Page 12

CHAPTER 12

Fake Dating Planning Committee

KELLEN

I settle on the loveseat in Atticus’s apartment. Harley and Lachlan are already camped out on the longer couch.

Lucy’s not here, but I know she’s going to get home in a bit.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Atticus tosses Harley a water bottle and opens three beers for the rest of us.

“Remember yesterday afternoon, when you guys were trying to get me to find a girlfriend?”

“Or a fake girlfriend,” Lachlan chimes in.

“Well. I took your advice.”

“What?” Atticus laughs and hands me my beer. “Already?”

“No time like the present?” My smile falters as I brace myself to tell my teammate I’m going to pretend to date his sister.

Atticus sits on the single chair, and they all look at me expectantly.

“I found the perfect person to fake date.”

They all continue to stare at me.

“Spit it out, mate.” Lachlan waves a hand in the air.

“Lucy.” I watch Atticus for his reaction.

He doesn’t disappoint .

“What??” Atticus stands, his eyes comically wide.

Lachlan bursts out laughing.

“No way. I can’t get behind that.” Atticus shakes his head violently and points the neck of his bottle at me. “That is not what I meant! Find someone else to fake date!”

“Yes, you can get behind it,” Harley says calmly before sipping from his water bottle. “It’s smart. We know we can trust Lucy because she’s your sister. And we need Kellen to keep his ass in Fort Collins on the Blizzard.”

“And Lucy says she wants help showing her father—your father—that she’s doing perfectly fine away from her old life,” I say.

“Get my sister’s name out of your mouth.” Atticus narrows his eyes at me, but the other guys just laugh.

“Oh, come on.” Lachlan props his feet up on the coffee table and then lays his arm across the back of the couch. “This is brilliant. You hate that man. How can you resist the opportunity to piss him off?”

Atticus swings his head to me again. “I hate this idea.” There’s a hint of a whine in his voice, but his objections have already lost steam.

“So you’re vetoing the plan?” Harley asks.

Atticus growls and empties his beer.

“Atter? Answer the question.” Harley calmly stares at Atticus.

There’s a brief silence.

“No.” Atticus sighs, trying to drink out of his empty bottle.

Relief cascades through me. I might laugh about it, but I don’t want to upset him.

“Could be worse. I could be fake dating her.” Lachlan winks.

“Christ. That would be so much worse,” Atticus mutters.

“Listen.” I drink my beer, the only one I’ll have tonight. We all keep alcohol to an absolute minimum during the season. Except for the team retreat. “We’ll keep this above board. It’s all pretend. ”

“And how, exactly, are you planning on keeping this above board?”

“Well, during our hike this morning, we talked about a few events we’d be seen at together.”

“Your hike? Now you’re hiking with her??”

“We were doing media training.” I shrug.

“Bullshit. You don’t need media training.” Atticus calls me out immediately.

“And making a fake dating plan.”

Lachlan slams his hand on the coffee table, and everyone jumps.

“The fuck?” Atticus glares at him.

“This is amazing.” Lachlan stands and clears his throat. “I want to officially kick off the first meeting of the Fake Dating Planning Committee.”

“No fucking way.” I shake my head.

“Yeah fucking way,” he says. “You will absolutely need help with this. And I’m sure Atticus will want to be able to offer input on the plan.”

I look at the ceiling, praying for it to fall down on our heads and end this.

“Go on,” Harley says, biting back a grin. Atticus growls at us and springs up to pace back and forth in the kitchen.

“Agenda item number one!” Lachlan practically sings and plops back down on the coach. “Official appearances of Lucy and Kellen. Kellie? Tell us what you discussed.”

“Alright.” I twist the bottle in my hand. “We talked about three times we’ll pretend to be a couple in front of Paul and Savannah.” I look pointedly at Atticus, who rolls his eyes.

“Lellen? Kucy?” Lachlan cocks his head and looks at Harley. “Hmm, nothing really rolls off the tongue.”

“Lullen?” Harley suggests.

“Kellcy?” Atticus says, then scowls and appears to hate himself .

“Oh!” Lachlan points in the air. “That’s it! Kellen and Lucy are now officially Kellcy.”

“That is ridiculous. And I thought you didn’t approve of this.” I growl at Atticus. “Why are you helping?”

