Page 43 of The Fake Date (Brides of Beaufort 4)

“Sounds great, thanks.”

They started to step away, then Ms. Hattie stopped abruptly, nearly causing her son to run into the back of her. “Oh, Beau, what does this mean for your business?”

I watched her finger as she pointed between Lyndi and me, then looked up at her with a frown. “What?”

“You know, you and Lyndi being together. That means you’re shutting down your app, right?”

Ice ran down the back of my neck. I couldn’t do that. There was no way. Was Lyndi expecting me to shut down my app? “I… um.”

Before I could come up with a logical response, Lyndi straightened. “No, he’s not.”

“No?” Ms. Hattie asked, one hand on her hip. “And why not?”

I looked to Lyndi, also eager to hear her answer.

She cleared her throat. “Well, I trust Beau. He doesn’t need to shut his business down just because we’re dating. It’s totally professional between him and his clients.”

There was a long pause while Ms. Hattie studied her, then she sighed. “How very big of you, sweetheart. But this is a small town. If Beau shows up to weddings at Starlight with another woman on his arm, people will talk.”

“He’s not planning to accept jobs in Bluffton anymore,” Lyndi answered with a shrug.Where had that come from?“He travels a lot for these weddings, so he’ll just make sure to stick to out-of-town ones.”

“Uh-huh. Well, it seems like you two have it all figured out, then,” Ms. Hattie said, tossing a look toward her son that told me she wasn’t convinced.

Panicking, I reached across the table and took Lyndi’s hands in mine. Though the simple contact made my entire body light up, I didn’t pull away. “We sure do.”

“Yep,” she added. But her eyes landed on the table like a dropped quarter, her hands going stiff in mine.

Ms. Hattie gave us one last suspicious look, then nodded once. “All right, we’ll leave you to it. Have a nice day, lovebirds.”

When I was sure she was gone this time, I turned back to Lyndi and let out the breath I’d been holding. “Thanks for that.”

“What?”

“Covering for me with the business.”

She pulled her hands out from under mine and fidgeted with her braid. “Well, I could tell you wouldn’t want to shut it down.”

Of course, I didn’t want to shut it down. How else would I be able to afford my dad’s medical bills? What was I supposed to do, start flipping burgers or something? It wasn’t like I had many marketable skills outside of teaching someone how to shoot an M16. But I had my charm.ThatI could sell.

“Is that something you’d want me to do?” I asked, hoping the answer would be no.

“If we were really together? Probably, not gonna lie. But since we’re not, I don’t see any reason to ruin all your hard work for nothing.”

Relief swept over me. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

She watched me a little too intently, almost as if she were trying to decide if she wanted to dig deeper into this subject.

Please don’t.

Finally, she must have decided against it because she linked her hands in front of her and squared up with me, like she was ready for business. “So, did you finish drafting up the contract?”

“Do you want to grab a coffee first?” I asked.

“No, thanks. I’ve already had a couple cups this morning.”

I looked her over. “That doesn’t make you jittery?”

“Um, no. It doesn’t. Anyway, what’s the first thing we should discuss?”