“When I was your age, I was already married.”

I rolled my eyes and sipped my morning coffee as my mother prattled on about my love life, or lack thereof. When she finished speaking, I sighed. “Mom, you and Dad got married when you were twenty-five. I’m only twenty-four.”

“It’s your birthday soon. You’ll be twenty-five.”

“Oh, for the love of… since when is twenty-five old? I feel like I only just graduated high school!”

“But you didn’t. You’re in your mid-twenties. Almost a quarter of a century old.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” I said through gritted teeth. “And if you must know, I have a boyfriend!”

I don’t know why I said it. It wasn’t true at all, and she knew it. Surely. Then again, she’d never had the greatest memory. Maybe she’d already forgotten about all the drama with James.

There was a surprised pause on the other end of the phone line. “You do? You mean that fellow… what was his name… something beginning with J?” she finally replied.

“Yes, him.”

“Didn’t he call me a few weeks ago accusing you of being a lady of the night?” she asked, a note of suspicion creeping into her tone.

“I… um …that was just a prank, Mom. It was a friend of his who called you. They thought it would be funny.”

“I see. Well, it wasn’t funny. You should tell him that,” she said with a sniff. “Anyway, I want to meet him. You said earlier that you’re on a short break from work until the weather clears up, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So come and visit us today. We’re only a two hour drive away. You can bring the boyfriend with you. How does that sound?”

Shit.

“Uh… he might be busy. This is really short notice.”

“I’m sure he’ll come. Unless he isn’t real?” she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“He’s real!” I snapped. “And fine, we’d love to visit. We’ll be there later this afternoon.”

“Wonderful. I’ll tell your father.”

When we ended the call, I texted Angie, my mind whirling. Help. Got myself into a situation. Why am I so dumb?

She sent me back a single question mark and nothing else, so I filled her in on the enormous lie I’d just unloaded on my mother to shut her up about my love life.

So tell her you just broke up, she replied. Easy-peasy.

I don’t think she’ll believe we conveniently broke up right this second, I sent back.

Okay. So you need a pretend boyfriend whose name starts with J? Someone who will be available at the last minute.

Yes, I replied. If I call her back and cancel for any other reason, she’ll know I lied. I’m so screwed. Why do I do stuff like this?

Her next response came instantly. Well, it’s lucky you know someone starting with J who owes you…

I groaned and picked up the phone again, glancing through the file of Fourth Down contacts that I’d left sitting on the kitchen counter after returning from the studio the other day. After locating Jacob’s home number, I dialed and waited with bated breath, my heart racing.

“Hello?” A woman with a sultry eastern European accent answered, and I almost hung up, assuming it was one of Jacob’s most recent conquests. Probably some six-foot Slovenian supermodel.

“Uh, hi,” I choked out instead. “Is Jacob there? It’s Nora. From work.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll get him for you.”

Jacob came onto the line a minute later. “Hi, Nora. What’s up?”

“Who was that?” I practically screeched. I mentally slapped myself as soon as I said it. It was none of my business who Jacob entertained in his home at eight o’clock in the morning. He was just a friend, as we’d established yesterday, and I had no reason to be interrogating him like a jealous banshee.

“That was…uh…my housekeeper. Why?” he said, a note of surprise in his tone. I had a hunch he wasn’t telling the truth about the woman’s identity, but that didn’t matter right now.

“No reason. Anyway, I was just wondering if you’d do me a favor. I figured you kinda still owe me after that horrendous date you took me on.”

He chuckled. “So we’re still on that, are we?”

“Well, it was pretty bad,” I said. A small smile quirked my lips up as an idea occurred to me. “And besides, I’d be doing you a favor at the same time.”

“How so?”

“Yesterday you were saying that you thought meeting Walter Simmons could help with your portrayal of him during filming. Obviously you can’t meet him because he’s dead, but his family lives a couple of hours north of here. I was thinking we could drive up there today and meet them. I think hearing them talk about him could really help you. I’ll call them first to make sure it’s okay, of course.”

“Yeah, that does sound like it could help. Good idea,” he said. “So what do you get out of it?”

“Promise you won’t laugh at me?”

“I’ll try.”

I explained the situation concerning my parents, and I heard him stifle a laugh.

“Hey! You promised you wouldn’t laugh!” I said indignantly.

“I said I’d try,” he replied. “So… your parents conveniently live in the same area as Walter’s family, and you need me to be your fake boyfriend for the afternoon. Is that the general gist of what you’re asking me to do?”

“Um. Yes. But only because you’re the only male friend I have whose name starts with J.”

“Wow, you really take this whole friendship thing seriously. Up until yesterday you could barely stand me, and then the second we become friends, boom, you’ve got me going on road trips and meeting your family.”

I sighed. “Sorry. Don’t worry about it. It was a stupid idea.”

He laughed. “No, no, I think it’s a great idea.”

I frowned. “You do?”

“Of course. Like you said, I’ll get to meet Walter’s family beforehand, which could really help me on this movie. And then afterwards, I’ll be able to practice my acting skills with your family, seeing as I’ll be faking a relationship with you. Always good to practice.”

“You’re a lifesaver.”

“No, just doing what I can to make up for that awful date. Like you said earlier, I owe you.”

“True. I think we’ll be even after this,” I said. “Meet me here in half an hour?”

“Sure,” he replied. “Looking forward to it.”

I hated to admit it, but so was I.