Greta: Thanks, I think. Not sure how to respond to that.
Aaron: Whoever wins your heart is a lucky son of a bitch.
Chapter Ten
Aaron
As much as I hated the internet because of my current situation, I loved the instant gratification of it. I held in my hands the most ridiculous mug I had ever seen. It saidPot Headand had a graphic of a coffee pot. It screamed Greta. An unnamed emotion had hit me last night after Tanner had dropped that bombshell. Him and Greta had been involved? My stomach tightened at the mere concept of them together. The thought was ridiculous. Unbelievable. I refused to accept it. Greta would have told me, I was sure.
So, instead of acting like a dick to her again, I’d bought her a coffee mug. It was the least I could do, seeing as my fuzzy bear socks had helped me sleep the past couple of nights. I sighed, checking my watch.
It was eleven-thirty and Tanner hadn’t returned yet from his coffee date with Greta. She’d moved their meet-up to nine-thirty in deference to me and, while I was glad she was getting cake with me, I was desperate to know what they had to chat about. I’d seen him leave two hours earlier and had sat in the living room watching episodes ofTheSopranos.Call me old-fashioned, but a good mob show was a weakness of mine. It was the perfect distraction from why, all of a sudden, I questioned Greta and Tanner grabbing coffee.
Greta would have coffee with the devil if it fed her obsession with it. Yet the uncomfortable feeling wouldn’t go away whenever I thought about it. I needed to knock that shit off. My phone pinged, capturing my attention. It was my sister.
Kenzie: I know you’re coming home next weekend, but can you come home for the third week in September?
Aaron: Probably. Why?
Kenzie: It’s homecoming. Mom wants us to get some family pictures done.
The lump in my throat grew eight sizes. I read between the lines. Family pictures…homecoming… Mom wanted to get pictures of the four of us because who knew if we would again?Goddamn it.
Kenzie: Well?
Aaron: I’ll be there.
She never responded after that, not that I blamed her. We were both dealing with the same emotions and most of the time it was easier to ignore them. Taking pictures would be hard as shit, and the idea of asking Greta to come back with me popped into my head. That would help. I’d convince her to visit with me as part of our ploy. Girlfriends went back to meet their families and, at that point, it would be almost three months into the plan. A car door slammed and Tanner walked in seconds later. He had the same stupid look on his face he always had, and the urge to smash it surprised me.
He stopped when he saw me and raised a hand. “Hey, Hilly.”
“Hey, man.”He’s my teammate. Calm the fuck down.
“You watchingThe Sopranos? Hell, yeah!” He sat on the couch without hesitation and joined me. “Look, we good about yesterday?”
I thought about it. Was I good? I had no idea. “Sure.”
“I thought you knew, man.” He sighed. “It’s nothing to worry about for your six-month deal. It was months ago.”
My patience dwindled. I wanted clarification and details, but I wanted to hear them from Greta. Not Tanner. I chose not to respond, which made him more fidgety.
“It won’t blow your cover or anything. Just ask her.”
“Sure.”
“Were you why she changed our original plans, though?”
“Yup. I gotta go.” I stood, hitting him on the back of the head. “That’s for taking off last night. You worried Greta.”
“Shit, I know.” He rubbed the spot where I hit him. “I cleared it up with her. I bought her coffee.”
“That’ll solve almost anything.” My mouth curved into a smile and I picked up the gift I had for her. “I’ll catch you later.”
“See ya, man. Oh, we might be going mini-golfing later. She found a glow in the dark place and you know how she gets. I’m asking Zade and Jeff if they wanna go, too.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hated mini-golf. I preferred the real thing where I could channel my frustration into long drives and pure focus. It was impossible to just swing a golf club hard to hit it far. It took precision. Mini-golf was the drunk brother of golf. But my fake girlfriend wanted to go. That made my decision easy.
