Page 17 of Extra Witchy

“Sure.”

He served himself and joined her on the sofa, as it seemed rude to eat by himself at the bar or the table. Though he got along with most people, he didn’t feel comfortable with many. Leanne’s mom was a rare exception. She didn’t ask any questions, just chatted casually about the case and added a few wild anecdotes about problems she’d had with various roommates.

“If you tell me when, I can help you move,” she said suddenly.

Trev blinked. He’d gotten too relaxed, apparently, and now she was launching the sneak attack when his guard was down. He had no idea what to say. If he deferred to Leanne again, Junie would probably suspect something was up. It wasn’t normal for someone to have absolutely no preferences or ideas of their own.

So he replied, “So nice of you to offer, but I have burly guys for that. Thanks for breakfast, I need to take off now.”

Before you ask me how long we’ve been dating or when her birthday is.

“Oh, I didn’t do anything. It was so nice meeting you.” She hesitated, padding after him when he went to the kitchen to rinse his bowl and spoon and put them in the dishwasher. “I hope you’ll take care of my baby. She acts like she doesn’t need anyone, but it’s a front, you know? Once you get through her defenses, there’s nobody sweeter or more loyal.”

“Right,” he said, feeling like the biggest asshole in creation.

“Take care!” At the front door, Junie hugged Trev, surprising the hell out of him.

As he drove home on automatic, he imagined what it would be like really dating someone like Leanne, so put together, working a professional job—smart, successful, beautiful. He laughed softly, shaking his head.Yeah, right. What would I bring to the table?That wasn’t just him being hard on himself. She didn’t even have a yard for him to mow, so she didn’t need the maintenance skills he’d mentioned the night they met. Being willing to remove spiders—and frankly, he was sort of scared of them anyway—get things on high shelves, and change light bulbs in the ceiling didn’t seem like enough.

At home, he headed in without seeing either of his parents. Part of him wondered if they’d even notice if he stopped coming back. Hell, his old man might be pleased he was finally moving out, even without asking where he was headed. They’d told him Tanner was coming home this weekend, bringing the wife and kids too.

That’ll be fun. I wonder… No, I can’t ask her to do that.

He paused, staring into his mini fridge despite not being hungry. But why not? It would be fair to ask Leanne to come to the family dinner and get him off the hopeless hook. If she could benefit from this pretense, so could he. Trev chewed his lip, trying to decide if he had the balls to ask for this favor in return.

Just then, his phone beeped, making him juggle it. He opened his messages to find one from Leanne. Smirking, he changed her contact to “My Honey,” knowing she’d likely hate it. Though he hadn’t known her long, she didn’t seem like the gushy, sticky-sweet type. Trev tapped on the message notification and read.

Leanne:We should talk.

Huh. That’s not ominous at all.

Trev:Name the time and place.

She sent him a pin on the map for a restaurant near the old courthouse. Apparently, Leanne’s office was a few streets over in the new government building. With a shrug, he agreed to be there in three hours and killed the rest of that time doing a Twitch stream. He’d hoped to get some followers and maybe spin his hobby into something more, but it seemed like that wasn’t his thing either. Currently, he had fifty-eight followers—wild that some people had millions.

Trev couldn’t believe it, but for the second day in a row, he went looking for a decent outfit and got himself ready to go out. He even tried to style his hair, though that didn’t go well.Maybe I’ll get a trim.The layers were beyond grown out, and in all honesty, he couldn’t recall the last time he’d done more than shear it off himself when it got too long to see.

That’s probably not a good sign.

At the appointed time, he headed out, but finding a place to park on the square ate into his head start, and walking the two blocks to the restaurant she’d suggested took a bit as well. When he arrived, Leanne was already waiting for him. She lifted a hand as he stepped in. It was a small Mexican place with only eight tables, and the food was fantastic. He’d eaten here a few times with the guys since Miguel knew the family that ran the place.

“What’s up?” he asked.

He didn’t say she looked great, although she did, because he hadn’t gotten date vibes from her terse text. As soon as he sat down, she said, “I heard you had breakfast with my mom.”

“Was I not supposed to?”

“Shelovesyou,” Leanne snapped.

“Uh, sorry…” He really wasn’t following.

This is what she wanted, right?

“It’s a little bit of a problem because now she’s talking about renting an apartment in town or answering a roommate ad here. She wants to stick around for our wedding.”

“Oh shit,” Trev said. “Dinner is one thing. But we can’t get married as a…” The word escaped him for a bit, then he snapped his fingers when it came to him. “As a ploy.”

She grinned. “That’sexactlywhat I wanted to talk to you about. Why can’t we?”

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