It was almost too dark to see the road in front of them and getting cold. The sliver of moon peeked out only occasionally from the thin clouds. Dillon wished he’d remembered to bring his jacket. His long-sleeve knit shirt wasn’t nearly warm enough out here.
“Tell me about Heather,” he asked Kip. “How serious is this?”
“No, no. You go first. Let’s talk about Lina. Is she the real deal?”
This again. In his relief at getting Lina to come, Dillon hadn’t considered how suspicious it would look to actually show up with her. After all, Kip begged them to bring someone, and with no previous mention of having a girlfriend, Dillon had delivered.
“I asked you first, Kip. Besides, Lina is an open book. It’s Heather nobody can get a read on.”
“Lina’s an open book?” Kip scoffed. “At dinner, Josie point-blank asked her where her family was for Thanksgiving, and Lina skillfully turned the question to something else. I’ve never seen anything like it. So, where is her family? Do they not live around here?”
Dillon thought back to his and Lina’s previous conversations. “Her aunt has a mean dog.” That was all he could recollect. He truly didn’t know anything about Lina’s family. And Lina was so good at deflection, he couldn’t remember if he’d asked her or what she’d answered if he had. He hated that Kip was right. “We haven’t really talked about them.”
Kip frowned. “I’m sorry. I’m being nosy. I guess I should be thanking you for bringing her. Even if you hired Lina, if that’s even her real name, from some service.”
“Excuse me?” Dillon gave his brother a playful shove. Mostly playful. “Lina is not from a service. Don’t talk about my girlfriend that way.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. That came out wrong. And she seems really nice. I’m happy for you.”
Dillon walked a little faster back toward the house. The flare of anger he’d felt at Kip’s words had been real, even if calling Lina his girlfriend was not accurate. The sooner this conversation ended, the better. “So, are we not allowed to talk about Heather then? Speaking of deflection.”
Kip hunched his shoulders. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’m terrified of messing it up.”
“Why? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone quite as connected as the two of you.”
“We broke up about two months ago. She thought we were getting too serious too fast, so I backed off. I’ve been slowly reeling her back in. This is the biggest step we’ve taken since. Her parents had a messy divorce when she was a kid, plus she was engaged before and it didn’t work out. Basically, the only thing that terrifies her more than being engaged again is the thought of getting married.”
“Holy cow, Kip. Hope she’s worth it.”
“She is.”
Dillon had a better understanding of why Kip was so protective of Heather. And now that they’d reached the porch, they had to go in and put both their relationships on display for ridicule. The only thing moving Dillon’s feet up the steps was the thought that Lina was inside, fielding all the questions alone.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 6
“Okay, men. Your turn.” Josie flipped the card back and forth in her hands. “Let’s see how well you can match your girlfriend’s answers.”
Lina sat across from Dillon at the kitchen table. She didn’t look particularly nervous, but perhaps it was easy to be the calm one when he was doing all the worrying for the two of them.
Josie showed the card she was holding to Mom and giggled. Sitting up taller, she read off, “What do you think she said when asked, ‘Where was your first kiss? And was it earth-shattering, ho hum, confusing, or the start of something amazing?’”
Dillon gestured for Kip to go first. As he feared, this game would reveal just how unprepared they’d been to fake a relationship. He wished Lina could telepath her answer to him, because their first kiss had been tonight at dinner, and it had been all those things—ho hum when he gave her a peck, confusing and earth-shattering when she continued it. Not the start of something amazing. At least he could rule that one out. Or could he?
Kip smiled at a blushing Heather. “Not ho hum. What were the other ones again?”
Josie repeated them.
Kip slapped his knee. “Okay, it was definitely earth-shattering for me, but I think she would have said ‘confusing,’ so I’ll go with that. Oh, and our first kiss was by her car in front of her apartment.”
Heather flipped her white board. She’d written down ‘earth shattering kiss by my car.’
Kip laughed. “I’ve never been so happy to be wrong, babe. Wait, do we get a point for where it happened though?”
Josie and Mom consulted before Josie announced, “We’ll make this a two-point question. So, yes. You’ll get one point for where it happened.”
Dillon turned to Lina, and she raised her eyebrows at him. If that was supposed to be a message for him, it didn’t help. Which answer should he go with, and where on earth would she say they’d had their first kiss?
