Page 88 of Just One Fake Date

She held out her arm, studying her ink. “The sun and the moon, the rain and the stars. It’s pretty, and to me, it means seize the day.”

“Carpe diem.” An excellent philosophy, but not one Ty had associated with Shannyn. Maybe it explained Tuesday night.

“Not exactly,” she said with a little frown. “More like, good morning. You’ve gotten another day and maybe another night. What are you going to do with that? How are you going to make it count?” She shrugged as if the tattoo wasn’t important.

Ty wasn’t fooled. It had been an investment in time and money. It mattered.

She just didn’t want him to guess how much.

“How are you going to change the world?” he suggested.

“Or just your life. Maybe someone else’s life.” Shannyn shrugged. “We’re not just here to take up space.” She frowned at the menu but did a lousy job of ignoring him.

“And the other one?” he prompted. “The moons?”

“That everything has a season.” She smiled a little but didn’t look up. “Or maybe ‘this too shall pass’.”

Ty had the urge to straighten out her ex one more time. “Why do you need the reminders?”

“Because both things are easy to forget, of course. What’s good here?”

“Everything I’ve tried, which is pretty much everything except the squid.” He leaned in and talked to her about the choices, as if they were on a real date. They agreed on sparkling water instead of wine, and placed their orders, then sat back and considered each other.

“What’s really going on here?” Shannyn asked.

“Dinner, I think.”

“No. More than that.” She fixed him with a look. Ty wondered if she had x-ray vision because he felt pinned to the spot. “You’re up to something.”

Ty shook his head. “Not a chance. I just have a new plan.”

“Aha! Care to share?”

“It’s not that complicated. You like having your own way. I decided it would be easiest to just fall in with that.”

“Meaning?”

“You make the rules and I’ll follow them.”

She studied him for a long moment, clearly skeptical. Ty braced himself for her reaction, whatever it might be. “You’re kidding me.”

Ty shook his head then crossed his heart with two fingers.

To his relief, Shannyn smiled, but she still looked wary. “By strange and unusual coincidence, I happen to have a list of new rules.”

“For?”

“For the rest of this fake relationship. From today though the tossing of the bouquet.”

“Should I take notes?”

“I think you’ll remember.” Shannyn looked him in the eye. “Number one is no sex.”

“Because it was bad or because it was good?” Ty had to ask.

“I don’t have to tell.”

“No sex between you and me, or between either of us and anyone else?”

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