Page 70 of The Waiting Game

Jonah swallowed thickly. She was his only close living blood relative. When she was gone, he would be alone.

“Yeah,” he rasped.

“And is it just me or has she been kind of … hinting at the idea of us being together lately?”

“It’s not just you,” Jonah admitted. He’d noticed it too.

“So it would put her mind at ease to know we were together, right? She could go into the procedure knowing you have me.”

“Don’t I already have you?” Jonah asked, bewildered.

“Well, of course. As a friend. But this would be another layer to it, right?” Felix said.

“I guess?”

“And marriage is a big deal to her, right?”

“It is.” As untraditional as his grandmother could be in many ways, she was still a seventy-seven-year-old woman from Korea. She’d never thought couples living together were sinning, but she’d believed that they weren’t as willing to commit.

How many times had Jonah heard her go on and on about the legal protection marriage provided? The safety. The security. He’d lost count.

Plus, she’d had an incredible marriage that had brought her joy. Of course she wanted nothing more than for Jonah to find that for himself.

“It would make her happy if she knew we were on our way to marriage,” Felix said softly.

Jonah nodded, a little reluctant to admit it but Felix wasn’t wrong.

“It would mean a lot to me too,” Felix said, painfully earnest now and twinging Jonah’s heartstrings. “You know how much I hate being alone. And I—I don’t want to be tempted to get tangled up in something with someone too soon. There are rules in rehab about that and—”

“Wait, isn’t that one reason why we shouldn’t do this?” Jonah protested, clutching onto the straws of sanity. “I mean, you’re not supposed to be in a relationship for a year, right?”

“Well, sort of,” Felix said. “I’m not supposed to start a new relationship for a year. But we’re not new. We’ve been friends forever.”

Jonah sat up and slid out of the hammock, nearly upending Felix who flailed for a moment before he righted himself and stood.

“Give me a minute to make sense of all this,” Jonah said slowly. “You’re suggesting we pretend to be engaged.”

“Yes.”

“For the good of your reputation and my grandmother’s peace of mind.”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t think it’ll be a problem for your sobriety?”

“Not at all. I think it’ll actually help.”

“Explain,” Jonah said faintly because he still felt a little dizzy about this whole thing.

“Well, it’ll keep me from being tempted to hook up with someone or get in a real relationship.”

“Right.” There was a sting there because this absolutely wouldn’t be real for Felix.

“It would take that pressure off. And if I know that everyone thinks I’m engaged to you, then it’ll be a good reminder that I can’t get involved with someone else.” His expression went pinched. “I’m lonely, Jo. I … I miss having someone to love that way.”

“I mean, I get all that,” Jonah said, his brain still feeling like scrambled eggs. This couldn’t possibly be happening. “But like … don’t you think you’re forgetting a few things?”

“Like what?”

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