"Dead serious." Gabe shoved his hands into his pockets, fighting the urge to fidget.
"You wantmeto line you up with one of my lady friends?" Luke's brows rose in disbelief.
Gabe grimaced and shook his head. "Not line me up per se but help me find someone willing to play a part."
"Yeah, 'cuz that would go over well. Instead of saying 'Hey, would you like to go on a blind date with my boss?' I'm supposed to say, 'My boss needs a fake girlfriend. Are you a good actress?'"
Luke was right. This whole idea was stupid.
Why couldn't I have just convinced Mom I'm happy and will get married someday?
That kind of non-committal promise wouldn't have brought her the peace he wanted her to have in her final days.
Day? Weeks? Months?
Not knowing how long he had left with her killed him. The thought of losing her made it difficult to breathe. He felt like he hadn't drawn a deep breath since Grace called last Monday.
"One of my mom's biggest regrets is that she didn't get to see me or my sister married."
"Married? I thought you wanted a fake girlfriend, not a wife."
"I don't want either." Gabe ground his teeth and rolled his shoulders. "But I'm hoping if she sees me with a girlfriend and thinks it's serious, then she can…die without regrets." He nearly choked on his final words.
"You plan to lie to your mom, hoping to convince her you're on the road to matrimony?" Luke's expression said Gabe was crazy.
Gabe dropped his gaze then scratched the back of his neck. "I already have."
"You've already…" Luke's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "You told your mom what exactly?"
"That I have a girlfriend…and it's serious." Gabe left out the part about blue eyes and a hundred-watt smile.
"So, you need someone mature enough to convince your mom the two of you have a future." Luke's brows furrowed now as he shook his head. "I hate to admit it, but most of my female friends are too immature to pull off something like that."
That's what Gabe was afraid of. He should have known better than to ask Luke for help. His friends were a whole decade younger than Gabe. And he should have known better than to tell his mom such an outrageous lie in the first place.
"Why don't you just ask Paige to do it?"
"What?" Gabe jerked back as though he'd been shocked by an electric current. "No way!"
"Why not? It's obvious you're into her, and I'm pretty sure she's attracted to you too."
Despite wanting to hear why Luke thought Paige was into him, he focused on the first thing Luke said. "I'm not interested in Paige."
"That's a bunch of bull, and you know it." Luke scoffed. "She's awoman after your own heart, remember? And she hassuch striking blue eyes."
Blue eyes. Why did I tell Mom my girlfriend has blue eyes?
"You know what Dr. Stoker always says about fishing off the company bridge," Gabe said in an attempt to derail Luke from his train of thought. If he ever hoped to have a chance to date Paige after she completed physical therapy, he couldn't screw it up by asking her to lie to his mom.
"I never really understood that saying, but I figured it meant we're not supposed to date patients." Luke shrugged one shoulder. "But you're the boss now. You get to make the rules here."
"This office is an extension of the one in Pasco, so I still answer to Dr. Stoker…and Dr. Young. Besides, it's a universal rule that doctors don't date their patients."
"Well…" A gleam entered Luke's eyes. "If Paige onlypretendedto be your girlfriend, you wouldn't technically be dating. You'd justpretendto date."
"That's stupid."
"Yes, it is." Luke quirked a brow. "And so is telling your mom you have a girlfriend when you don't."
