“Why not?”
She shook her head. “I never talk about things until they’re a done deal. Too superstitious, I guess.”
“So they’ll assume you’re unemployed?”
“Sure, why not?”
Again with the devil-may-care attitude. But I sensed unrest beneath it. I had a feeling she’d be alone, even when surrounded by family.
“Well, you have my number. If you get bored, call me.” I walked off, hoping it looked like her reaction didn’t matter to me. And I told myself it didn’t.
“Merry Christmas, Doug,” she called after me.
I waved back, but I didn’t turn around. My purposeful detachment felt like game-playing, but closer to the truth was strategic protection of my heart. Willa wasn’t the forever type. And I shouldn’t care whether she was or not because she’d hired me to be herfakeboyfriend. Somehow, we’d get through this charade and hopefully stay friends when we came out the other side. I had a feeling she needed a friend, whether she was aware of it or not.
Willa
It took me all of three hours after I arrived in Oklahoma to call Doug. Both my sisters had recently divorced, and I couldn’t take any more of their man bashing. Sometimes I wished I had a sympathetic bone in my body. However, it wasn’t my fault they’d both chosen losers, and it didn’t mean all men were terrible.
Well, in Hollywood, yes. A good ninety-five percent of them were total garbage wrapped in egomania. But Doug wasn’t. And for some reason, I needed to hear his voice and have him remind me of that.
I plucked at the ties on the faded pink quilt still covering my old twin bed and waited for him to pick up.
“Willa?”
So he’d added my name as a contact already. “Hey, Doug. I could use some talking off a ledge.”
“Already?”
“You said to call when I was bored, but what you meant was to call when I’d reached insanity, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Well, I’ve reached insanity.” I could hear the excited shouts of people in Doug’s background mixed with explosions and melodramatic music. “Video game marathon going on over there?”
“Yeah,” he sheepishly admitted. “It’s more Nelson’s thing, but they really like my TV and stereo setup so I get to host.”
“They? Who are these other nerds? And I mean that in the nicest way possible. I’m surrounded by people who constantly want things I can’t give them. I’m sure your nerd friends would still like you, whether you had the sweetest sound system or not.”
“Your family loves you, Willa.”
“Maybe, but they certainly don’t like me. I’m too much like my dad.” I shouldn’t have let that last part slip, because the natural follow up was something I hated to talk about.
“Where’s your dad?”
“Gone. He died of a heart attack right before Strength Warriors started airing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too. So, where’s your dad, Doug? I’ve never heard you mention him.”
“My parents divorced when I was a baby. He reconnected with Owen and me a few years ago online, so we talk occasionally. He lives in Hong Kong.”
“He didn’t come for Owen’s wedding?”
“He sent a gift.” The nerds in the background let out a cheer. “I’m going to step outside.”
I waited for him to get away from his noisy friends. It was kind of nice to hear about someone else’s messed up life, though I definitely wasn’t happy to hear Doug grew up without a dad.
