Page 36 of Faking the Shot

She sighed. “I’m not trying to be devious. Just trying to figure out how to be honest without beingtoohonest, if you know what I mean.”

“When do we get to meet him?” her dad asked.

“When his schedule allows. He’s pretty busy.”

“As are you,” her mom said.

“Exactly. So it’s like I said: we don’t have time for a real relationship, even if we wanted one. Which wedon’t,” she emphasized, cutting off that look of speculation in her mother’s eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t?” Mack asked.

“I’m positive.”

“Heishandsome. Not as handsome as you, obviously,” Emmett said to Mack, which drew his wry lips.

“What about Zac?” Dad asked, as if determined to ignore Emmett, and focused on making a match of his daughter and his favorite hockey player. “Are you sure he feels the same way?”

“Absolutely. He’s told me that.”

“Yes, but we all know people don’t always say what they mean, don’t we, Ainsley?” Mack said.

“He’s told me that,” she repeated. “And I believe him.”

Emmett laughed.

“What?”

He smiled. “I’m going to guess that not all the acting is coming from the actress.”

“You’re wrong,” she said flatly.

“Hmm. We’ll see.”

She didn’t hearfrom Zac for a few days. Not that she was expecting anything. This wasn’t real, so there was no need for communication between them unless there was something to communicate. Besides, he had games, and while she’d had fun stirring the pot with the bike ride, she didn’t want to fuel the “rumors” in social media land by appearing at one of his games just yet. There’d be plenty of time for that. Three months, at least. If he kept his side of the bargain.

Then, after a too-long day at work, she arrived home to discover that Rosie had sent an invitation for Ainsley to attend a fundraiser at the Vancouver Aquarium, with a note: “It’ll be good for your PR.”

And while she was never a fan of a last-minute invitation—apparently Blake Lively couldn’t go—Ainsley liked fish well enough, and it might help appease some of those still upset about her feather dress to show she supported creatures with fins as well as feathers. Heaven forbid she ever wore fur.

She checked Zac’s game schedule, saw he was free, then messaged him.Hey Zac. How do you feel about fish?

His message came back almost like he’d been waiting by the phone.Do you mean eating or catching them?

She smiled.Neither, she tapped out.

Sure enough, her phone started buzzing. She pressed speaker. “Hi there.”

“Fish?”

She laughed. “You’re so direct.”

“Not always.”

Hmm. She wondered what he wasn’t direct about. But considering it was late, she should probably just get to the point. “So, I was wondering how you’d feel about accompanying me to a fundraising gala at the Vancouver Aquarium on Friday night.”

“This Friday?”

“Next Friday. I’ve checked the schedule. You don’t have a game.”

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