Page 32 of Away With You
I give her a wary glance, and she reads it well, toning down the nutty.
“What I mean is, you should do it now, before you can talk yourself out of it.”
We sit in silence while I weigh it all out in my head. Asking Katie to be my fake girlfriend. Seeing the looks on my family’s face—Victoria’s face—when I bring her to the wedding. Spending a week alone with the woman who’s got me feeling all the things. It’s a no-brainer for me just to ask. The worst that can happen is she’ll say no.
I hope she doesn’t say no.
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
My sister whoops with glee, standing back up to do a jig. She’s so cute when she’s like this.
“Do it now. Go now. And take food. Women love men who show up with food.”
I nod, taking instructions carefully. Last week, when we’d gone Christmas tree shopping, there had been a lot of talk about bagels. That will be my second stop. First stop, shower and get dressed. I’m now a man on a mission. Off to go make it happen. Off to ask Katie to be my girlfriend.
Myfakegirlfriend.
Must remember that.
CHAPTER 9
KATIE
“I need you to be my girlfriend.”
Wow.This dream seems so real. Nathan is standing at my front door, leaning in that hot way he has, shoulder propped up, ankles crossed, smiling at me and asking me to be his girlfriend. It’s the kind of dream I used to have back at school, where he’d turn up out of the blue and confess his undying love for me. It seems I’ve not yet outgrown these girlish fantasies.
“Time to wake up, Katie,” I tell myself, rubbing my eyes and blinking.
That’s not right. He’s still there, smiling even wider at me than before.
“Nathan?”
“In the flesh.”
I shake my head and rub my eyes again. After my dinner with Nathan last night, I’d stayed up into the wee hours of the morning working on a new funding grant. With the deadline fast approaching, I’d known sleep would evade me until the bulk of it was completed, so I’d settled into bed with my laptop and had worked until my eyes bled.
Seems like I’m paying the price for my work ethic now; my brain is playing funny buggers with me.
“Kitty Kat?”
In my dream, Nathan pushes up to standing and reaches out to smooth my hair back from my face, rubbing a few strands gently between his fingers as he does.
It seems so real.
“Because it is.”
“Pardon?”
He grins, stepping inside and closing the door. “Are you okay?”
The combination of the cold air breezing through the now closed door and his scent, that unmistakable scent, finally cuts through. I’m not dreaming. I’m awake. Standing in my pyjamas with bed hair and morning breath, looking at a very real Nathan standing in front of me.
This is not good.
“Arrggh.” I take off running, closing my bedroom door behind me. If this isn’t a dream, then that man out there has caught me at my absolute worst.
“I’ll get the tea going, shall I?” he yells through the door, like this is all so very normal.