“What? I like to be creative.” Atticus finally stops pacing and settles back into the single chair. “In another life I might have worked in marketing. Or written a novel.”

Lachlan scoffs. “You don’t have a novel in you.”

“I might!”

“No.” Lachlan laughs and shakes his head.

“Whatever,” I say, trying to end the stupidest argument ever. “The first public appearance?—”

But before I can finish my sentence, a key jangles in the lock and all four of us move our gazes to the front door. Lachlan cackles with glee.

“That’ll be my fake girlfriend,” I say. Nerves jump around in my stomach. We’d agreed she’d show up and talk to Atticus at some point, but I didn’t think it’d be till later.

The door swings open to reveal Lucy, curls down and wild around her face, long legs bare below athletic shorts, a tight sports tank, and her phone held out in front of her.

She’s laughing and looking at the screen, and voices project from her mobile.

I swear my stupid heart leaps at the sight of her. My cock is also more than interested. I tell both to shut the fuck up.

Lucy freezes when she finally looks up and sees the four of us watching her. The door slams behind her.

“Shit,” she says. “I didn’t think you guys were coming till later.”

“Hello? Lulu?” a voice comes from the phone. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Not a ghost,” she says and turns the phone around. “Raleigh, January, say hi to Atticus, Harley, Lachlan, and Kellen. ”

One woman yelps and the other giggles uncontrollably as Lucy scans the phone around the room.

“Are those your friends?” Lachlan asks, more than interested.

“Yes.” Lucy meets my gaze and presses her lips together. “I thought you guys were coming over at eight?”

“Seven. Sorry.”

“Glad you’re here, Lucy!” Lachlan says. “Ladies on Lucy’s mobile, we’re having a planning meeting for this fake dating situation. Want to join?”

“Yes!” they both scream at the same time as Lucy says “No!”

She looks across the room at Atticus, who shrugs.

“In case you were wondering, you are now officially Kellcy.” Atticus grabs a water bottle for himself, but I’m betting he wishes it was alcohol instead.

“That is perfection,” a voice squeals from Lucy’s phone.

“You… okay with this?” Lucy looks at her brother with a scrunched-up nose.

“Whatever,” he says.

“Okay, then. I just need a minute.” My fake girlfriend scoots across the room toward the hallway leading to Atticus’s spare bedroom. But as she passes, Atticus reaches out and grabs her phone.

“I’ll keep Raleigh and January. We’ll wait.”

Lucy disappears down the hall.

“Hello, ladies. How are you? How’s divorce number two treating you, Raleigh?”

“It’s fantastic,” Raleigh deadpans.

“She’s almost free,” January insists.

“And how’s London, January?”

“Excellent. I just got back from the pub. This is the perfect ending to my Saturday night.”

This was not how I planned on spending my Saturday night. But there are worse ways .

Lucy comes back into the family room in a hoodie, hair pinned back in a messy bun. Lachlan throws his legs over the empty cushion between him and Harley, so Lucy is forced to sit next to me.

“Alright.” Atticus props Lucy’s phone up in the middle of the coffee table against a stray twenty-five-pound dumbbell. “So what’s the plan?”

I look over at Lucy sitting so close to me, but when her wide green eyes meet mine, she shakes her head.

“Go ahead.” Lucy waves a hand. “You explain the plan. Please.”

“It’s simple,” I say. “We have three events: the fall festival in October, the retreat in November, and some kind of coffee shop date next week.”

“Right,” Atticus says, nodding slowly. “I always see Paul and Savannah at Deep Roots Cafe on weekday mornings. Like eight o’clock or so on the days I stop by on the way to the arena.”

“We can show up before then.” I glance back at Lucy, who nods.

“And do what?” Lachlan asks, eyebrows raised, a fake innocent look on his face.

“Have coffee? Say hello to them?”

“If you do that, they’ll just think you’re cooperating with the sponsorship project, like Paul demanded of all of us. Of you .” Harley’s the calmest person in the room.

“You will need to kiss.” Lachlan rubs his hands together. He’s our resident fucking chaos director.

Lucy gasps, Lachlan laughs, there are squeals from the phone, and Atticus shouts.

“I don’t think that’s necessary, do you?” Lucy looks at me, then the rest of the group. Her wide eyes are mildly panicked.

