Page 45 of Four Steps to the Perfect Fake Date

“This is my little sister,” Calvin cut in. “Ceecee, this is Daphne.”

“Are you in love with my brother?” Ceecee asked.

“No,” Daphne replied, a little more vehemently than seemed strictly necessary.

“Then why are you dating him?”

“We’re not—” She exhaled sharply. “Look. We work together. We’re taking things slow.” She repeated the last sentence like it was her lifeline. Calvin arched a brow, and Daphne scowled at him.

Ceecee hummed. “But you’re going to my mom’s vow renewal together. That’s a date. So you’re dating. That means you’re girlfriend/boyfriend. That’s how it works.”

There was a silence. Daphne’s jaw worked as she frowned at Ceecee, then flicked her inscrutable gaze to Calvin. “Right,” she said.

Despite himself, Calvin’s heart gave a heavy thump. “Can’t argue with that logic.”

Daphne’s brows nudged ever so slightly toward each other. Then she smiled at Ceecee. “Your brother seemed a little desperate for a date. I was trying to be nice.”

Calvin snorted.

“I’m glad you’re coming,” Ceecee announced. “Otherwise, Calvin will be alone, and that’s embarrassing.”

“That’s true,” Mabel agreed. “That would be embarrassing.”

Calvin needed to get this interrogation back on track. His eyes narrowed on Daphne’s. “Why did you speed off when I spotted you, if all you were doing was satisfying your curiosity?”

“We panicked,” Greta said.

“Youpanicked,” the third old lady said. “I was fine.”

“Why did you panic?” Calvin asked.

Greta blinked at him until Mabel said, “You’re a cop. Panicking when you’re doing nothing wrong in front of a cop is normal, no?”

Calvin tilted his head. “Well ...”

“Here we go!” Helen came gliding into the living room with a tray laden with snacks. “Daphne, scoot over so the sheriff can have a seatbeside you. Ceecee, darling, do you want a drink? We have orange juice or water. I have sparkling water too, so we could do a fizzy orange juice drink with a funky straw, if you want.”

Ceecee brightened. “Really?”

“Come pick your straw,” Helen said, and Ceecee was off like a shot. Calvin almost called her back, but he heard her excited chatter through the kitchen doorway along with Helen’s kind responses, and he didn’t have the heart to drag her away.

That kind of motherly attention was exactly what Ceecee deserved. It was what had made him so horribly jealous of Daphne when they’d been in school together, and he could now sit back and let his sister enjoy the attention, at least. Helen had been the school nurse, so she was used to dealing with kids. Ceecee would be fine with her for a few minutes.

It would give him time to figure out what the hell kind of game Daphne was playing. Suddenly her reasoning during their phone call last night seemed a little suspect. Whyhadshe agreed to attend the vow renewal with him?

Calvin took a deep breath and shuffled between the coffee table and the couch to take a seat next to Daphne. The three ladies before them looked at the two of them, big smiles on their wrinkled faces.

“Daphne’s father loves to bake,” Mabel said all of a sudden, picking up a slice of bread from the platter Helen had put down. She smeared a healthy layer of herbed cream cheese over it, then met Calvin’s gaze. “Does your mother like to bake, Sheriff?”

“Huh?” He frowned. “Um. No, not really. Not that I know of, anyway. We haven’t been that close since I moved off-island.”

“Hmm,” Greta said. “That’s interesting.”

“What about your grandmother?” the third woman asked, fingers drumming on the top of her butterfly-patterned cane. “Did your grandmother like to bake?”

There was a pointed pause. Beside him, Daphne put her elbows on her knees and massaged her forehead. A long sigh slipped through her lips.

Calvin cleared his throat. “Yeah, she did. She used to have fresh homemade bread whenever we’d go over to visit on the weekends.” She’d passed when he was young, just a year after his father had passed, and most of the good memories of his childhood had died with the two of them. After his grandmother’s death, there hadn’t been anyone around who seemed to care about him. His mother did her best to move on, and Calvin was left to deal with his grief on his own.

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