“So we’re really doing this,” he said with a grin, rubbing his hands together again.
“If you keep rubbing your hands together like that, we’re not.”
“You’re such a hard-ass, Freckles.”
“Too much of a hard-ass for you to fake-date?” she said, then realized she’d asked it as a question and hadn’t stated it as a fact, as she’d intended. And was that a hint of disappointment in her voice? She was beginning to think agreeing to Josh’s fake-dating plan was a bad idea.
“Are you kidding me? It’s one of my favorite things about you.”
Em sighed. Obviously, Josh wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of his plan, including her snarky ’tude. As she backed onto the road and headed for home, she considered the benefits of going through with his idea. At least with Josh, she wouldn’t have to fake it.
Except that wasn’t entirely true. If they had an audience, she’d have to fake she was into him, and he’d have to fake he was into her. She had a feeling he’d be better at faking it than she would. As she’d discovered tonight, she sucked at faking it and dating.
She’d been right. This wasn’t a good idea. She was about to call Josh and tell him she couldn’t do it when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen. It was Bri, and she knew exactly why she was calling. Highland Falls’ phone lines were no doubt burning up as word spread through town that Em had fled the speed-dating event.
Em didn’t answer, and her phone fell silent, only to start ringing again a minute later. It was Abby. Em didn’t answer and her phone once again fell silent, for all of fifteen seconds. The calls didn’t let up. Text messages were also blowing up her phone by the time she pulled into her driveway.
She picked up her phone, scrolling through the increasingly worried texts from family and friends and went to the WhatsApp group chat she rarely used.
Just FYI, she typed. I didn’t leave early because I was upset. Josh and I went… She deleted went and replaced it with are on a date so I don’t have time to talk or respond to all your annoying calls or texts. She started to delete annoying but decided, just because all six women in their group chat cared about her, it didn’t negate the fact that they were annoying, and she sent the text.
She got out of her car, looking up as Josh pulled into the driveway behind her. She supposed she’d better tell him they were having their first fake-date tonight. Their rendezvous at the river met the requirements of a date. It was a pretty location with the moon and mist adding a romantic atmosphere. Although some people might disagree with her. After all, she’d nearly died there. But she and Josh had talked, her more than him really, and she’d been completely open and vulnerable with him. Something she hadn’t been with Brad for the first few months they’d dated.
Of course, Josh had an advantage in that he knew her so well. There’d also been physical contact—Josh had hugged her, and more important, she had hugged him back. She and Brad had dated six weeks before they’d shared a hug. Again, Josh had the advantage of sharing a highly charged emotional moment with her. And if a chivalrous act was included on a successful date questionnaire, Josh had checked the box when he gave her his jacket. All in all, Em decided, they were doing really well for their first fake-date.
Or maybe they weren’t, she thought when Josh, who was on his phone, got out of his truck and shot her a look. Between the river and her place, she’d somehow managed to tick him off. She had no idea what…
She winced. He was talking to her brother. Sorry, she mouthed and texted Bri, filling her in on the fake-dating arrangement. She promised to call her in the morning.
“Yeah. Okay. We’ll see you then,” Josh said, disconnecting from Cal and walking toward her. “We’ve got a problem.”
“It’s okay. I told Bri about our arrangement.”
“Would that be before or after you told your group chat that we were on our first date?”
“After.” She glanced at him as she opened her front door. “They were annoying me, and I texted them all without thinking. Sorry. Again.”
She caught the amused quirk of his lips. He’d never been able to hold a grudge for long.
“I’m not sure Cal believed me,” he said as he walked into the house. “He and Bri are on their way over. But they’re not our problem, at least I hope they’re not.” He closed the door behind him. “Izzy tried to text you, and when you didn’t respond, she texted Bri.”
“Right. She’s on our group text too. But why would Izzy be upset we’re dating? She’s been trying to set us up since I moved back to town,” Em said, accepting Gus’s welcome home hug.
“That hasn’t changed. I got a thumbs-up and a smiley face with heart eyes. I didn’t know why until I heard you’d outed us in your group text. But that’s not what she texted Bri about.”
Em scrolled through her texts and found Izzy’s. 911 Midnight.
“The haunting of Seaton House is on.” He grinned, crouching beside her to receive his own hug from Gus. “I told you dating me would be fun.”
Chapter Twelve
How does half the teenagers in town showing up at Seaton House at midnight have anything to do with our date and fun?” Em asked him.
Josh went to rub his hands together and remembered it annoyed her. Although, as he’d learned over the past year, there wasn’t much he did or said that didn’t annoy Em. Unlike when they were young. “Because we’re going to scare the crap out of them so they don’t come back, and since we’ll be doing it together, it’s a date.”
“If that’s your idea of a fun date, it’s a wonder your ex-dates want to go out with you again.”
He’d never have to worry about getting an inflated ego around Em. “You’re the one who decided this is our first date, so I’m improvising. But trust me, you’ll understand why they do when I take you on an actual date.”
“We’re fake-dating. You don’t need to wine and dine me.”
“I wasn’t planning to.” The last thing Em would enjoy was going out for a fancy dinner, and after witnessing the depth of her heartache at losing Brad and the baby, all he’d wanted to do was take away her pain. He’d been shaken seeing her like that. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Em cry. Even at Brad’s funeral, she’d been stoic and remote.
But what had rattled him the most was the simple, quiet statement she’d made when she began opening up to him. It wasn’t until he was following her home, replaying the conversation in his head, that he’d recalled what she’d said. She’d known she was dying, and she hadn’t cared. He wanted her to care. He wanted her to feel like she could move on and be happy again, and not because she’d made a promise to her dead fiancé.
She turned on the lights, and he got a good look at her face. “You might want to wash your face before Cal and Bri get here.”
“Why would I wash my face?”
“Because your mascara ran, and the last thing I need is for Cal to think I made you cry.”
“Oh, right.” She began walking toward her bedroom and then stopped and turned. “You won’t tell anyone what I told you about seeing Brad or about the baby, will you?”