“Totally necessary to convince them you have a thing going on.” Lachlan says it like an irrefutable fact. “We’ll be away at a few preseason games this week. What day were you thinking? ”

“Hang on.” I look over at Lucy, who is white as a sheet. “You okay?”

“This is ridiculous,” she says to me, voice wobbly but with a sprinkling of amusement, like she’s holding back nervous giggles. “It’s not what we planned.”

“I mean, I know,” I say quietly. “But he’s kind of right?” My traitorous eyes dart down to her lips. Red and full and shiny, like she just put lip gloss on. I bet they taste fucking amazing. I lower my voice to a whisper. “Okay, sweet potato?”

Lucy cracks up, which was my intention.

“Fine, puppy dog.” It’s just for me to hear.

I grin.

“Kellen!” Atticus says. “Stop whispering with my sister! And you will not be making out with her.”

There are shouts and laughs coming from the phone. Atticus calmly reaches down and lowers the volume on Lucy’s friends.

“He will be,” Harley says. “And you know it.”

Lucy grabs her phone and increases the volume.

“I agree, Lucy. You probably need to do something like that to convince them it’s real,” her blonde friend says, practically bouncing on the screen.

“Absolutely.” The one in London nods enthusiastically. “Kissing is necessary.”

“And hand holding,” Lachlan adds.

“Lach.” I attempt my stern father voice.

“Long, lingering looks,” blonde friend says.

“Raleigh Durham.” Lucy shakes her head.

“Back massages,” London friend adds.

“Enough!” Atticus shouts.

I’m trying to hold in the laughter, because as stupid as this all is, I’m having more fun on a Saturday night than I have in ages. Even Lucy is laughing now.

“Everyone has one vote. This is the official first meeting of the Kellcy Fake Dating Planning Committee, and we are the founding members.” Lachlan stands again.

Her friends cheer.

“Who votes they kiss?” Lachlan yells, raising his hand.

Harley puts his arm in the air. Raleigh and January both shout yes from the phone.

Lucy and I don’t move a muscle. Neither does Atticus.

“Four to three. It’s settled. This week—they kiss!”

Cheers erupt all around the room.

“We’ll be back late Wednesday.” I check on Lucy again. “How about Thursday morning?”

“I guess so,” Lucy says with a half-smile. “Thursday morning. Deep Roots Cafe. Meet you there at seven forty-five?” I nod. “One kiss. In front of Paul and Savannah.”

“What about tongue?” Lachlan says, his face a mask of fake innocence.

“Shut up, Lachlan,” I warn, but my insides shift. The idea of kissing this woman? I’ll enjoy it too much.

“But I’ll see you Wednesday at Ava’s soccer practice, right?” Lucy says.

“What’s this now?” Atticus asks.

“Oh, I’m helping Kellen’s daughter’s soccer team… why are you guys looking at me like that?”

Harley and Lachlan stare at her with wide eyes.

“You’re coaching the Snowballs?” Lachlan cocks his head.

“Yes, she is,” I say. “Don’t be dramatic.”

“Chill, guys, Lucy did this all the time back in D.C. Right, Luce?” Atticus says, but he knows it’s a big deal for me to let someone hang out with my daughter. He looks intently at me, and then at Lucy. I wonder what he’s thinking. The coach thing was his idea, after all.

“Wednesday night. Yup.” I turn to Lucy.

“And we should plan the breakup,” Lucy says. “After the retreat but before Christmas. That should be enough time to get them off your back.”

I blink hard, remembering that the whole purpose of this is to convince Paul I’m not interested in Savannah. “Sure. Will it be enough time for you? To give your old life a big ole’ fuck you?”

She nods.

“I think we’ll need to meet again as the Kellcy Fake Dating Planning Committee. Including your friends.” Harley gestures to the phone, where both women shout in agreement.

“When? If we don’t agree to a time now, they’ll try to wiggle out of it,” Raleigh says.

“Good point.” Atticus nods. “How about after the fall festival?”

“So maybe Sunday, October 13?” Lachlan stares down at his phone. “Kellen? Lucy?” Lachlan looks over at us. I give him a nod.

“Sure?” Lucy says.

“Then it’s set.” Lachlan stands. “Who wants another drink?”

“No one,” Harley says. “At least no one who plays hockey.”

We have some kind of plan, no matter how ridiculous it is.

And next week, I get to kiss Lucy.