Page 21 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

“This isn’tThe Match Game. Your answers need to be aligned to make it believable,” she said.

“Aligned,” he repeated with a snort. “I don’t need a dossier on Leo.”

“We need to be on the same page about how we met.”

“We were friends, and then we were more than friends.”

It sounded surprisingly easy when he put it like that. If only real relationships could be that natural.

“I’m saying that our friendship naturally evolved to a romantic relationship in mid-July,” I said. “That way, it comes after the published exposé with Damian.”

“And we’ll say that you’d flown to Boston for a family event, had come to Sourwood to see Leo, and, well…” Vernita laughed nervously, finding it hard to keep things business. “Sparks flew.”

“You’d gone to Boston for your Great Aunt Bernice’s funeral,” I said, remembering when that news had popped up on our endless text chain. She had lived to 101, making it more of a celebration of life than a tragedy. “You weren’t able to stop here since you had to get back to set, but at least the timing will check out.”

A part of me felt guilty for roping in his dead great aunt to our scheme, but she’d marched in Boston’s first Pride parade fifty years ago. Out of anyone in Dusty’s family, she’d be the most game for helping out a fake gay couple.

“Okay, then. Great Aunt Bernice, gay matchmaker.” Dusty sipped his coffee.

“Is that cool?”

“Yep. That’s settled. We don’t need to do any other prep.”

Vernita flashed a cautious squint at me, probably regretting this Hail Mary idea. “We need to make sure you know Leo, so there aren’t any questions—”

“I know Leo better than anyone. Test me.” Dusty flashed me a wink.

“I get that you two are close friends, but there may be questions that come up. We need this interview to go as smoothly as possible.”

“Test me,” Dusty said.

“Dust.” I nudged the dossier his way.

“Ask me a question in your dossier.” Dusty wiped schmear off his lips, perfectly calm, while Vernita seemed primed to blow a coronary.

Vernita looked at me, and I gave her the green light.

“I know this seems weird,” I said to Dusty. “But we—”

“If I get a question wrong, then we can prep until the cows come home.” Dusty added a splash of half and half to his coffee. “But that’s only if I lose.”

He knew how I couldn’t turn down a competition. My pilot light had been lit.

“Ask him,” I told Vernita.

She turned to the first page. “What do you like most about Leo?”

“His eyes. They’re technically brown, but they look more like a charcoal gray, like a finely tailored suit.”

I checked myself in the toaster reflection and only now realized that my eyes did have some gray in them.

“Why did Leo decide to run for mayor?”

“Because the old mayor of Sourwood was caught taking bribes. It angered Leo so much, he decided to do something about it.” Dusty tipped his head to me. We were playing the oddest game of chicken.

“What’s his most annoying habit?”

“That when he’s bored, he tugs at his right ear lobe.”

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