Page 85 of Renegade Roomie

I glare.

“Well, almost.”

* * *

I head back to my place, trying to come up with a plan. If Callie’s too busy to get away from work, then I’ll just have to find a way to bring the relaxation to her. I could drop some food off, maybe offer up one of my admin assistants to help lighten her load. And then, once she’s got some space to breathe, we can talk about what’s next.

For us.

I walk faster, more energized now. I could put together a whole ‘business launch’ care package for her. Food, power smoothies, bath oils to help her relax.

And if she wants to invite me in the tub to help her with all that relaxing…

Well, I volunteer as tribute.

As I approach my building, I pass one of my neighbors on the way out. “You’ve got a visitor,” she tells me. “I buzzed her in, didn’t want to leave her on the sidewalk.”

I brighten. Callie? “Thanks,” I say, picking up my pace. I hurry upstairs, and find…

My grandmother.

“Oh.”

She arches an eyebrow at me. “A fine welcome,” she says, teasing.

“Sorry,” I quickly kiss her on the cheek. “I wasn’t expecting you, that’s all. It’s always great to see you. What brings you to town?”

I open my door and show her inside. Zelda follows, casting an eye around the place, and I send up silent thanks I left it half-way tidy.

“I have plans with friends for the theater, but then I realized, it’s the perfect opportunity to help you out.”

“Help me?” I echo. “With what?”

Zelda smiles. “Your proposal!”

Oh shit.

“No, grandma, I’m not—” I start to protest, but she talks over me.

“Now, I understand it’s a milestone in a man’s life, and you want to handle it yourself, but we both know that if you’re left to your own devices, you can get… Distracted, shall we say? Plus, a woman’s touch is always important for something like this. It’s a big moment, we want it to be something Callie remembers always.”

I wait for her to lose steam so I can politely steer her away from this big fictional proposal she’s just itching to plan.

Then I realize something.

Callie needs to know that the fake part of our relationship is over—that the whole business deal side of things is in the past, and whatever happens now is because we want to be together. If she wants to be together. We talked about staging a fake ‘break-up’ to get Zelda off our case, so…

Wouldn’t a big fake proposal solve all of that?

It makes a twisted kind of sense—especially with Zelda so gung-ho right now. I can picture it now: I get down on one knee, Callie says no way, we ‘break up,’ Zelda backs off, and then two of us are free to take things at our own pace, without any of the lies or pretense dogging us anymore. She’ll know I’m with her because I want to be with her, not any business arrangement. Down the road, if things go the way I’m hoping, then we can tell my family that we reconciled, but we’re taking it slow.

Simple.

Kind of.

“… Don’t you think?”

I find Zelda is looking at me expectantly. “Uh, sure,” I fib quickly.

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