Page 48 of The Problem with Dating
Gideon winked at me. “C’mon, dude. Lift the frame and let’s get going.”
It was Sunday, and the floor was set enough to finally move everything into the master suite. Gideon had called Allen this morning, misled the man into thinking he was coming over to meet me, and then put him to work. If that wasn’t a Louise Hayes, I didn’t know what was.
And poor Allen had fallen for it because, come to find out, his wife and children were in Santa Barbara, visiting her parents for the weekend before school started.
Allen lifted his side and grumbled, “You have a bored brother for this shit. Why’d you need to con me into this?”
“I didn’t con you,” Gideon lied. “I wanted you to meet Echo.”
“You can shit the fans, but you can’t shit the players, Gid,” Allen retorted. “I could have met her the normal way, you know. A get-together with you guys and my family. You know, like normal people?”
“Oh, Gideon’s not normal,” I chimed in.
“Thanks, babe,” he responded as he passed me and headed into the master suite.
“Don’t I know it,” Allen hollered back from inside the room.
Just then, the doorbell rang. “Be right back,” I told them, though I didn’t think they were paying attention. When I opened the door, Sayer smiled at me, leaned down, kissed me on my cheek, then walked right inside. But he wasn’t alone. A very good-looking guy was following in his wake, carrying a tote of some kind.
“Uh…”
“You’ll thank me later,” Sayer said before heading into the kitchen to help himself to whatever.
When I turned to face the guy who’d walked in with him, he smiled at me, held out his hand, and introduced himself. “Hi, Echo. I’m Jake. It’s nice to meet you.”
I took his hand. “Uh…hi, Jake. It’s…uh, it’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Where’s my brother?” Sayer asked from behind me.
Turning to face him, I said, “He’s in the bedroom. He and Allen are moving my stuff into the master suite.” Sayer gave me a quick nod and went to the back of the house.
“Okay, so…” I turned back towards Jake, and he’d seated himself on my couch and patted the cushion next to him. “Have a seat, ma’am.”
I sat down, though I had no idea who this guy was, or why Sayer had brought him to my house. But before I could question him, I heard the telltale noise of footsteps coming from the back of the house.
“Hey, Jake,” Gideon greeted as he headed towards the kitchen.
“Jake, my man,” Allen added, throwing him a chin lift.
“Do you guys need anything to drink?” Sayer asked as he followed Gideon and Allen into the kitchen.
Jake shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.”
Sayer looked over at me. “Echo?”
“Uh…uhm, no…no, than…thank you.” He gave me a nod and a grin before going on his way.
What in the hell was going on?
I turned towards Jake. “Uh…may I ask who you are?”
The man smiled, and he really was a good-looking sonofabitch. “I’m Jake,” he said.
“I…I know that,” I replied. “We already established your name, butwhoare you? What are you doing here?”
“Oh, that,” he said. I watched as he plopped the tote on the coffee table. “I’m your wedding planner.”
You know when your saliva accidentally goes down the wrong way and you start choking like an idiot?
