Page 38 of Just One Fake Date

On the strokeof seven Wednesday morning, Ty’s phone rang.

He was already awake.

In fact, he’d barely slept.

Colleen McKay had a rule about not calling anyone before seven in the morning, unless it was an emergency or a weekend. (On the weekend, she waited until eight.) Ty could imagine that his mom had been standing in her kitchen, impatient to make the call, for at least two hours, tapping her toe as the minute hand on the big clock made slow progress.

Paige would have called her immediately, independent of the hour.

“Hi Mom.” He sounded weary and didn’t care.

“Tyler! I’m so glad I caught you.”

“It’s seven in the morning, Mom. Where would I be that you wouldn’t be able to catch me?”

“Never mind that. I want to know aboutShannyn!” His mom’s voice rose with excitement and anticipation. “Who is she? Where did you meet? How long have you been seeing each other? And what happened to Giselle?”

“Giselle and I broke up a while ago, Mom. It just didn’t work out.”

“You should have told me!”

“I knew you liked her.” Ty tried to sound sad. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.” That part was true.

“You’re so sweet. But think of the lost opportunities, Tyler. Just two weeks ago, Geraldine Wright’s daughter came home from veterinary school and Geraldine was saying that she’d asked about you...”

“Oh well, Mom. What will be will be.”

His mom became stern. “You’re very cavalier about this, Tyler, but you’re not getting any younger...”

“Shannyn,” Ty said, interrupting his mom with a distraction.

It worked.

“Shannyn! How did you meet?”

Ty kept it simple and as close to the truth as possible. “We had a class together in college. An English Lit class. And we just ran into each other again here in the city.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s a freelance photographer.”

“A photographer! How wonderful—and creative. That’s a good balance for you. But how did you run into her in Manhattan? Were you at a social function?” His mom’s voice rose with the hope that he was out mingling.

“She came here to the club to take some pictures of us for an article in the alumni magazine.”

“Destiny,” his mother breathed. “Even when you work all the time, Cupid comes through.”

Ty rolled his eyes and refrained from commenting on that.

“A photographer,” his mom mused. “You should take her to Katelyn and Jared’s little show.” Katelyn and Jared were having a small art show in their loft in Soho on the Friday night before the bridal shower. “After all, we can’t all be there, and it would be good to show support. Plus, she might convince you to buy something.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be going to their show,” Ty said, because he had no plans to attend. “I might be working.”

“Tyler!” his mom chided. “Well, is Shannyn coming to the shower?”

He tried to put the brakes on his mom’s planning. “She might be working. She has some big jobs right now.”

“But you have to convince Shannyn to come to the shower. We’re all dying to meet her.”

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