Page 143 of Pretend Girlfriend

I had a lot to catch him up on.

“Let me get this straight,” Jack said, gesturing with his beer. “You hooked up with other guys while you were pretending to be Landon’s girlfriend… and then got caught? In front of everyone?”

“It was a stupid misunderstanding,” I complained. “Theo blurted out that he and Austin had a threesome with me…”

Jack quickly stuffed his fingers in his ears. “La la la! I don’t need to hear these details about my sister’s love life.”

“You know, you’re the one that caused this,” I pointed out. “If you didn’t connect me with Landon, I wouldn’t have slept with him, Theo, or Austin.”

“No!” he snapped, pointing a finger at me. “It may be my fault you hooked up with Landon and Austin. But Theo was all you. That happened before you ever met Landon.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “So that’s the situation I’m in. I like all three of these guys. I’ve hooked up with all of them. And I have no idea what to do.”

Jack started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Everything.”

“But like, what part?” I asked.

“Literally every single part,” he said while chuckling. “This entire thing is insane, Joanna.”

“Are you going to laugh at me, or tell me how to fix this?”

He took a long pull from his beer. “Fix what? You’ve got three guys who all like you. And they know about each other. And you get to date them all at the same time, at least for a little while. Joanna, you’re living the dream!”

“But how am I supposed to decide who I like the most?”

Jack shrugged. “Date them. Figure it out as you go along. You don’t have to decide right now.”

And as it turned out, he was right.

*

The week dragged on. Normally, I would love sitting by my apartment pool all day with nothing to do, but I had already spent a week relaxing in Jamaica. Now I was antsy to do something.

On Thursday, I officially heard back from Judge Rivendale that my background check was all clear and I was cleared to start working next week. Once I got that news, I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted to celebrate with someone other than my brother.

That afternoon, I went downtown to Theo’s dentistry practice. There was a mom and her two little boys in the waiting room, and a smiling assistant behind the desk.

“I’m here to see… Dr. Manafort,” I said, grinning at having to use his title.

“He’s with a patient right now,” the assistant said. “Wait, are you Joanna? You can follow me!”

“If he’s busy, I can wait…” I said.

The assistant shook her head. “Dr. Manafort told me that if you visited, to bring you back immediately. Right this way.”

I followed her to one of the examination rooms, where a little boy was resting back in a dental chair. Theo was leaning over his open mouth with two tools in hand.

“Joanna!” he said, smiling behind his mask. “What happened to a week of peace and quiet to clear your head?”

“Turns out my head is clear after four days,” I replied. “Want to get dinner?”

“Yeah,” Theo replied, eyes brightening. “I really do. I was hoping you would come see me.”

The boy in the chair made a gagging noise, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the dental equipment or from our romantic gazes.

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