Once we’re away from the hotel and on our way to the airport, he turns to me. “I’m sorry. Melanie is an ex, but I haven’t been with her in a long time.”
“But she knew this is where you stay?”
“She knows I stay wherever an upcoming fight is. Yes.”
“It’s none of my business. It’s fine.”
He takes my hand. “I want you to know she’s no one.”
I nod. “Whatever, we both have exes.”
I assume he has a lot more than me, since I don’t really date because dating is generally going somewhere and I usually sabotage my relationships before they get too serious.
“Let’s get home to Sunrise Bay.” He leans his head back on the seat and blows out a long breath.
I’m thinking Melanie was a little more than a typical ex, but I’m not going to ask. My gut says I won’t like the answer he gives.
We both fell asleep on the plane ride—which I’m thankful for, because I’m quite done with talking for a while. Back in Sunrise Bay, the usual SUV pulls up to my house and I catch sight of Rylan across the street, playing soccer out front of Hank and my mom’s house.
“Hey, Ry!” I scream and wave.
He stops playing and I figure I might as well introduce my half-brother to his brother-in-law.
“Who’s that?” Logan asks.
“My little brother. Come on.” We cross the street as Rylan bounces the soccer ball from knee to knee. “Rylan, this is Logan—”
“Stone?” he asks, his eyes huge. “Jed said something, but I didn’t believe him. You really married Logan Stone?”
I roll my eyes.
Logan puts out his arm between us. “Nice to meet you. You’re a soccer guy, huh?”
I ruffle Rylan’s brown hair. “He’s the best in the area. At least the best boy in the area.” I give him a teasing smile because he practices with a girl from Lake Starlight who’s really good as well. We’re always razzing him about liking her. He swears he doesn’t.
“I’m the best,” Rylan says. “I beat Calista yesterday.”
“Calista?” Logan asks.
“Calista is Rylan’s practice partner.”
Rylan backs away from me. He’s growing too old for me to show affection now. “She’s annoying.”
Logan looks at me with a knowing look like he understands what’s going on. Twelve-year-olds are complicated individuals. Almost a teenager, but not quite.
“Girls have cooties,” Logan says, and Rylan’s eyebrows scrunch at me.
I wrap my arms around Rylan, and he tries to get away. “I’m spreading my cooties all over you. Admit it. You like her.”
Rylan squirms out of my hold and runs away, kicking his soccer ball.
“Nice to meet you!” Logan calls to him.
Rylan turns around, running backward. “Come to one of my games. My teammates would never believe my sister got drunk and married Logan Stone.”
I narrow my eyes as Rylan laughs, running into the house, but just as he disappears inside, my mom steps out.
“Hey, you two,” Mom says and walks out to us barefoot. Her feet must be freezing. It’s not that warm out yet.
“Oh boy, hold on. This is going to get bumpy now,” I murmur.
“You guys are back from Vegas?” she asks, coming to my side and running her hand down my arm, silently asking if everything went well.
“We are,” I say.
“I just saw the interview.”
Of course she did.
“And?” Logan asks. “How did we look?”
My mom beams at me. “You look in love.”
But she’s questioning me with her eyes. I hate that my mom always knows everything. She probably knows this is all fake.
Logan rushes to my side and puts his arm around my waist. “Because we are.”
My mom smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “What else did you two do?”
“We went to dinner and Cirque du Soleil. The show was amazing. You and Hank should go sometime.”
She glances back at the house. “Yeah, maybe we’ll get away sometime. So!” She claps her hands. “I’m thinking dinner? When can we have you guys over and get to know our son-in-law better?”
I slide closer to Logan. “He’s on a special diet. Has to train.”
I made up the excuse so he doesn’t feel obligated. Surely dinner with my mom will come with an interrogation. By the time dessert is served, she’ll be acting as though she just solved the case. Not to mention this is all pretend. Why would he want to go on a get-to-know-my-family mission?
“You can tell me what to cook,” she says, staring only at Logan.
“Please don’t go to any trouble for me,” he says.
She waves him off. “You’re part of the family now. It’d be my pleasure.”
“We’ll let you know.” I plead with my eyes for her to stop asking.
“How about Sunday?” She looks between the two of us hopefully.
“Mom, he’s not ready for the entire family yet.”
She smiles and I know that she’s not going to accept no as an answer. “A big MMA fighter can’t handle a big family?” Again, she puts her sole attention on Logan.
“It’s no problem. Sunday should be great,” he says, smiling as though he might actually mean it.
She claps again. “Then it’s settled. Around three work?”
I groan and Logan chuckles. “Sounds good.”
“See you then, Mom.” I slide my hand in Logan’s to walk back over to my house.
“Hey, Nik, give me a call when you get some time,” she says.
“Sure thing.” I smile and wave.
But I have no plans of calling her. She’s only going to figure out what Logan and I are doing, then I’ll have to hear the speech again about my dad and how not all men are horrible disappointments, just look at Hank, Jed, and my stepbrothers, there are good men out in the world.
I’m not in the mood.
We reach the bottom of the hill and Logan stops at the sidewalk. “You okay with that?”
I look back and see my mom is on the porch, watching us. I make a mental note to tell her how creepy she looks doing that. “You know that whole question game we played last night?”
His face grows serious. “Yeah.”
“Tonight we’re playing fast five, because if we’re going to fool everyone into thinking we’re madly in love, we have to fool Marla Greene first. She’s our harshest critic.”
“Bring it on.” He smiles.
Sometimes I think he likes what’s going on with us. That he wants us to be more. He didn’t have to do all that yesterday for me—the show and expensive dinner. But the thought that he’s doing it because he wants something more gives me butterflies. I have to make sure that feeling dies. Otherwise, I might as well hand him my heart now and watch him smash it into smithereens against the concrete.
“Then let’s get my stuff moved into the Linville house and make up some flashcards.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” he asks.
I stop with my key in the lock of my house. “Not when it comes to my mom. She’s going to dig deep. Believe me.”