Page 14 of The Boyfriend Swap

I’d tried to keep my vow, but I was afraid bringing Will with me to Christmas would have disastrous consequences. Will purposely chose an employer that embraced the work/life balance. Subjecting Will to my father, whose motto was, “Work/life balance? What’s that?” would be cruel. Even worse, my mother had been burying me with texts about Perry: How did we meet? Was it serious? Did he drink wine, beer, or hard alcohol? Did I want to invite his parents too? Was he a leftie or a righty? At some point, I’d come up with a way to explain Perry’s sudden name change to Will, but I wished it wouldn’t come to that. I shuddered at how much time I’d lost scrolling through her multiple messages and ignoring her questions. She was going to suffocate me to the point where I’d want to be holed away from everyone, including Will. For both of our sakes, I had to convince him to change his mind about the swap.

As I heard his footsteps approach my bedroom from the bathroom, I brought my phone to my mouth and said, “Yes, he’s a lawyer.” While silently counting to ten, I peered out my bedroom window and down eight flights at the pre-war buildings across the street. My newly constructed complex was one of the few high-rise apartments among century-old tenement buildings.

“A third year at Kensworth and Associates,” I said. Breathe. One, two, three. Breathe. Four, five, six. “Good memory. They were opposing counsel on the Russell case.” I let my head fall back and groaned. “Yes, he’s intelligent, Dad. It’s a good firm.” I turned around and feigned a shocked expression when I saw Will leaning against my bedroom door. My father’s inability to take a hint had made me too late to admire Will’s freshly showered naked body. He was already fully clothed in blue jeans and an olive-colored sweater that brought out the green in his eyes. Placing my hand over the phone, I whispered, “Sorry.”

Will raised and lowered his shoulders in a shrug before sitting on the edge of my bed and lacing up his Jack Purcell Signature sneakers.

“No, I’m not going to ask him to do research for one of our cases during Christmas. Have you heard of it? The one day a year almost everyone besides movie-theater and Chinese-restaurant employees gets the day off? He doesn’t work for you.” A tear lodged in my eye as I became more fully invested in my manipulation.

“Is Mom there?” I asked no one. “Well, Aaron Davenport will have to find his own date because I’m spoken for.” I rolled my eyes at Will. “Okay, tell her I called. Yes. Bye.”

I placed the phone on the windowsill and stared out the window. My hands were shaking and my stomach felt heavy. I wasn’t sure if it was a result of guilt or desperation.

“You all right, Sid?”

I turned away from the window and joined Will on the bed. Wiping my eye, I said, “I’ve been better.” I hated lying to him, but the more I allowed an idea to fester in my brain, the more determined I became to make it a reality—no matter what.

Will smiled sheepishly. “You weren’t kidding about your dad, huh?”

I sighed and rested my head against his shoulder. With my eyes closed, I said, “I wish I was.”

“I only heard your end of the conversation, but I can see how this might be equally painful for both of us.” He stroked my hair. “Do you honestly think bringing Perry instead of me is a good idea?”

“I do. Crazy as it sounds,” I said without opening my eyes. “I know you think I’m being a drama queen, but I only want to protect you. Your first introduction to my family should be during a shorter dose of time, not Christmas.”

“It’s only for one day, right?”

Finally opening my eyes, I turned to face him. He was so close to bending, I could feel it. “My family expects me from the twenty-third to the twenty-sixth. Since Robyn’s from out of state, I assume she’s planning a longer stay too.”

Will stood up and whistled through his teeth. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll reach out to some of my old friends from high school and if any of them are heading to Bala Cynwyd for the holidays, I’ll go with Robyn. At least I’ll have extra incentive.”

I jumped off the bed and hurled myself into his arms. “Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I said as I hugged him.

“We’ll need ground rules,” Will said, separating from me.

“I don’t think we need to create a handbook. We’re all grownups. Be as convincing as possible without actually getting naked and it should be fine, but we can talk about it later.” I wanted to bask in my victory for a while before ironing out the details.

Will chuckled. “So anything goes as long as Robyn and I are clothed?”

“Don’t sass me, Brady,” I instructed, but a visual of Robyn and Will naked together appeared before me, and a ping of jealousy stabbed me in the gut. The emotion exited as swiftly as it arrived. Even if Will found Robyn attractive—he was a man after all—Robyn wasn’t the type. Despite only meeting her on two occasions, and notwithstanding Perry’s comments about her purity score, I’d bet my quarterly bonus Robyn would never screw someone else’s boyfriend. I wouldn’t either, and I was fairly certain Will would take the moral high ground as well. Just the same, I reiterated, “No rule book is necessary, but trust your gut. If it strikes you as inappropriate, it probably is.”

“And the same applies to you and the ‘blond god,’ right?” Will asked with a serious tone.

“Of course.” With any luck, I’d spend just enough time with Perry to introduce him as my boyfriend and then cut him loose to wear out the piano keys or serenade the kitchen staff.

Will cocked his head to the side. “How will you explain bringing home an actor after just telling your dad your boyfriend is a lawyer?”

My stomach clenched. If I told Will the truth—that my folks had no idea what my boyfriend did for a living—how could I explain the telephone conversation with my father he’d just overheard? My sprightly mind coming to the rescue, I said, “I purposely keep my family guessing when it comes to my relationships. They’ll be surprised for a minute but will move on quickly.” I breathed a sigh of relief and gave mental thanks to the god of quick thinking for being so generous with me.

My belly grumbled in hunger, but first things first. “Can you call your friends before lunch?” I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my egg-white frittata until I was certain it was a done deal.

Robyn

“Ms. Lane?”

I stopped humming along to “Jingle Bell Rock” and followed the sound of the high-pitched but soft voice to where Aimee, one of my star fifth-grade students, was leaning against the classroom door. I glanced at my wall clock. “Hi there. I’m surprised you’re still here.” I’d stayed after school to remove the December decorations from my classroom wall. Then I remembered Aimee was part of the after-school program.

Aimee chewed on her lip. “I have to go to the doctor for my throat over winter break.”

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