Chapter Four
Last night had probably been the perfect opportunity to tell Lincoln about the lie she’d told her mother. She’d planned to, but instead she’d brought up the chill between them. The hurt she felt had nearly made her cry.
She certainly didn’t want to tell him about her lie while bawling her eyes out. That would only make him feel sorry for her, and the last thing she wanted was his pity. She’d have to come up with a different solution to her problem, one that didn’t include Lincoln.
Josie put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt featuring a vintage camera. This morning, Casey was picking her up and they were heading to the coffee shop to go over a few wedding details, then they were going to hang out together while she filmed a short video for the guy who ran the only insurance company in town.
After she dug her favorite pair of sneakers from the closet and put them on, she grabbed her gear and then opened the front door a crack to see if the neighbor’s cat was nearby. He was, but instead of waiting to pounce, he was lying on the porch, lazily flicking his tail and eyeing her with disdain.
“So I guess we’re still not friends?” Josie stepped out and locked the door behind her.
The cat continued to stare.
“Guess not. Which is really sad because I am the best catnip dealer in the whole neighborhood. I could hook you up. No? Suit yourself.”
Casey pulled up and popped the trunk of her car, then got out to help Josie load her equipment. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and grinned. “Grandma said you were with Lincoln last night.”
Of course she had. Josie got into the passenger seat. “I’m sure she made it sound completely innocent.”
“She said that Lincoln had a pair of your underwear in his hand.”
“Thanks to the cat.” Josie explained what had gone on.
“Grandma has a sneaky, trouble-causing streak in her.”
Josie didn’t need any warnings about that. Everyone knew how Jean operated. The desire to matchmake ran through her veins, rather than blood.
As they drove down a familiar side street, she glanced at the house her parents owned and gasped. There were several lights on in the house, and she knew she hadn’t left it like that the last time she’d gone to check on the property. Her heartbeat double-timed. “I think my family might already be in town.”
Casey sucked in her breath. “Ooh…sorry.”
“Tell me about it.” Josie bit her lip, worrying about the inevitable run-in with them. She was supposed to have more time!
When Casey pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop, Josie volunteered to run in and grab their drinks. While waiting in line, she scolded herself for being an idiot. She would just tell her mother that she lied. And then she’d have to move to Alaska and live like a hermit because every single holiday after that, her mother would throw it in her face that Josie had to make up a boyfriend because she was too picky, too curvy, too dorky, too loud, too take-your-pick to really have one.
“Josie! I was just talking about you,” a familiar grating voice practically cooed.
Moving to Alaska would mean no Trixie Majors. Another plus. Josie forced a smile at the gossip junkie. She didn’t trust the other woman. Trixie had a habit of stealing things. Like boyfriends.
“I ran into your mother at the diner this morning and she told me that you and Lincoln had dated and broken up but were trying to work things out.” Trixie put a hand on her chest and gave a soft, obviously fake laugh. “I told her that if anyone was dating Lincoln, I’d know about it.”
“We did, and we are,” Josie said. And that, boys and girls, is how one lie feeds into another.
Trixie’s mouth formed a surprised O. The satisfaction Josie felt at it was probably wrong, since she wasn’t actually dating Lincoln. “I suppose that’s…great.”
“Yep. Great,” Josie said as she stepped up to the counter and placed her order, trying to appear nonchalant.
“Well…good luck. Hope it works out.”
If noses could grow from lying, Trixie’s would be able to spear people from three feet away. Josie got the coffee and rushed back outside to Casey’s car.
Her friend sent her a quizzical glance once she was inside. “You look flushed.”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you this.” She took a breath. “A lie I told is coming back to bite me in the butt.” Josie set the paper coffee cup in the holder, her hands too shaky to safely hold it. “I have to get to the fire station to talk to Lincoln before he hears about it from someone else. Please turn the car around.”
“What’s going on?” Casey shot her a worried look but immediately changed direction.
Josie cringed as she said, “You know how my mother is…”
Casey nodded. “I don’t know how she can be so unkind to her own daughter.”
Josie waved that away. She’d stopped trying to figure out why she never seemed to measure up in her mother’s eyes. What was important was not getting caught in the lie. If Trixie busted her in this, not only would she gleefully click her little pointed shoes together and dance with her flying monkeys, but she’d spread it all over town that Josie couldn’t be trusted. Her fledgling video business would disappear faster than a breath mint on a first date.
“What lie did you tell?”
“I told my mother that my ex-boyfriend and I broke up but that basically he wanted us to get back together.”
“What does this have to do with my brother?”
“He’s the boyfriend.”
Casey laughed out loud. “You told your mom that Lincoln is your ex?”
