Page 92 of Just One Fake Date

Maybe Ty would go to his sister’s show. Maybe he’d find something to mix up his look a bit. It was an idea he immediately liked.

He wished he could convince Shannyn to go with him.

“What about the helpful aunties?” she prompted. “You’ve only mentioned one.”

“Teresa is my mom’s big sister.”

“The one with all the grandkids?”

Ty nodded. “And there’s Maureen, my mom’s baby sister. Her daughter Maxine is unmarried.” He sighed. “Someone will mention the toilet paper incident. It was Maxine, last year at Stephanie’s wedding. She came back to the dance floor with it trailing from her shoe. My sisters are pretty merciless in teasing her about it.”

“Because she’s been merciless to them in the past?”

He paused to consider that then appreciated her perceptiveness. “You know, I guess she was, especially when we were kids. She’s the same age as me and kind of lorded it over my sisters.”

“And parents?”

“My mom is Colleen and has always been a homemaker.”

“Five kids would have kept her busy.”

Especially given her keen management of them all, but Ty didn’t say that. “My dad, Jeffrey, is a retired investment banker who pretty much lets Mom steer the course while he works on his golf game. Forty or so years married.”

“You don’t know exactly?” Shannyn asked with a bright sidelong glance.

Ty smiled. “Thirty-seven years. August 15.”

She made a note.

“Be warned that there will be garden club ladies and church ladies and an entire social network in attendance. My mom was organizing events long before the first engagement in the family.”

“Big wedding then.”

Ty nodded, suspecting he looked a little bit weary.

“You don’t like that.”

“It seems like a lot of money, trouble and pressure to celebrate something that’s private in the end.” He thought of Lauren visiting him and her comment about their mom’s planning. “And I have to wonder if people can just get swept along, that if they have any last-minute doubts, they’re afraid to say anything and stop the juggernaut.”

“How are you going to manage your big day when it comes?”

“After four years of this, I think elopements have a certain appeal.”

“Family weddings can be fun.”

“I can tell you haven’t attended any lately. I think of them as endurance tests.”

“You must have a crazy auntie who insists on dancing the Macarena with you.”

He smiled. “My grandmother. Everyone calls her Trixie.” His gaze lingered on Shannyn. “You’ll like her,” he said and knew it was true.

Her smile was quick. “I’d better practice my Macarena, then.”

They laughed together, then the waiter brought the soup. It was a creamy tomato bisque with a swirl of cream on the surface and embellished with fresh basil.

“Made fresh,” Shannyn said quietly after she had a taste. “And from scratch. This chef knows his stuff.” She took another taste and he watched her savor it and consider it.

“Are you getting ideas?”

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