“No way.”
“Listen, it’s a solid idea,” Emmy insisted. “It’ll keep all the NPCs off our backs while we figure out a game plan.”
They were having lunch at a local diner at Emmy’s insistence. She’d wanted to test her theory that being together with Will would stop the onslaught of eager single men. So far, it was playing out exactly as she’d hoped. While there were men in the restaurant, several of them potentially single, not one had looked her way. Will shook his head as he poked at his lemon meringue pie.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Yes. Obviously. It’s also going to save us a headache or two.” Emmy reached over and stole a bite of his pie. He gave her a disgruntled look and she shrugged. “You weren’t eating it. Anyway, we can pull this off so long as we come to an agreement about one thing.”
“Just one?” Will asked sarcastically.
“Yes. This is important. Look at me.” He rolled his eyes but obliged her, meeting her gaze. “If somebody—anybody—insists that we kiss each other to prove we’re in a relationship, we are going to say no. We are going to tell them that’s a fucking weird request and that we’re not going to kiss for their amusement.”
Will looked dubious. “Why would anyone ask us to do that?”
“Happens all the time in romcoms. That’s always the worst part of the stupid pretend-to-be-involved plot. The two protagonists will inevitably encounter someone who’s like, ‘Oh, you’re engaged? That’s so sweet! Give each other a kiss now. Come on.’ And for some reason they are super insistent, but the characters never tell them to stop being creepy. They just shrug like, ‘Welp, I guess we have to lock lips now, or our whole charade is blown.’”
“That’s moronic.”
“Sure is. And we’re not doing it.”
“Okay. I can agree to that,” he said after a moment’s consideration. “We tell people we’re in a relationship, but we never demonstrate it in any way.”
“That’s right. You can hold my hand if you feel so inclined—”
“Gracious of you.”
“—but that’s it.”
“Fair enough. We can give that a try. I’m going to quit my job.”
Emmy’s eyes bulged. “Huh? What? Why?”
Will shrugged. “What’s the point? I don’t even know if my medical knowledge is real or if it’s all yadda yadda’d by some author who bookmarked WebMD on their browser.”
“Yeah, but… it’s your job. What are you going to do all day?”
“I don’t know.” He spent a few seconds brooding over that. “Something different. I’ll figure it out. I’m not going to quit with no notice. It feels wrong, even if my shift supervisor is an NPC. I’ll put in my two weeks. We’ll go from there.”
“Two weeks. Crap. Am I going to be here that long?” At his look, she amended her statement. “Arewegoing to be here that long? My sister’s going to start freaking out soon if she hasn’t already. My whole family is going to go berserk. And Sarah… man, I wish I had Sarah here. She always keeps a cool head.”
“Who’s Sarah?”
“My best friend. She wouldn’t let me freak out if she were here. She can just look at you and make you feel like she knows everything, and she never worries unnecessarily about anything.” Emmy toyed absently with her coffee mug. “There are so many people whose lives will be disrupted by this. I hate it. I hate that they might be scared for me, that I can’t tell them I’m okay.”
Will reached out and laid his hand gently over hers. She looked at him and felt somewhat comforted by the sincere compassion in his eyes.
“We can only solve the problem that’s right in front of us,” he said quietly. “You can explain everything to your family and friends when you get back.”
Emmy studied him in silence for a moment. “You’re awfully confident.”
“Have to be. No other way to make this whole situation work out.”
“You’re sure you want to come with me? You don’t even know what my world is like. Plus… you’d be leaving your family behind. What about your siblings? Your parents? Are they…”
Will took his hand off hers and ate a bite of pie before answering. “No siblings. My parents own a farm up north.”
“And you’re okay leaving them? Do you hate them? That would be convenient.”
