Are we still on for lunch? I texted Wes.

Yes. An hour?

Can we make that an hour and a half? At doctor’s with Granny to discuss her test results.

Sounds good. Meet you there. Hope things are okay.

The “there” that Wes was referring to was The Unicorn, the pub in the building he owned. The same building where Emma’s store was located.

“How was your workout this morning?” Granny asked after she had stopped watching two kids playing in the corner of the waiting room.

“It was good. I met up with some of the guys from the team at the gym.” Even though August was off-season when it came to hockey, that didn’t mean I got to take the summer off. And with only six weeks until the start of hockey season, my training had increased in intensity.

“And that’s why you have the body young ladies drool over,” Granny said with a wink.

Okaaay. Didn’t need to hear that from my grandmother—even if it was true.

“Have you figured out who you’re bringing to my birthday party?” she asked.

“Me and myself.” Although if I could drag Josh there, I’d gladly do it. Spending an evening alone with my grandmother and her crazy friends wasn’t up there on my list of fun ways to spend a Thursday night.

Why was I going? Because I loved my grandmother and owed her the world for putting up with my bullshit after my parents had died. Their unexpected deaths had screwed me up to the point where I was skipping classes and had come close to being cut from my midget hockey team.

Granny was the reason I hadn’t been. I don’t know exactly what she did, but I got the general gist that she marched into the head coach’s office and scared the crap out of him.

And Coach Kaufman was not the type to scare easily.

Granny smiled in the way that always got me nervous. It was the smile associated with her plotting to set me up with a female.

Shit.

Before I could say anything, a nurse called out Granny’s name. We both followed her into the exam room, sat on the plastic chairs, and waited for her to finish typing on the laptop before she left and we could resume our conversation.

“Don’t even think of setting me up with another of your friend’s granddaughters for your party,” I told Granny mere seconds after the door clicked shut. “I’m perfectly capable of finding my own date if you really want me to bring one.”

She eyed me for a moment. “You’re not bringing one of your teammates, right?” Her eyes took on a mischievous glint. “Not that my friends would complain, especially if your teammates showed up shirtless like Chippendale dancers.”

“My teammates enjoy body checking the opposition. They aren’t dancers.” At least not professional dancers. I’d witnessed a few of them on the dance floor at the clubs we’d been known to frequent from time to time.

Granny let out a long, disappointed sigh. “That’s too bad.”

I groaned. “You’re almost eighty years old!”

“That’s right, Travis. I’m almost eighty. I’m not dead. I don’t have much time left on this planet, and in case Heaven isn’t filled with hot men like I would prefer, then I’d appreciate getting to ogle them while I still can.”

I thought about this for a second. “If I got my teammates to dance like Chippendale dancers for your birthday, would you stop pushing for me to find a girl, get married, and give you great-grandkids?”

Hey, it was worth asking. He who didn’t ask would never know.

Laughing, Granny patted my hand. “I’d pay to see your teammates do that. But no, I still want to see you happy. But if you have a girlfriend, then I’ll stop trying to set you up. Your teammates dancing for my birthday party would be an added bonus. But if I’m on my deathbed and there are no adorable great-grandchildren to say good-bye to me, then I’ll come back and haunt you worse than Abigail’s shrimp casserole.”

I grimaced at the memory of the only time I’d eaten it. It took me three days to recover—and the Rock lost the game against Anaheim that I missed. Was it my fault? No—but it felt like it was at the time.

“Point taken,” I said.

The door opened and Granny’s doctor entered. Whereas Granny was almost eighty, I had pubic hairs older than this guy. Heck, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he didn’t even have any yet.

Not that I was about to ask him.

After he got through the normal niceties, he sat on the padded stool.

“So how long do I have left?” Granny asked.

“Left?” He turned to me as though I knew what the heck she was talking about.

“You know, before I join my maker?”

The look she flashed me? It was to remind me time was ticking on giving her a great-grandchild.

