Page 18 of Silver Fake

I thought him calling me his girlfriend was some spur of the moment thing to make his parents happy, but they knew I was coming? I didn’t even know I was coming. Not here or for this. I certainly hadn’t planned on seeing John on my vacation; the vacation I took in great part to put some space between the two of us.

Flashing John a smile, I say, “He didn’t know I was going to be here today. When he told me he was coming a few days early I thought it would be nice to just show up and surprise him.”

“It was a great surprise,” John says, and there’s something intense in the way he’s looking at me that makes me swallow hard. He couldn’t really mean that, could he? No, of course not. Yes, we were having a nice conversation over lunch, but that doesn’t mean he wanted to run into me. Does it?

“If you need anything else for your room just let us know,” Bill says. “Wyatt probably set it up with John’s preferences in mind not knowing he’d have company. So whatever isn’t in there that you need just let us know.”

I swallow the lump growing in my throat. Shit. We are in our forties and I’m his girlfriend. Of course, they think we're staying here together. Grabbing my glass, I suck down some water a little too fast.

“It’s a little hot out here, isn’t it,” I say, trying to play it off.

“Oh, yes,” Nancy says. “The view is beautiful, but the Texas heat is something else.”

Bill motions out towards the water. “Give it a few minutes and the wind will be blowing over that water and you’ll be ready for John to run up to your room and grab you a sweater.”

I laugh, not sure what to say since John certainly won’t be able to grab anything of mine from his room.

“So Dad,” John says, and I’m praying for a topic change, “Wyatt told me you had to run out to the hardware store so you could fix someone’s shower?”

“Yeah,” Bill says. “Crazy kids broke the shower door somehow.”

“Oh, darlin’,” Nancy says, putting her hand on Bill’s knee under the table. “You remember what it feels like to be young and in love. They just got a little carried away is all.”

Bill leans over and whispers something in Nancy’s ear and the way she blushes I’m pretty sure he’s just reminded her he knows exactly what it feels like. When I look up at John he's already grinning at me.

“See,” I hear Nancy say, “they know what I mean.”

Bill laughs, and leans back in his seat with his arm around Nancy. “You guys should come to dinner with us tonight.”

“Oh, yes,” Nancy says. “We’d love the chance to get to know you, Lisa, and learn about how you two started dating. John has kept you a secret until now, so we want to know everything.”

“That sounds great, Mom,” John says, “but we already have plans for tonight.”

“Oh, I understand,” Nancy says, but the way her face falls I can see she’s sad and it’s hard for me to not override John and tell them we can make it tonight, but I know that would be wrong.

“We can have dinner tomorrow night,” John says, “if that works for you guys.”

I look at him with a tight-lipped smile and Nancy brightens right back up. I guess seeing his mom sad over dinner isn’t something he could withstand either. How am I going to explain this to Denise when I’m supposed to be spending time with her for the next few days?

I know she told me I should try to meet a man while I’m here, but I don’t think she was hoping I’d run into Mr. Grizzly our first time out of the house and wind up stuck entertaining him and his family for the rest of my time here at Barton Beach.

I smile at his mom and dad and say, “Yeah, dinner would be great tomorrow.”

“Great,” Bill says.

“I can’t wait to get to know you,” Nancy says, her eyes on me.

“Me too,” I say, and it really isn’t a lie. I might not actually be John’s girlfriend, but in the few minutes sitting here with his parents I already know I like them, and a part of me does want to get to know them better, even if this is all a bad idea.

Bill stands and holds his hand out, helping Nancy up. “Sorry we’re rushing off,” Bill says. “But I’ve still got to get that shower door replaced before we have our dinner, or the next guests check into that room.”

“Oh, of course,” I say, standing to tell them bye.

John gets up and walks around giving his mom and dad a hug.

“Call us tomorrow so we can get a time a place set for dinner, okay,” Nancy says to him.

“I will Mom,” he says, then kisses her cheek.

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