Page 20 of Someday You Learn

“Can I get your number?” she asks. “So I can text you where to meet?”

Penn steps in since I seem to be incapable of speaking. “I can give it to you,” he says, rattling off my digits as she enters them into her phone. A moment later, my phone vibrates in my pocket.

“There. Now you have my number too,” she says, offering a faint smile.

“Joy,” I manage.

“All right. It was nice to meet you, Cashlynn.” Dallas says, signaling for her to leave, and thank God she takes the hint, retreating back out the front door as he follows her to lock it behind her.

When he turns back to face me, I feel Penn and Grady’s eyes on me too, waiting for an explanation. I pick up my beer, drain the rest of it, and set the glass back down on the bar.

“Pour me another.”

***

Thirty minutes later, my second beer is gone, I’ve brought everyone up to speed, and managed to choke down half of my burger, but only because my older brothers made me.

“So you met her a year ago?”

“Were you not fucking listening?” Glaring at Penn, I toss my napkin on the bar and lean back on my stool.

“No need for the language, dickhead.”

Dallas sighs. “Look, I’m not about to break up a fight between you two again. Have some sympathy, Penn,” he says, glancing at the more annoying of my two older brothers. “Think about what this means for Parker.”

“That he might be engaged to a beautiful woman?” Penn asks with a shrug.

“Yeah, that he doesn’t even fucking know,” Dallas fires back.

Grady holds a finger up in the air, swinging his hips from side to side as he rocks his daughter still resting peacefully on his chest. “Not to mention, her dad is his boss.”

“Thank you all for the recap,” I mutter, running a hand down my face. “You’re such a load of help.”

Dallas grunts, leaning against the bar and crossing his arms over his chest. “Okay, so let me ask you this. Is there a reason she would have lied about something like being engaged to you? I mean, that’s a pretty calculated lie, if you ask me.”

“I have no idea why those words came out of her mouth, Dallas.” My hands are buried in my hair as I lean my forearms on the counter. “She barely looked at me when she stormed in the animal hospital, chastising her dad about being there when he was supposed to be resting, and then before I knew it, she called me her fiancé.”

Penn taps his chin with his finger. “There has to be a reason. You need to ask her about it when you talk tonight.”

“You think?” I glare at him.

“I just don’t think people are going to buy it,” Grady chimes in. “I mean, this is Parker we’re talking about. He’s made it very well-known that the idea of marriage repulses him.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I say as I push myself off the bar and sigh. “No one who knows me is going to believe this.”

“Depending on her motivation, you may have to become a really good actor,” Dallas says.

“Why are you encouraging me to go along with this?”

He shrugs. “People lie for different reasons. And the truth is, you do have a history with this woman.”

“Believe me, I know.”

Forthe past thirty minutes, all I’ve thought about is that night—holding her hand while we were flying, her on her knees sucking my cock, and watching her scramble out of that hotel room after life-altering sex.

This woman has been a fixture in my mind on and off for a year, and suddenly she appears out of nowhere. I’ve got to be missing something.

Penn pats me on the shoulder. “Just hear her out tonight.”

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