Page 2 of Just One Fake Date

One thing Shannyn had learned was to check out any location in advance. There was no telling what complications might pop up. She checked her watch, then the address of the club. She could get the 4, 5 or 6 at Lexington, instead of continuing to 72nd and 2nd Ave for the Q, and stop at the fitness club on the way home. She stepped out into the rain and turned her steps in that direction, moving through the crowds with purpose.

Tyler McKay.

He probably wouldn’t even be there.

She might not see him at all.

Shannyn had a moment to feel both relief and disappointment, then realized how crazy that was. She’d have to hunt Tyler down for the picture of the partners, which meant shewouldsee him. And he would see her, even if she was behind the camera.

Even if he hadn’t forgotten her, maybe he wouldn’t recognize her. She’d changed her style in a big way. And twelve years. It had been one drunken night at a party almost a lifetime ago.

Shannyn crossed her fingers and hoped.

“And willwe be seeing Giselle at the wedding? You haven’t told me, Tyler.”

Ty frowned, hearing a thousand shades of expectation in his mother’s question. He was walking uptown toward the fitness club that he partly owned, hoping to get a few hours of work done in the evening. It was pouring rain, but he had the advantages of having an umbrella and being tall. He lifted it overhead, keeping himself and anyone in his vicinity dry. His briefcase was slung over his shoulder, his Italian leather shoes were getting wet, and his phone was against his ear.

Being the only partner with a day job meant that Ty worked pretty much all the time but he was good with that. He liked being a financial adviser at Fleming Financial and the security of a regular check, just as much as he liked being a partner at F5F. It was a lot to juggle but he enjoyed both sets of responsibilities. He’d worry about having a personal life later, after F5F was solid. He saw it as investing in his future.

But his mom had a different agenda. It was easy to guess what project she would take up once the last of his four sisters was married. Everything in Colleen McKay’s life had been about weddings for five years and it would take a dumber guy than Tyler to miss the natural progression.

He was next, no matter what he thought of that.

He needed a better plan than the fiction of Giselle.

“I really have to go, Mom...” Ty tried to duck the question again, guessing it wouldn’t work.

“But I just wondered, dear. You know that we’re finalizing the table settings.”

“You can’t be doing that yet,” he protested and let his tone turn teasing. It was better than having his mom guess the truth. “You just want toknow.”

“Of course, I want to know,” Colleen McKay huffed. “You’re not getting any younger, Tyler, and I want to see some grandchildren one of these days.”

“You have one.”

“I want more.”

“Ask the girls.” To Ty’s thinking, the question of grandchildren was resolved with his sisters’ marriages.

His mom apparently believed otherwise. “A son of a son, Ty. You know it would make your father happy. And Giselle is just lovely. So glamorous and charming...”

“But French, Mom. You said that before. And living in Paris.” Ty interrupted the list of Giselle’s attributes. He’d made a serious mistake letting Giselle survive in his mother’s imagination after their single date, although it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

That’s what he got for taking advice from his friend and partner, Kyle.

“But now that I’ve had time to think about it, and you’ve been seeing her so regularly, I want to support your choice. Will she be coming to the shower?”

“No,” Ty said flatly.

“Oh, it didn’t coordinate with her flights? That’s too bad, dear. Are you sure she couldn’t change them around?”

It seemed that Giselle was in league with his mom, because she also refused to take no for an answer. As he walked, he got a text from Giselle that she was in town, asking what he was doing for dinner. Ty was feeling a little harassed by women and their expectations.

He tried to change the subject. “Are you seeing Aunt Maureen any time soon?”

“She’s coming to the shower next Sunday, of course, but I would love to be able to tell her about your plans before then.” Ty was well aware that his mom and her sisters were competitive about their kids’ marriages and birth rate. “You know that poor Maxine probably won’t have a date at all, and inevitably, someone will suggest that you two are paired off for the seating at the wedding, but you’re cousins and Giselle would be a far more appropriate choice...”

Ty reached the club and held the door open for a woman who got to the entrance of the club at the same time as him. Probably a member coming to work out, judging by the size of her messenger bag. He smiled politely but she didn’t look up. She was a lot shorter than him and her big hood hid her face. He barely heard her murmured thanks before he shook out his umbrella and continued, striding through the lobby. “Gotta go, Mom. Work calls.”

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