“That’s the idea. My brother runs the back and I run the front. Weeknights are pretty mellow, but we have live music on summer weekends and it gets rather lively.”
“Do you enjoy the work?”
She shrugged. “Sure.”
“And your mom and dad? Are they involved in the business too?”
Her left eye ticked. “My mom’s the one who started the restaurant. My father’s not really in the picture anymore.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
She lifted a shoulder. “His choice.”
Liam had a feeling there was a lot more to the story but didn’t want to press.
“I have a stepdad—I actually call himDad. He’s the pastor at Surfside Community Church. He adopted Sean and me soon after he married our mother.”
“That’s great.” Good information to have about someone he was supposed to be dating.
Chloe cleared her throat. “So maybe we should talk about how this is supposed to go. I should tell you right up front, my brother already knows about our... arrangement.”
That wasn’t ideal. “It’s imperative we keep this under wraps.”
“I understand that, but yesterday I told my brother about our run-in downtown and—” Her cheeks bloomed with color. “Well. Let’s just say he didn’t buy the tabloid’s version of things.”
Liam filled in the blanks and bit back a grin. “You said derogatory things about me.”
“They weren’t very flattering.” She gave him a sheepish look. “I did say you have nice hair.”
“You’re too kind. So basically your brother wants to beat me up.”
“Don’t worry. He needs his hands in the kitchen.”
“That’s good. I need my face in the movie. What about the others? You said your mom and best friend saw the article.”
“Ah yes, my mom. She was all aflutter, believing every juicy word because, yes, of course a hot celebrity would be over the moon for her perfectly average restaurant-managing daughter.”
Average? Not in this lifetime. “For the record I’m disputing that statement, but for the sake of clarity... you let your mom believe we’re an item?”
“I didn’t know what else to do.” She closed her eyes, then palmed her face. “I’m a terrible daughter.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. And your best friend?”
“She’s a great daughter. Kidding. I haven’t texted her back—except about the thong. Never mind. I don’t know if I can lie to her. As you pointed out, I’m not very good at it.”
One of the things he liked about her actually. “You should use your own discretion, but obviously the more people who know, the greater the chance this gets leaked.”
“And Simone, the director, and the cast? Will they know?”
“The studio knows of course. And we’ll have to run all the social media by Patty before posting. But there’s no need to inform the cast and crew. Some of them might suspect a PR relationship.” He shrugged. “Daisy’ll probably be relieved to hear the rumors about you. The tabloids are less likely to pair me up with her if I’m already in a committed relationship.”
“Is that what this is?” She blushed again. “I mean, is that what we’re pretending to be?”
“I think so, yes. Newly committed maybe, since we only just met in person.”
“But we clicked so well long distance and one thing led to another?”
Liam nodded. “Exactly.”
