Page 38 of Hating the Book Boyfriend

"The offer. I think we should take it, but if you don't like it, we won't."

"Archie, you didn't have to do this," I say as I open the envelope out of curiosity. "I trust your decisions. We both want the same things for the farm…" My words die off the second my eyes land on the number. "Holy crap. Is this for real?" This is three years' worth of tree farm profits.

"I assure you it's real. That's why I had to check it out in person. I thought there had to be something I was missing, but there was not. Everything checked out. Urban Chestnut is family-owned, second generation just like us."

I flip through the pages, and the yield numbers catch my eye. "Archie, there is no way we can meet their supply. Not without more land or cutting out trees."

"I guess it's good we know someone with more land."

My eyes meet his in question before realization sets in, and dejection takes over my expression as I drop my head. "If you're counting on Callahan as part of this deal, it won't happen."

"Why's that?" He grabs a beer out of the refrigerator. "I need something stronger than coffee." I anxiously tap my fingers on the granite top, trying to figure out the best place to start when he adds, "He told me he was going to marry you."

"He did what?" My head whips up in shock. He takes a long pull off his beer and studies my face. I can't tell if he threw that out there to get a reaction from me or if it was genuine. My brother isn't stupid. We are too close, and Colton doesn't do discreet well. If I had to guess, the morning after Friendsgiving gave us away. There were already signs, but both of us coming to the house dressed in the clothes we wore the night before said it all. We were sneaking around. Unable to handle his silent scrutiny, I rush out, "Fine, I've been seeing Colton. But not before…" I grip the countertop, suddenly, sweaty as fuck. "What I mean is nothing happened in the past, this is all very, very new. Or rather was new." I press my palm to my forehead. "Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. You'll probably want to reconsider whatever plans you had that included him. He's back to hating me, and out of spite, he'll probably kill whatever deal the two of you had."

"Okay, let's rewind." He sets his beer down and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Do you mind telling me what happened between now and when I left that has my eternal bachelor best friend, Mr. Stag-or-die, himself, reneging on his ask to marry my bull-headed sister?"

"Wait a minute, you keep saying marry, which I want to come back to, but you knew? You knew about us before you left?" The words he's saying and how he's acting as though my relationship with Colton isn't a big deal tell me he's past assuming we were sneaking around. He knows we were together, and his lax attitude now suggests he's okay with it. My mind doesn't know which piece of information to settle on.

"I suspected something was up the second I pickedboth…" he emphasizes the last word before continuing, "of you up at the hotel."

"Nothing happened, Archie, I swear it."

He waves his hand. "I know. Colton told me everything when I asked if he would sell me some of his land the night of Friendsgiving." I lean onto my elbows and massage my temples. What does he mean Colton told him everything? My brain hurts as I struggle to understand why he wouldn't tell me he talked to Archie. It's literally been the crux of our relationship. Our first fight never would have happened had he just told me. "I don't believe that a man who's had a crush on you from the day you first met would just walk away. So what happened? He's my best friend. I'm sure together we can figure it out… unless he hurt you, in which case he's a dead man."

I shake my head. "No, he didn't hurt me. I hurt him." I stand up. "God, I don't even know where to start, so I'm just going to say it. I've been leading a double life, or at least that's how it feels. Two years ago, I started writing books.”

"No shit! JoJo, that's amazing."

I roll my eyes. "It's really not though. Don't get me wrong, I love it. I love to create, you know that. I spent my youth doodling in notebooks, making stories up in my head, but making real money from a hobby is hard. I may have written and published the books, but I've yet to sell enough to break even with my investment." I quickly open the refrigerator for my own beer and add the next piece. "So a few friends and I started a book boyfriend business, and Colton now believes I used him to boost business because how could locking down Boston's most eligible bachelor not put us on the map?"

When I turn back around, his eyes are as wide as saucers. "You started a what? Book-boyfriend business… what is that, like, some sort of escort service?"

"Yes, I'm a certified pimp now," I deadpan. "No, we teach men what women want. Women love fictional men written by women. We give them the tools that should land them the date so they have a shot at getting their dream girl."

His eyes widen more before blinking in rapid succession. "So what happened when you explained all of this to him?"

I drink my beer before saying, "He saw a message come across my phone from one of the girls and assumed I'd lied to him this whole time. I tried to explain, but he didn't give me a chance. Instead, he walked out the front door."

"When was that?"

I narrow my eyes as if the timing of his leaving matters. "I don't know, an hour ago."

"And why haven't you gone after him?"

"Because if he was my forever, he would have never walked out that door."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Colton may have walked away, but it doesn't mean he walked away because he was done. Maybe he believes you're not ready."

A thought occurs to me. He may be right. Maybe Colton didn't tell me he talked to Archie about us for that exact reason. He never believed I was all in.

"You said he wanted to marry me. Did he use those words?"

"When I offered to buy the land, he had terms of his own. He didn't want to sell, he agreed to let me farm the land, but only if I would teach him how to grow. His second stipulation was that when you agreed to take his last name, the Estes Peak label would say farmed in collaboration with J. Callahan Acres."

I know why he didn't tell me he talked to my brother. He wanted me to believe him. Lips tell lies, actions rarely do. Coming clean to Archie wouldn't have been the easy way out, but at the end of the day, talking to him only amounted to words. Colton was setting a pattern with his actions. Showing up whenI thought he wouldn't and staying when I expected him to leave, he was trying to show me that I meant something to him. That I mattered.

"Shit. I need to find him." I start looking around for the truck keys. "He's probably already halfway to the airport."

---