She glanced at his parents, who’d moved to an apple tree farther up the row, and whispered, “Yeah, and if you act the way you did when your mother mentions someone else I should date, I’ll drop this one on your head too.” She held up an apple that looked as if it was on steroids.
He stepped out of range. “All I said was Cody wasn’t a good choice. He’s a nice guy but he’s a player.”
Em gave him a look he was familiar with, her full cherry-red lips flattening, irritation sparking in her bottle-green eyes. But instead of the look ticking him off as it had in the past, it turned him on. They should’ve stopped fake-dating the night of the football game. Before Em kissed him at Jenny and Steve’s, and before he’d woken up with her on top of him, wanting nothing more than to roll her beneath him.
She stepped off the ladder. “You said the same thing about every guy she suggested, and worse, you acted like you were jealous.”
“No, I didn’t. I acted like a guy who cares about you and who doesn’t want you dating a player.” Players, because his mother had come up with a list of five men within minutes of them telling his parents they were no longer fake-dating.
In all honesty, he’d been shocked when his mother had immediately tried setting Em up with someone else. He’d been prepared for another reaction entirely. He’d been positive she’d try and convince them to keep fake-dating in hopes that it would turn into something more. If she only knew, that for him, it had. It was why he’d been going to put a stop to their fake-dating but Em had beaten him to it.
“What you did was play right into her hands. She was trying to make you jealous.” Em raised her eyebrows at him and bit into the apple.
He had a sinking feeling she was right, and not just about his mother’s true intentions. “I’m not jealous, Em.” He picked up the basket of apples. “And what was with your reaction? You acted like you were considering dating again. Wasn’t that the reason we started fake-dating in the first place? You didn’t want people setting you up?”
She shrugged. “Fake-dating you opened my mind to the fact I’m probably not as bad at it as I thought. I mean, it’s not as if I want to marry anyone.” She grinned around the apple. “Maybe I’ll take a page out of your playbook and become a serial dater. Two dates and I’m done.”
“That’s not funny,” he muttered.
“I wasn’t trying to be. You were the one who made me promise I wouldn’t slip back into my old ways.”
He had. And as much as he knew that they had to stop fake-dating, he’d been worried about what that would mean for Em. “I meant you working twenty-four seven. Be honest, if it wasn’t for me, you would’ve been working the Seaton sister case every chance you got. You need to have a life that doesn’t revolve around work, Em.”
“I’ve already decided not to take any extra shifts when I go back after my vacation, and I told you, I’m still going to help with the team.” She caught sight of someone and waved. “It’s Cal and Bri. Come on. Let’s go tell them our news.”
He sighed. Em had spent half the time at the apple orchard sharing their news with whomever they met, even when she barely knew them. He’d tried telling her not everyone in Highland Falls knew they’d been dating or that they cared, but it hadn’t stopped her. He’d suggested she take out a billboard, and for a second there, he’d thought she might be considering it.
He glanced at Cal, who didn’t look overjoyed at seeing him with Em. At least that was one positive that came from breaking up with Em. He didn’t have to worry he’d lose his best friend because their friendship had begun feeling the strain. Which Josh still couldn’t wrap his head around. Cal knew they were fake-dating.
Unless his best friend, who’d known him since he was a kid, had realized even before Josh had, that there was nothing fake about his feelings for Em.
“You guys checking out the corn maze?” Em said as they reached Cal and Bri. The couple had been caught making out in the corn maze last fall, and it had nearly cost them their relationship. Leave it to Em to tease them about it.
Cal’s eyes narrowed at him. “No. Have you?”
“No, the hay loft,” Em said, all serious-like. She reached up as if pulling something from her hair and then angled her head toward him. “Can you check if I still have hay in my hair, Joshie?”
“You’re a brat,” he said, tugging on her hair. “She’s teasing you, Cal. We’re not fake-dating anymore.” He glanced at Em, praying she didn’t tell Cal where and when exactly they’d decided to end the charade.
“It’s about time,” Cal said. “I don’t know what possessed you to fake-date in the first place. It was a stupid idea.”
“Cal!” Bri said.
“What? It was,” he said to his wife, who was frowning at him.
“You know what? Your attitude is ticking me off, big brother. And not that I care what you think, fake-dating Josh wasn’t just a good idea. It was a great idea. Thanks to him, I’m ready to start dating again.”
Josh appreciated Em defending him to Cal. He wished she didn’t have to, but given Cal’s reaction, apparently she did. But he could’ve done without her mentioning her plan to start dating again because now he had to keep from giving himself away. He’d been told he didn’t have a poker face, and he’d been told that by the man currently studying him with his arms crossed.
“Look at this, Phil, exactly the two people I was hoping to see,” his mother said, brushing past Josh to get to Bri and Cal. She hugged them both. “Josh and Em are having dinner with us, and I was going to call and ask you two to join us.”
Cal raised an eyebrow at Josh, and he was tempted to flip him off. Em wasn’t the only one ticked at her brother. Cal looked as if he was going to make an excuse not to come, which suited Josh just fine. He didn’t know how much longer he could put up with his best friend acting like a jerk without calling him on it. Josh was easygoing, and it took a lot to make him mad, but Cal had been pushing his buttons since the night of the séance at Seaton House.
“I’m not sure if—”
Bri cut off her husband. “We’d love to.”
“Wonderful!” Josh’s mom rubbed her hands together. “It’ll be just like old times.” She looked at the basket of apples in Josh’s hand and smiled. “Between us”—she nodded at the basket in his dad’s hand—“we’ll have enough to make apple crisp and apple dumplings for dessert. We should probably head out now, Phil. I have lots to do.”
“I’m happy to help, Patsy,” Bri offered. “I love making apple dumplings.”
“Perfect. Then you might as well all come over now. We’ll make a day and a night of it.”
Josh groaned, wincing when everyone looked at him. He thought he’d groaned in his head. He rubbed his back. “I must’ve pulled something.”
“That’s what you get for sleeping on Em’s couch, sweetheart. You should’ve slept in her bed.”
Josh briefly closed his eyes. Leave it to his mom. He glanced at Em, figuring she’d be holding back a laugh. She had a dry sense of humor, and the way she was feeling about her brother at that moment, Josh imagined she’d like nothing better than to make Cal squirm.