Page 38 of The Backup Groom

The running joke was that Stella kept asking me, “Who’s your daddy?”

I admit it was funny at the time, but that got old incredibly fast.

Danny—being the adorable guy that he is—put his own spin on it, and occasionally would say to me, “Who’s your Danny?” Cute, I know, but I would still never go out with him. I couldn’t even imagine kissing him on the lips, because I would always think of my father.

I closed the conference room door and whipped around toward Stella. “Why would you set me up on a date with Danny?”

“Pretenddate,” she clarified.

“That doesn’t make it any more appealing,” I said. “Does he even know it’s pretend? Because I don’t want to lead him on and let him think that I’m interested in him, because I’m not and will never be. Why exactly am I doing this?”

“I want to explain, but your mouth is running so fast, it passed Forrest Gump on the freeway.”

I mimed zipping my mouth shut.

“Thank you.” Stella said. “Trust me—it’s simple. Danny knows it’s fake. Don’t worry about that. And it should only take a minute of your time—I promise. The first thing you’re going to do is meet Danny in front of Bean Me Up, Scotty. You two chat for a minute outside, look like you’re happy to see him, not too long.”

I opened my mouth to say something.

Stella wagged her finger at me. “Let me finish. If my suspicions are correct, if there is a private detective following your every move, that will give him or her enough info to call Maggoty Mercedes to let her know you are there with a man, who she’ll assume is another Ryan Scott. Next, go inside and get in line with Danny, buy him a cup of coffee, and tell him to find a table in the corner, out of view from the street. That’s when you slip out the back to the alley and walk to Starbucks to meet Radio Ryan. Danny stays at Bean Me Up, Scotty for thirty minutes to enjoy his coffee, then he’s free to go.”

“Danny is going to be my decoy?” I asked.

She nodded. “I think we should call him Decoy Danny from now on. Anyway, am I a genius or what?”

“That depends,” I said, thinking about the plan. “How much is this going to cost us?”

Stella smiled. “That’s the best part. All it will cost you is a cup of coffee. Decoy Danny said he knows he could never be with you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you to be happy.”

I grimaced. “I seriously wish he didn’t resemble my dad.”

Stella agreed. “Well, his name isn’t Ryan Scott, therefore it doesn’t really matter, either way. I’m still waiting for you to tell me I’m a genius.”

“Okay, you’re a genius,” I replied amusedly.

“Tell me something I don’t know. By the way, tell Dean I said hi when you go next door.”

I studied Stella. “Speaking of crushes.”

“More like infatuation . . . Let’s just say, if he asked me out, I would say hell yes.”

“I hope it happens because you two would make a cute couple,” I said.

“In a perfect world, if the stars were perfectly aligned, I would go out with Dean, and you would go out with Scotty. Imagine the fun double-dates we could go on.”

“Me and Scotty?” I asked. “Why would you say that?”

“Speaking of crushes,” she said, trying to imitate me.

I shook my head. “Nice try—Ido nothave a crush on Scotty. I mean, I really like him as a person, of course. He’s a total catch, I will admit that. And yes, he’s very attractive, but a crush? No way. I just admire the man.”

“So not a secret crush, but a secret admirer?” Stella hooted. “That’s the same thing! Anyway, I wasn’t talking about you having a crush on him, although now I’m starting to wonder.”

“Wait—you think Scotty has a crush on me?” I asked. “No way.”

“Amber, Amber, Amber,” Stella said. “You need to watch for the signs. Scotty likes to be close to you and is always coming around to see how you’re doing. He doesn’t give other customers free chips and cookies, only you. He placed a silly bet with you because he knew he’d lose, an excuse to give you free coffee.”

It was a silly bet, but I doubt he set himself up to lose.