Page 83 of The Fake Date (Brides of Beaufort 4)

I put my phone away and headed back out to the grass where the guests were mingling. Zac took one look at me and left Grayson with Thatcher, jogging over. “What’s up? You look like you’re on a mission.”

“Yeah, the one I told you we were aborting.”

He snorted. “I figured. How can I help?”

“I just talked to Grant. I’m putting in a package for drill instructor duty.”

His face soured. “You’rewhat?Why would you do that? You know they’ll make you do a B billet eventually, and you would make a killer recruiter.”

“Because I can request to be stationed at Parris Island.”

“So you won’t have to leave Lyndi.”

“Or my pops. I mean, I’d be closer to him than if I were in Hawaii.”

He let his head fall back while he thought about it, then he sucked in a breath. “Okay, well, that’s a good plan. So, I guess that means you’re giving up all that crap about not wanting something real?”

“I don’t have a choice, man. It’s too late.”

Zac raised a hand and pointed at me with a massive smirk. “Now who’s the sap?”

“Shut up,” I said, swatting his hand away with a laugh.

“So, now what?”

“Now, I’m gonna take your advice and treat the rest of this weekend like I would if it were real. She’s under the impression I’m a total psycho with no feelings, so I need to prove that’s not true.”

“Good luck.”

I rolled my shoulders, trying to release some of the stress of the last hour. “Maybe tonight I’ll take her on a date. Something she’d love… maybe—”

“You can’t tonight. She’s got that bachelorette party thing.”

“Oh, that’s right. Where are they going, anyway?”

I pictured Lyndi being out bar hopping and wondered how she’d feel about all the chaos of a party bus or a bicycle trolley through downtown Charleston. If she didn’t like the looks of the festival in New Orleans, she definitely wouldn’t like any ofthat.

“Well, Layla was put in charge of planning it, so she picked some little hole-in-the-wall karaoke bar. I guess she thought it would be best to keep it as chill as possible, plus her cousin has gone with them to Mickey’s a few times, so they found a place just like it here.”

Relief flooded me. “Really? Interesting choice.”

It’s funny how despite the noise, Lyndi was cool with karaoke. She must distract herself with the singing or something. Either way, it was a good thing I wouldn’t have to worry about her going along with them because she felt like she had to.

Then as I pictured her in a karaoke bar, an idea snapped into my mind. “Hang on, you know what we should do?”

“What?”

“First, do you think Gray can chill with Ms. Hattie if we pop over to the karaoke bar for a few minutes during the thing?”

He furrowed his brow. “Uh, I guess, but why would we crash the bachelorette party?”

Because if I wanted to show Lyndi that I had real feelings for her, there was something I could do to make it perfectly clear in a way that only she would get.

But instead of saying that to Zac, I grabbed his arms and hoped he’d get my movie reference as I pulled out the cheesyTop Gunquote. “Because, man. She’s lost that lovin’ feelin’.”

It only took him a second, but then he grinned. “No, she hasn’t.”

“Yes, yes she has.”

I walked away to start putting my plan in motion, grinning and raising my fist toward the sky when I heard him yell, “I hate it when she does that!”