“Yes.” She shot her friend a worried look. “I shouldn’t have done that, and I know I screwed up, but I had a weak moment.” Josie put her hand over her fluttering stomach.
“Everything will be okay,” Casey said softly.
Josie couldn’t help the snort she gave. “Because we both know how well your brother and I get along lately. When he hears what I have to say, it’s only going to get worse.”
“Maybe not. Sometimes things work out better than we hope for.”
Josie was still thinking about that statement several minutes later when Casey pulled into the fire station’s parking lot. “I’ll wait here for you. Good luck.”
Nervousness propelling her, Josie bolted from the car, heading for the fire station as fast she could. Lincoln was in the middle of a conversation, but as soon as he saw her, he said something to the other guy, then walked toward her. “Hey,” he said in that deep voice of his that never failed to send warm thrills through her.
“Hey.” She puffed out her cheeks, stalling, wishing she didn’t have to tell him what she’d done. But there was no rescue for the remorseful. “You’re not going to be happy with me once you hear what I have to say.”
He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. “Why? What’d you do?”
“I kind of told a lie…and it involves you.”
Dismay spread across his face. “And?”
She darted her gaze away, understanding the suspicion in his voice. “I need you to be my boyfriend. My breakup boyfriend, actually.” She swung her eyes back to him.
Lincoln blinked and then frowned. “Your what?”
“Breakup boyfriend,” she repeated slowly. “I might have told my mother that you were my ex-boyfriend and that you were trying to make up with me.”
“I’m your boyfriend,” Lincoln said, sounding stunned.
“Yes.” Josie twisted her fingers together, wishing he wouldn’t look at her like she’d lost her mind.
His eyes searched her face. “Why did you give her my name?”
“Because it made sense at the time.” She squirmed inwardly. With a couple glasses of wine and her mother’s constant disappointment ringing in her ear, she hadn’t meant to blurt out the lie.
“You and I together won’t work.”
“I know.” Josie nodded, then said patiently, “Which is why we broke up. But you wanted me back so we’re working on our issues. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“I don’t believe this.” Lincoln pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath, then fixed her with a hard stare. “We’re not a couple so there’s no need for us to work on our “issues,” whatever that hell that means.”
“But there is.” She put her hand on his bicep and when one of his colleagues let out a whistle, Lincoln took Josie by the arm and walked with her to the side of the building. He was near enough for her to catch a whiff of the shampoo he used. When he stopped walking and faced her, those lips of his were temptingly close. If he was having trouble with her being his ex, he’d really have trouble if she leaned up and planted a kiss on him. Eek, why had that suddenly popped into her head? Mentally erasing that thought.
“Because?”
“Because my mom told Trixie Majors. If it gets out that I lied, she’ll gleefully make sure the gossip rips me to shreds, and no one will hire me again if my reputation is destroyed. Not to mention I wouldn’t ever be able to show my face.” Josie would hate for her newfound venture to die a swift death because she’d told a stupid lie to her mother. “You know how it goes here. A guy can innocently stumble on the sidewalk and the gossip spreads that he’s drunk.”
“But you didn’t innocently stumble. You deliberately threw us to the wolves.”
She looked down. “I know.”
“Our families will be all over us with questions. They won’t believe we were ever together.”
Ouch. This was why she’d been afraid to tell him. Believing they would never work as a couple was different than him confirming it for her. “They will if we tell them that’s why things have been so awkward and strained between us. We can say that we secretly dated and we’ve been having issues.”
“This will end badly. They’ll push us to work things out. They’ll hint at marriage and kids.”
Josie needed Lincoln to overlook those teeny details for now. “Your family loves you, they only want what’s best for you,” she pointed out.
“I know that, but when you give my matchmaking mom and grandmother an inch, they can create miles of chaos.”
Josie wished she could rewind time and take back the lie. “Maybe so, but they’re going to be thrilled to think that you’ve finally moved on from Savannah.”
“I moved on months ago.” His words fell flat and that was definitely a mind-your-own-business look he gave her.
If she had to hazard a guess, despite his denial, she’d say that he wasn’t over his ex. Blond, built, and beautiful, his former girlfriend had always turned heads. Thankfully, she was also stupid and selfish enough to dump Lincoln. Which was yay for the home-team heart because Savannah had never been good enough for Lincoln.
Josie softened her tone. “Even if you and I don’t reconcile and start dating again—”
“Again?” His voice rose, and he paused to clear his throat. “Listen to what you’re saying. We never even started.”
“I know that.” Josie put her hands on her hips.
“I can’t believe you did something like this.”
