The words dangled like a month was a year. Logan wiped his face with his napkin then picked his phone back up.
EXACTLY! One month is nothing in the land of dating.
Just admit you’re lying so I can invite Shelby over. I ran into her again when I took the girls for a walk in the stroller, and she was looking extra cute in her leggings and beanie.
I don’t care. You have to drop this. I don’t want to see Shelby.
Give me another month.
Two weeks.
Fine.
Honestly, Logan would’ve settled for a week. Two weeks was more than enough time to finalize the details of their fake relationship. While he finished eating, he put on the game but muted it.
Once full, he bit the bullet and called Brooke instead of texting.
She picked up on the third ring and answered, “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine.” Logan kicked up his feet and readjusted a pillow behind his head. “I thought calling would be easier so we could talk instead of trying to hash this out over text messaging. My sister is hounding me to bring around my new girlfriend. I bought us two weeks which I know isn’t much.”
“I’m up for it. I’ve always enjoyed a good challenge.”
It made him smile. He enjoyed her sassy confident side.
“I hoped you would say that, but I do think we should meet up in person and go over everything. Make a cheat sheet of sorts, hash out our timeline, memorize the details about each other, you get the idea. What night are you free this week for dinner?”
“Um, give me a second to check.” The phone went silent besides some rustling around. Finally, she popped back on and said, “I can do Thursday night or Saturday morning.”
“Let’s do Thursday night.” He swung his legs around and sat up. The thought of seeing Brooke made him perk up. The woman was easy on the eyes, and he did enjoy her company. Even if they were only fake dating, it didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself. “I was recommended a restaurant around the corner from the hospital. It’s on the Magnificent Mile.”
“What’s it called? Maybe I’ve been there before.”
Logan panicked. He had no clue what restaurant to eat at, and he had no idea why he said he received a recommendation. But he planned on scouring the pages of Yelp later to figure it out.
“Umm,” he raked his hair, “I’ll text you the name once I secure a reservation. I don’t want you to get your hopes up if I have to book my backup place.”
“Wow, okay.” Brooke paused, “You’ve really thought this through. I wish all my fictional dates put this much time into where they took me to eat.”
“You know me, just playing the part.”
What in the world?Logan shook his head and muttered to himself about his blabbering.
“I see.”
Logan tried to think of a clever response but came up dry. “I’ll text you the details when I’ve confirmed everything. Do you want me to pick you up at the hospital or your apartment? Or should we meet at the restaurant?”
“Umm—I’m not sure yet when I’ll be off work.” Her voice trailed off then Brooke continued, “I’ll let you know. I’d prefer to go home and change first. I’ll either have you pick me up from my apartment or I can meet you there.”
“I don’t mind coming to get you. It gives me an excuse to exercise.” He should’ve stopped talking but the nervous energy pulsating through his veins made him ramble on. “And you don’t need to dress up for me. I think you look good no matter what you wear. I mean you can if you want, but you don’t have to. You’ll look fine in anything.” He snapped his mouth shut.
Boy, his game was rusty. Good thing this whole relationship was fake.
“True,” Brooke groaned. “But I’m not going to go out with you to a nice restaurant wearing sweats. I do have some standards. They are remarkably low, but they do still exist.”
“Gotcha, you only wear sweatpants to buy bread and Oreos,” he countered, hoping she understood his comment as fun flirting and not a dig.
“Yes, and then I take them home to eat them alone in the comfort of my own apartment.”
