Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Rafferty’s eyes soften and his smile warms my heart. “I love you too, sis. Give me a second.”
As I eat, Rafferty’s fingers fly over his phone and within just a few exchanges, he says, “I added a ticket for you to a group of three I’d already arranged for some friends.”
That tone. That slight flush to his cheeks. That’s interesting. “Are they hot and single guys by any chance?”
“No,” he says quickly, and a little sheepishly. “And gross. None of my friends should be of interest to you. Actually, it’s my friend Tempe and her younger brother Cooper and his friend Danny.”
Oh, that is interesting. That slight rise to his voice when he mentions a woman. “Tempe?” I give him a very pointed look. “You have a friend who’s a girl but not a girlfriend.”
“Well, that depends how you look at it,” he grumbles, raking his fingers through his hair. “It’s kind of a long story.”
I look at him expectantly.
He sighs and rests a hip against the counter before crossing his arms. “I kind of hooked up with a woman awhile back and since then, she’s been stalking me.”
“Oh wow… does that mean I can actually give you hell for being irresponsible? See how you like it?”
“Bite me,” he growls, and I laugh. “At any rate, I was in this grocery store and I saw my stalker—her name’s Tansy—and she was coming my way.”
I lean forward, intrigued by my brother’s tale. Nothing that interesting ever happens to him.
“And I sort of panicked, grabbed the nearest store clerk and kissed her so that Tansy would think I was with someone else.”
He pauses and looks at me expectantly to see if I’m following. “Go on,” I drawl.
“Anyway, the store clerk—”
“I’m guessing her name is Tempe,” I insert.
“Yeah. Tempe. Anyway, Tempe played along with it, pretending to be my girlfriend. Except Tansy didn’t really buy it, so we’re continuing the charade. I’m paying Tempe to play a role and hopefully Tansy will get the hint and leave me alone.”
Okay… cute story but I feel like he’s leaving something out. “She’s your paid girlfriend? Why is she coming to the game then?”
Rafferty shrugs. “I just wanted to do something nice. She’s taking care of her mom and little brother. I went over there and helped do some stuff and met her brother, who seems like a really good kid. It seemed the right thing to do to offer them tickets to a game.”
Notably, my jaw sags a bit in surprise because this is too freaking funny to even comprehend that my brother got wrapped up in something so ridiculously… un-Rafferty-like. “So, let me get this straight… you’re paying a woman to pretend to be your girlfriend because of Tansy, and now you might actually like her? That’s… kind of romantic, in a twisted sort of way.”
“Wait a minute,” he snaps, straightening up and holding out a hand. “Who said I liked her?”
“I did.” I wink at my brother because he’s so obvious. “Because you went to her house and helped her mom and then got her and her brother hockey tickets.”
“That’s just an added bonus for her helping me out.”
“Whatever.” I laugh, poking him playfully in the ribs. “I’m looking forward to meeting this Tempe. Sounds like a hoot.”
“You behave around her,” he warns, shoving his finger in my face and I attempt to bat it away.
“Of course, I will,” I promise with a sly grin.
Rafferty stares at me hard, as if to cow me into good behavior, but I will not moo for the man. He grunts a curse and turns his wrist over to look at his watch. “I need to go. You good with taking an Uber to the arena?”
“Yup. I’ll get settled in and then I want to take a shower to wash off the stink of bus.”
Rafferty wraps me up in another hug, pressing his lips to the top of my head. “Glad you’re here.”
I squeeze him back hard. “Glad to be here.”
I walk Rafferty to the door and he pulls off an extra house key for me. “Alarm code is 5-2-4-4.”
“Thanks,” I say, looking at the key and hoping it represents not just a new start, but leaving the immediate past far behind me. “Play hard tonight.”
“Be good tonight,” he retorts and then he’s gone.
I lock the door behind him and clean up my mess in the kitchen. I then take my luggage into the spare bedroom and put it all away in the dresser as well as hang up other items in the closet. I unpack my toiletries in the guest bathroom.
It’s only after I have a second beer opened that I call my mom. It’s time to face the music with my parents.
Daniel and Marie Abrams are the most loving, supportive parents two kids could ever hope to have. It’s why it hurts so much every time I think I let them down.