“Me, either. I thought about confessing what I’d done, and I tried to fix things, but then my parents decided to move back to town and I ran out of time. I didn’t think my mother would spill everything to the biggest gossip in town her first day back.” Josie looked up at him, wishing that they could go back to the days when it had been okay to go to Lincoln and he’d hug her until her fears and hurts subsided. But she hadn’t been able to do that since she was a kid.
“I don’t know how to respond.”
Josie started to panic. “Linc, please be my breakup boyfriend. I need this.”
“You realize it’s not just a matter of agreeing to what you told your mother if anyone asks? We’ll have to act like we’re trying to work things out.”
Josie chewed on her lower lip for a second. “We could let everyone think we’re working on it for a few days, then just say it was too late to save the relationship and then boom it’s over.”
“I don’t know.”
Sensing that he was close to caving, and the image of Trixie’s smug face in her mind’s eye, Josie said, “I’ll help you with the video for the contest. I’ll clean your house. Wash your truck. Bathe your dogs. Whatever you want. And think about it. If you back my story, your mom and grandmother can’t play the Lincoln’s-not-dating card. That means no more setups or matchmaker situations for you.”
“Huh,” Lincoln said, looking impressed and slightly more interested. “That’s not half bad.”
“You’ll do it? Back my story, and then I’ll dump you again?” Josie felt the first stirrings of hopeful relief.
He held his hand up. “Whoa, hold the fort. You’ll dump me again? How do you know I didn’t dump you?”
“Because it’s my lie,” Josie explained patiently. “The person telling the lie gets to control the narrative.”
“You can’t write the whole story if I’m part of it,” he said.
Josie narrowed her eyes. “Fine, then what’s our issue?”
“We broke up because you weren’t good in bed.”
Josie’s mouth dropped open. Then, realizing he was teasing, she poked her finger at his chest and grumbled, “Okay, I deserved a dig, but just one. Now, we should figure out why we broke up, why us getting back together isn’t working, then lay out the breakup rules.”
“Why do we need breakup rules?”
“So we have a deadline.”
He nodded his agreement. “I see.”
Warming up to her plan of how their relationship would end, Josie rubbed her hands together. “We can use the three strikes method. We create a problem twice and we do it in public. Then on the third time, we mutually call it quits for good. That way, the news will spread that we’re over without us saying a word.”
“Good idea. We’ll need to be seen together, so I’ll meet you at your house to pick you up for my grandmother’s party. We can talk about when and where to do the first strike then.”
Excited that he’d agreed to help, Josie beamed. “Thank you for this. You’re the best ex in the world.”
He crossed his arms. “I am. You were lucky to have me, and I’m not gonna let you forget it.”
“Then I’ll be able to tell people we broke up because of your big ego.” Josie laughed.
Lincoln’s laughter mingled with hers.
“You know, we can have a lot of fun with the gossip that’s sure to swirl over this. We can make up stuff and feed it to the rumor mill as we go along.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but let’s do it. Make up wild and crazy stuff about us. Nothing bad, obviously. But I have to warn you, I’m better at spinning stories than you are.”
“Case in point,” Lincoln said. “But if we’re just playing around, I’ll give you a run for your money.”
“Go for it with my blessing.” She was still laughing as she started to walk off, but then she stopped and turned around as a thought occurred to her. Lincoln stood watching her. “What are we going to do if we get into a situation that calls for us to show affection, like kissing?”
“You fake a faint, or I fake a heart attack.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “Good thinking. Because that would be so much better than us kissing.”
“Right,” he said, but he had an odd expression on his face. Darn it, she’d made it weird again. This was the first time they’d teased each other in ages, and she’d messed it up.
“Okay… See you in the morning.” She started toward Casey’s car again.
“Make sure my breakfast is ready.”
She stopped and turned back around. “What?”
“Before we broke up, you always cooked breakfast for me. As a matter of fact, you washed my clothes and ironed them, too.” He gave her a smug look.
“Excuse me?”
He wagged a finger. “Since we are trying to get back together, I’m sure you want to stick to all those nice things you used to do.”
“Of course,” Josie drawled out, eyes narrowed. “I must have forgotten.”
“That was one of our problems. You took me for granted,” Lincoln said sorrowfully.
She grinned, thankful to see Lincoln’s playful side again. Because he was so quiet, not many people got to see this part of him. With a shake of her head and a wave, Josie walked toward the car where Casey waited. She was glad that Lincoln had agreed, but a tiny seed of doubt sprang up. They used to talk and laugh like this before. And once their “breakup” was made official, Lincoln would push her away again. Remember, Josie, this isn’t real. She couldn’t let herself get comfortable. That was a one-way ticket to unrequited feelings.