Page 77 of Say Yes to the Hot Mess

“Good, I’m glad,” I say.

“All right, well, I just wanted to tell you I’ll be seeing you soon. Drive safe, sweetie. I love you!”

“Love you too,” I say, only half paying attention. My mind is still turning over this development, and once I’ve hung up, I look at Maya. “Did you hear all that?”

“Yeah, sorry,” she says, shrugging apologetically. “She talks really loud.”

I nod. “She does, yeah.” Then I sigh. “Well, I guess she’s coming to stay with my grandma to help out for a while until her hip gets a little better.”

Maya bites her lip, looking suddenly guilty, and I shake my head.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say. “It really wasn’t.”

“I mean, it was a little bit,” she says. “I fell on her.”

“Yeah, but you were pushed. And it could have happened to anyone, Maya.”

She shrugs. “I guess,” she says. Then she looks at me. “You know, I think your mom is lonely.”

I frown. “Why do you think that?”

“Well, think about it. She hangs on to you and Jude for dear life. Your dad doesn’t seem to be a particularly communicative man.” She looks at me with raised brows, as though confirming the fact.

“He’s not,” I say.

She nods. “So I think maybe she just…gets lonely. And she misses you. And meddling in your life is her way of being there.”

Huh. I can honestly say that idea never occurred to me. But I can’t dismiss it out of hand, either.

“Well, either way,” I say. “She’s moving in to Sunset Horizons. Which means—”

“We need to keep fake dating.”

My gaze whips to Maya. “Really?”

I could swear her cheeks turn the tiniest bit pink. “Is that not what you were going to say?” she says, looking mortified. “We don’t have to. I just thought—”

“No, no,” I cut her off. “It is. That’s good. That’s what I was thinking too.”

It’s not…exactly. I was thinking of a way to tell my mother we’d broken up. But only because I didn’t want to force Maya into the position of having to pretend again. If she’s up for it, though…

Well, who am I to say no?

“So…fake girlfriend?” I say.

“Fake boyfriend,” she responds, giving me a smile.

Something inside me sighs with relief. Seeing Maya smile is like taking a deep, cleansing breath.

And that’s when I realize: I’ve got it bad.

I’m falling for my fake girlfriend in a big way.

Nineteen

Maya

I’m prettysure I embarrassed myself heartily last night.

---