Page 19 of Personal Escort

“I kinda had. And then Nana sent me a letter.”

“An email?”

“No, an honest-to-God letter. Nice stationery and all.”

“Sounds serious.”

“She’s hired a matchmaking service to find me a mate.”

“Huh.” His single-syllable sound is short, clipped, and hard.

“This can’t happen, Toby.”

“Right.”

“I should just tell her to back off.”

“Yes, you should. But you won’t.”

“I can’t,” I whisper.

He sighs. “Then tell her you’ve met a guy.”

My breath catches in my throat.

“Plan 2.0,” he murmurs more gently than I deserve. “Time to kick it into action. Whirlwind love affair in three, two, one…”

“What’s his name? I haven’t even thought of that.”

“Ralph.”

I snort. “No.”

“Blake.”

I wrinkle my nose. “No. How about Alex?”

There’s a pause at his end, then he clears his throat. “Sure.”

“I hope the actor I find looks like an Alex. I’m doing this all backwards.”

“Actor?”

“You had a good point. I probably can’t risk hiring an escort. An actor might be more money, but—”

“I’ll hire the escort for you. I mean, it’s important that it be someone who understands the role. An actor sounds…risky.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.” I chew on the corner of my lip. “I probably shouldn’t involve you in this at all.”

“And yet here I am, waiting for the sun to rise on the other side of the globe, happily involved. Don’t worry about that.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Nana, but I actually met a guy this week. Sounds good?”

“Sounds great. Keep it simple. The best lies are as close to the truth as possible.”

“I met him on the plane back to Toronto. He called me later in the week, and we’re having coffee this weekend. I can’t, in good conscience, agree to start seeing other people when he’s all I can think about.” I can feel my mouth curving into a smile as the story blooms to life.

“Alex sounds like a great guy,” Toby says gruffly.

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