Page 39 of Darn Knit All

“Pass me those cookies?” he asked, gesturing at the plate as if the trip had never happened.

Wordlessly, I obeyed.

“So,” he said, munching happily. “What’s our play?”

I sipped my tea, thinking. “The closer we stick to our truth, the easier it will be to maintain the lie.”

“Right.” He nodded, passing me a cookie. “I approached you about a cake, fell in love with your cooking and then your personality.” He winked. “They do say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

I groaned, tossing a small throw pillow at him. “Please don’t say that on camera.”

“Too late, it’s in my pun box.”

I shifted to sit cross-legged on the floor, leaning back against the couch behind me. “What was our first date?”

He tilted his head back in thought. “That time we went to the roller derby, and I ended up having to break up the fight between the two women after the game.”

I snorted with laughter. “Oh God! Your black eye!”

He winced, touching his left brow as if the pain remained. “She must have been a professional boxer. She had quite the right hook.”

“She did apologize.”

“Yeah. Didn’t make my eye feel any better though.”

We exchanged a grin.

“Okay. So that puts our relationship at….” I mentally did the sums. “Wow. Nearly four years.”

“Has it really been that long since Frankie’s wedding?”

I gestured at the photo that hung on my wall. Frankie wore a magnificent wedding dress that fit perfectly with her pink wheelchair. Her husband, Jay, sat in her lap, his arms around her shoulders as they laughed at the camera. Behind them stood our friendship group in various stages of laughter. I wore a crimson silk dress that I’d created and had my arm draped over Flo’s shoulder. Flo’s blonde hair had been decorated with a flower crown, and when paired with her blue flowing dress, it made her look like a bohemian pixie. At her side stood her yellow Labrador guide dog, Ace, looking dapper in a smart bowtie. Annie stood beside me, all golden skin and sensual curves.

That had been the night Linc had finally made a play for Annie—beginning to repair the relationship that had been broken between them.

“A lot has happened since then.”

Theo nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess it has.”

I cleared my throat. “I can’t say that your dance moves have improved.”

Theo laid a hand on his chest in mock outrage. “How dare you! I am a superb dancer.”

“Sure. If one likes being slapped in the face by their dance partner.”

“Some people are into that kind of thing.”

We grinned at each other.

“Back to the issue at hand. What else do we need to confirm to make this relationship seem real?”

I tilted my head to one side, considering all the scenarios. “They might ask when we started designing together.”

“That we can be honest about. A year later, and I’m still a mess.”

My stress eased a little. “That’s true. We’ll be up against those who are likely ten times better than us.”

“But we’ll try our best. If nothing else, it’ll be good exposure for you.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll try not to hold you back.”

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