Elliot sighed.
‘I thought we were friends,’ Jack said, accusingly and that was what did it. If Elliot had actually managed to make a friend, he certainly wasn’t going to lie to him. Making friends as an adult was nearly impossible. He was pretty sure he’d only made this one by hanging around the inn so much, thinking and planning and sketching.
And Jack was here. And kind. And a little bit nosy, always asking Elliot about his plans, peering over his shoulder at his drawings. And he had a vest for every season, which Elliot found charming.
It was friendship by forced proximity, but Elliot would take it.
‘It’s not real.’
Jack rolled his eyes. ‘It hasn’t been that long. Of course it’s not really serious yet.’
‘No.’ Elliot shook his head and lowered his voice. ‘It’s not real at all. We’re just… pretending.’
Jack’s eyes went wide. ‘You’re pretending?’
‘Yes.’
‘To date.’
‘Correct.’
‘You and Daisy arefake-dating?!’
‘Shh!’ Elliot hissed. ‘No one else knows.’
Jack liked that. He smiled and leaned in toward Elliot conspiratorially. ‘So why are you fake-dating the cute florist?’
‘Well… it started when that ex of hers came into her shop and I just kinda happened to be there… and one thing led to another and now?—’
‘And now you’re proclaiming your love for her at town meetings!’
Elliot flushed with embarrassment. ‘That’s not exactly what happened.’
‘It doesn’t matter whatactuallyhappened. It’s what everyone is saying happened and everyone is saying you were very gallant and you came to her rescue when the rest of the town was ready for a witch-hunt.’
‘That’s definitely not?—’
‘Doesn’t matter.’ Jack waved away his protests. ‘The important question, dear Elliot, is why not date the lovely Daisy for real?’
Elliot opted to shove more muffin in his mouth and pretend he didn’t want to talk with his mouth full instead of answering the question that he’d been rolling over in his mind all weekend. Why not date Daisy for real? He’d had such a nice time with her after the town meeting, and he hadn’t stopped thinking about her since.
But it was very clear that Daisy wasn’t interested in him as anything other than a convenient shield from the town’s judgment. Which was fine. He was using her, too, to keep his mom from staging some kind of dating intervention.
Any time his thoughts had wandered into why-not-date-Daisy-for-real territory, Elliot reminded himself that this whole thing had started because Daisy wasn’t over her ex. She’d been so horrified to see him, in fact, she’d roped Elliot into being her fake boyfriend. And then he’d done the same thing back to her.
Their relationship, real or fake, was based on desperation.
Not a great start.
No, dating Daisy for real was not an option.
‘She’s pretty,’ Jack went on when Elliot was still silent.
‘She’s more than pretty,’ he blurted out and Jack’s smile grew.
‘I agree. She’s also funny and smart and doesn’t let anyone give her any crap at those meetings.’
‘I know,’ Elliot sighed.
