Page 15 of Four Steps to the Perfect Fake Date

Calvin closed the door to his office behind him as he swiped to answer the call. “Mom,” he clipped. “What’s up?”

“Darling!” she exclaimed, which made Calvin frown harder.Darling?They didn’t have that kind of relationship, though Eileen had been trying hard to pretend they did.

“I’m at work.”

“Too busy to talk to your poor old mother, huh,” she said, the pout evident in her voice.

Calvin ground his teeth. He kicked his chair back from the desk and dropped into it, then pinched the bridge of his nose. She was going in hard on the guilt trips within a few seconds. Pretty standard fare for Eileen Flint. Or no—it was Eileen Yarrow now. Had been for damn near a decade. That was a new record for Husband Number Four. Calvin forced himself to calm his tone as he asked, “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted you to hear it from me,” she announced.

“Oh?”

“Archie and I have decided to renew our vows!”

“Congrats,” Calvin said, keeping the sigh he wanted to release firmly behind his lips. “When’s the big day?”

“On our ten-year anniversary! March thirteenth. About a month from today. We’re sending out invitations this afternoon.” She hesitated for a brief moment. “One of them is addressed to you.”

He closed his eyes. He’d only just arrived on the island a week ago and had successfully avoided committing to anything involving his mother. He wasn’t sure he wanted anything to do with her at all. He’d changed and grown up, sure, but that didn’t mean he’d forgiven her. Playing the dutiful son at her vow renewal wasn’t something he wanted to add to his to-do list.

“I’ll check the schedule, but I’m not sure I can make time—”

“Of course you can make time. Look, I know you might not want to be there for me. I get that, okay? But you know that Archie was mayor for years, don’t you? And now his son has taken up the mantle. This will be the perfect opportunity for you to meet all the movers and shakers on Fernley ahead of the election in the fall. Don’t you think?” Her voice was hopeful, if a bit forced. She really wanted him to come.

Calvin leaned back and stared at the stained ceiling tiles above, grimacing. He didn’t even know if he wanted to run in the election for Fernley sheriff, let alone schmooze his way to a victory using his mother’s connections. The fact that his mother had any connections at all was almost unbelievable.

But—ten years. That was how long she’d stayed married to Husband Number Four. A new record. Maybe it was the real deal. Maybe she’d changed just as much as he had. Sometimes, it almost seemed like she was genuinely happy that he was back on the island.

Calvin had grown up and changed in the years since he’d scraped by with his high school diploma and gotten off this rock of an island. Was it so hard to believe his mother might have grown up too? Didn’t he owe her a chance, at least?

“It broke my heart when you couldn’t make it to our wedding, you know,” Eileen added quietly. “I mean, I understand, but I wish ...”

Calvin almost snorted. Broke her heart, did it? Did it break her heart when she left Calvin to fend for himself for the entirety of his childhood? Did it break her heart when there was no food in the fridge? When he had no one to rely on, no one to help him out of that holebecause she was too busy trying to find the next man to sink her claws into?

But he was the acting sheriff, and he’d be expected to show his face. If he blew the event off, it would make his job that much harder for however long he stayed in it. And as much as Calvin hated to admit it, his mother was right. He needed to meet more of the island’s residents, if only to get a sense of how things had changed in the years he’d been away—and how they hadn’t.

Plus, there was someone else to think about, and his mother knew it. As if she could read the direction of his thoughts, Eileen said, “Ceecee will be crushed if you don’t come, Calvin. She’s already got her dress picked out, and she wants you to wear a matching tie. Hope you like hot pink.”

Calvin’s protests disintegrated as easily as wet cardboard. His half sister was one of the main reasons he’d taken the job on Fernley. She was a bright, adventurous kid who didn’t deserve to grow up the way he had. It had been a shock when he heard his mom had fallen pregnant in her midforties, but Calvin hadn’t been able to turn his back on his little sister the way he wanted to do with his mother. He remembered being nine, remembered the anger and devastation of realizing no one cared. He wasn’t going to let that happen to someone else.

“All right. I’ll put it in my calendar.”

“Great!” Eileen exclaimed. “We’re giving you a plus-one.”

“Okay.” Not that he’d need one.

“I’ve already told the Deacons that you’d be happy to take their daughter along—”

“What?”

Calvin sat up. Rubbing elbows with the who’s who of Fernley political circles was one thing. Being set up on an excruciating date by his neglectful, self-absorbed mother was quite another. That’s where he drew the line.

“I just thought with you being new here, you might want to meet someone your age,” Eileen said, helpful as ever. When was she going todrop the act of the caring mother? They had too much history for him to believe a second of it.

He knew that tone. Eileen Yarrow was a woman who pretended to be flighty to hide the bulldog within. Once she latched on to an idea, it was near impossible to get her to let go. Ask any of her husbands. She’d latched on to them until she’d decided to toss them aside.

Calvin’s thoughts sped up. He couldn’t simply refuse the date, because it would be thrust upon him. He couldn’t avoid the event. There was only one option left.

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