff.
“Are you applying for Dad’s—”
“No, I swear!” Chris says.
“Did your dad say something?”
Chris shakes his head. “Nothing, I swear!”
“This is bad,” I say, shaking my head as I pace. “So bad.”
“You have to call him back,” Chris says.
I turn to him, my eyebrows raised in alarm.
“What?”
“Jacob. You have to call him back. Hire him for the week. It’s the only way you can pull this off.”
“Are you insane?” I whisper-shout. “I just paid the guy this morning, and I’m pretty sure he wants nothing to do with me given what happened last night.” I realize as I say it that I said too much. Chris raises an eyebrow at me.
“What do you mean, what happened last night?”
