Page 12 of The Boyfriend Swap

“At the Bellows’ Christmas party, you can monopolize the ebonized Steinway and Sons grand piano for as long as you’d like. In fact, we can organize a show. And…” She graced us with her sly grin once more. “This will be a fantastic acting exercise for you. You’ll have to convince upward of forty people we’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“I’m not sure.” He gave me a wary glance, but there was a gleam in his eyes, and I could tell Sidney held his interest.

Piling on the incentives, Sidney said, “Have I mentioned the largest practice area in my firm is entertainment law? It’s what both my dad and I specialize in. My father invites his most prestigious clients and business colleagues to Christmas. This means networking opportunities galore for you.”

Perry pressed his lips together, appearing to ponder his next words. “Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll be Sidney’s boyfriend for a few days—in name only, of course.” He shined his baby blues on me. “I’ll miss you, but if it’s what you really want…”

I swallowed hard. It was what I wanted, wasn’t it? Why else would I be on a double date with Sidney, a virtual stranger, and her boyfriend—Will Brady? I’d agreed to lie to my parents, something I never did, just to avoid their blatant disdain for my dating choices. So what if I had an unrequited crush on Will the entire duration of my childhood? I was an adult now, and I was dating Perry. I needed to protect him from my parents’ judgement and maintain my sanity over the holiday weekend. Thiswaswhat I wanted.

Then why did I feel like I was going to throw up?

“Of course it’s what she wants,” Sidney responded for me.

I nodded timidly. “Sure.” Taking a deep breath in and letting it out, I clarified my answer with a more confident “Yes.” I met Will’s eyes across the table. “As long as Will’s okay with it too.”

“What do you say, Will?” Sidney asked, sounding certain the answer would be a resounding “Yes.”

Chapter 4

Robyn

“Too bad Will had to be a killjoy,” Perry said the next morning at my kitchen table as he crunched on a piece of bacon.

I was rehashing the events of the night before to Anne Marie over the scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast breakfast she’d generously prepared for us. She even used gluten-free bread for Perry. “Uh-huh,” I said, swallowing a forkful of eggs even though the gnawing feeling in my stomach was competing with my usually voracious morning appetite.

Perry slumped down in his chair and shook his head. “Who knows who would show up at a party like that? Any of those tycoons could be a Broadway investor or a movie studio honcho.” He dropped his fork onto his plate in frustration.

“Could be.” Even though Sidney had clearly proposed the swap as a way to help the two of us, Perry was more focused on how Will’s refusal to play along affectedhim. I lacked the energy to be annoyed.

Anne Marie scooted her chair closer to mine and whispered, “What are you going to do about Chrismukkah?” She motioned her head toward Perry, who was scooping the rest of his eggs onto a piece of toast, oblivious to how Will’s negative response to the boyfriend swap idea affected me.

I stood up and walked to our coffee pot, my music note slippers scratching against the medium-brown wood floor of our kitchen. “I’ll have to find some way to tune out my parents’ nagging.” Whether I ended up with Perry or not, my folks would eventually need to accept that my taste in men was not necessarily one a financial advisor would consider a conservative choice—it was more stock than bond.

“You think your mom will make those pumpkin pastries? What are they called again?” Perry asked.

I sat back down at the table. “They’re called rodanchas, and no. We eat those on Rosh Hashanah. She’ll probably make fried bread though. They’re called sfinz. You’ll like them.”

Perry beamed, seemingly no longer upset about being stuck at the Lane holiday dinner, where his chances of being discovered as the next Matthew Morrison were nonexistent. Perry fanboyed over Morrison because he managed to succeed in both television and on Broadway. I wished my mom’s cooking was enough to make me feel better about Will saying no. A part of me was relieved he wouldn’t play along. There would be no need for me to lie to my parents, brother, and every other member of my extended family coming to dinner about who I was dating. And yes, bringing Perry along would be painful, but at least it was a familiar agony. But why wasn’t Willcomfortablewith it? Was he distressed with the situation in general, or was it personal to me? I bet he remembered the time junior year when he walked in on me and my best friend James singing acapella upstairs at Cassie Milano’s keg party while everyone else was using the bedrooms to get drunk or fool around. From the mystified expression on his face, you’d think he caught us practicing witchcraft, not belting out Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.”

Interrupting my thoughts, Anne Marie said, “What’s Will like? The way Sidney talks about him, I bet he’s hot. I can’t believe you grew up with him. What a small world.”

“Crazy, right?” I said into my coffee cup. I was desperate to confide my puppy love for Will to Anne Marie, but I couldn’t do it in front of Perry. I also felt guilty given her relationship with Sidney.

Perry stood up and stretched his arms in the air. “I’m going to take a shower. Feel free to join me,” he said with a wink before walking out of the kitchen.

Anne Marie stared after him. “His parents must have fed him a lot of milk as a child.”

“They certainly fed his ego,” I said with a laugh.

“You gonna join him?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“No,” I yelped, horrified. It was one thing to have sex with Perry behind closed doors in my bedroom, but I would never shower with him while Anne Marie was home.

Anne Marie giggled. “Not sure I’d have the same restraint.”

“Obviously, I’m the more considerate roommate,” I said, before sticking my tongue out at her. I stood up and patted my belly. “Thanks so much for breakfast. Just what I needed to fortify myself for some research. I’ll do the dishes, kick Perry out, and spend the next few hours with my nose in the internet.” I had told Anne Marie what Lynn had said about the music program, and even though I was afraid of what I might find, I wanted to see if other schools in the metropolitan area had suffered a similar fate. I’d considered commiserating with Lance, but thought better of it. If he hadn’t heard the rumors, I didn’t want to stress him out before I verified whether there was any truth to them.

Waving me away, Anne Marie said, “Leave the dishes. You can do mine tomorrow.”

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