Page 37 of Just One Fake Date

Predictably, Ty heard his sister’s voice as she approached.

Equally predictably, Paige took the phone and didn’t waste time with chit chat. “Who do you know in Flatbush?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course, it matters,” she said, her tone dismissive. “You’re calling in the middle of the night to ask Derek to replace a roof in Flatbush. This is improbable on any number of levels, unless—”

“She just needs a roof,” Ty said, interrupting, then realized his mistake in the beat of silence that followed.

“She?” Paige echoed.

Ty winced. He’d been so determined just to get Shannyn’s roof fixed and make a new deal that he hadn’t thought of the obvious implications. He was off his game.

On the upside, he and Shannyn were getting a relationship history, right this minute.

On the downside, he knew what Shannyn’s opinion of that would be.

“So, it’s a woman who needs a new roof, specifically a new girlfriend you haven’t told us about. Because Giselle is from Paris, not Brooklyn, which is way too far for Derek to bid on her roof.” Paige’s tone revealed that she was expecting a confession.

Well, they had a deal for the wedding. Ty conceded the inevitable. “Her name’s Shannyn,” he said. “She needs a new roof and the best price she’s gotten is too high for her.”

“What’s the address?” Derek asked, apparently leaning in on the call again. “Maybe I know the house.”

“I think it would be better if you talked to Shannyn. I can give her your number.”

“Ask her if she wants to talk about the roof before the weekend,” Paige demanded and Ty realized they thought he was with Shannyn.

Maybe even at her house.

In her kitchen or even her bed.

He was glad he didn’t know Shannyn’s address. Paige’s curiosity was legendary in the family and he wouldn’t have put it past her to load a screaming baby into the truck and demand that Derek drive past Shannyn’s house.

Then she’d knock on the door and ask to be introduced.

“I’ll get her to call you,” he countered. “Will you be around Saturday?”

“Absolutely,” Paige said with a decisiveness that revealed she was on the hunt for news.

Derek spoke then. “Do me a favor, Tyler, and tell me the high number. Let me know what I’m up against.”

Ty did and was ending the call when Paige grabbed the phone again. “Say hi to Shannyn for us,” she said. “Tell her I’msolooking forward to meeting her.”

“When are you going to meet her?” Ty asked, his panic rising. “It’s Derek who’s going to look at the roof.”

But Paige was gone.

Ty called back but the call went to voice mail. He didn’t leave a message, because he had to talk to Paige directly to change her mind. She was probably already calling another of the women in the family to share the news. His mom would be first. Ty fought against the sense that his perfect plan was unraveling, and insisted to himself that this was all good. It was laying the groundwork for him to introduce Shannyn at the wedding. It was making the relationship look real. That wasn’t why he’d called Derek, but it would be fine.

Just fine.

Probably.

He threw back the rest of his Scotch and headed for bed, knowing that all the laps he’d swum weren’t going to help him sleep at all.

Their fake date was happening, for better or for worse.

Six

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