Page 18 of Skating and Fake Dating
“If I could show up back home, having found true love, Charlene would feel bad for leading me on all those years, letting me think we had a future together.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?”
“Nope. Those died when I walked in on her and her new boyfriend.”
“Oof. That must’ve been ugly.”
A smile peeks out from the side of Carson’s mouth. “Actually, it was kind of cute. See, I’d stolen a piglet from Farmer Jones in a bid to win her back. Charlene always wanted a mini potbelly as a pet. You can imagine my shock when I found her and Cyrus together. I set the piglet down and the piglet started squealing and prancing around while the new boyfriend and I got a little aggressive with each other. The police showed up and?—”
“The mugshot.” It was circulating on social media last spring.
I inhale sharply because if the guy could be charged with anything, it would be stealing hearts.
CHAPTER 9
BAILEY
I’m captivated as Carson continues his baby potbelly pig story. “I was charged with theft. Cyrus didn’t press charges because he still owed me the ten dollars I loaned him for gas back in high school. Said we’re even. As if.”
“I wish I had a fun side quest story like that to go along with my devastation.”
Carson lifts and lowers his shoulders. “Well, we could fake a relationship. Retroactive side quest style.”
I laugh into my coffee cup. “Yeah. Sure.”
“You get a ‘successful’ boyfriend for family events. I get a ‘Stable’ girlfriend to polish my team image. No feelings, no complications, and a definite expiration date.”
“One of my friends hired a guy to be her date for a wedding.”
He chuckles. “Please tell me they were exposed.”
“Why would you want that outcome?” I frame my forefingers and thumbs, forming a marquee. “Two unsuspecting and seemingly incompatible people come together under the auspices of him being her fake date, and then they actually fall in love. We saw it in a movie. They got their happily ever after—on the screen, not my friend.”
“Don’t believe in those either.”
“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine?”
As we come over a rise, we leave the fog behind and the dawning sun climbs from the east over the mountains, shining through the treetops.
Carson says, “I’ve sworn off love.”
“Forever?”
He nods slowly.
“Yeah. I guess me, too. For now. But I won’t lie, I did think about bringing a fake date to the wedding, but you and I could never fake a relationship. That’s absurd.”
“It’s just hypothetical.” He lowers the visor, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.
I swish my lips from side to side, thinking. “But if we did, there would have to be ground rules.”
“Of course. Boundaries,” he adds.
“It could only last for three months, tops.”
“Through the holidays and for family and team functions.”
Continuing to help build the infrastructure for a fake relationship that won’t happen, I add, “PDAs.”