Maybe Josh and Holly would let me borrow their daughter and I could pretend she was mine. Of course then I’d have to explain to Granny in nine months why my new baby was already two years old.

So strike that idea.

“You’re not dying if that’s what you’re asking,” the kid said. “But I am concerned with your cholesterol levels, especially given your history of having a stroke. I would like to switch your meds to help manage it better.”

“So I’m not dying anytime soon?”

“Well, I can’t say with any certainty if that’s true or not. I’d be a psychic if I could predict that.”

Good to know. About the dying—not the psychic part. Which meant I didn’t have to rush out and find a fake great-grandchild. Yet.

After we finished talking to the doctor, I drove Granny to her pharmacy to pick up the new prescription, then dropped her off at her apartment.

Wes was seated at a corner table in The Unicorn when I arrived. We didn’t have to sit for long before the waitress approached to take our order.

“So what’s this about you turning your building into a condo complex?” I asked after she’d walked away. I hadn’t had a chance to ask him since finding out about it from Emma. Wes had been away at a gaming design conference.

“What are you talking about?”

“One of your tenants said her lease isn’t being renewed because you’re converting the building into a condo complex, and her store doesn’t fit the new image.”

Confused? Let me get you up to speed. His grandfather used to own the building. When he died, instead of passing it to his daughter, he’d willed it to Wes. Only a few people knew this. Everyone else just assumed he was a tenant in the building like they were, and he preferred it that way. But while he might have had someone else manage the building, he was still very much involved in the decisions surrounding it.

“That’s news to me,” he said. “Which store?”

I told him.

“That would explain it,” he said, his tone betraying that inwardly he was rolling his eyes. “Donald believes the store is the work of the devil—or something along those lines.”

“So he lied to the owner and told her she had to move when her lease expires?”

“It would seem so. But thanks for letting me know. I’ll make sure my dear sweet uncle tells her the truth.”

“So the building is staying as is?”

“I’m planning to do some long-needed renovations to it, but nothing beyond that. And no one is being evicted.”

Nice to know I wasted all that time driving Emma and my grandmother around for nothing.

Or not.

“Look, could you do me a favor?” I asked.

“What kind of favor?”

“The kind of favor where you hold off telling Emma—the store’s owner—the truth for a while.”

Wes looked as though he was going to say something but then clamped his mouth shut. I found out a moment later why when the waitress placed our drinks in front of us.

She told us our food would be ready soon and left. Wes drew a long sip of his soda—keeping me in suspense.

“Care to explain why you don’t want Donald to tell her that she isn’t being evicted once her lease expires?” he asked, lowering his glass to the table.

“Not really.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

If you think I got off that easily, you obviously don’t know Wes.

“You remember how you told me to get a fake girlfriend to get Granny off my back?”

He nodded. “I remember.”

“Remember how Josh recommended I find someone who won’t fall in love with me? Someone who pretty much hates my guts?”

“I do—although I’m not sure your acting skills are good enough to pull off dating a girl who doesn’t like you.”

He had a point there. “I’m sure it won’t be an issue. It’s not like I’m auditioning for a Broadway show.” And Emma ran the love shop, which meant she could probably do a decent job of faking things, too.

“True.…So what does Donald not telling her about the lease have to do with anything?”

“Because she pretty much hates my guts.” Okay, that might be an overstatement. The dislike she had leveled my way when I first entered her store wasn’t there when I drove her to all those retail spaces over the past couple of days. But she already knew I was anti-commitment, so she would still be a good choice. “I already asked her if she would be my fake girlfriend.…”

“And she said no,” Wes guessed.

“That’s right.”

“So what are you planning to do? Tell her you’ll convince the building owner not to evict her if she helps you out?” He chuckled a you-really-are-an-idiot laugh.

“Wow, and they say you aren’t smart,” I said with a smirk. No one could claim the MIT grad lacked intelligence.

Me, on the other hand? Yes—given my idea, my level of intelligence might be questionable.

“You really think it will work?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea, but right now I’m running out of options.”

“Okay, I won’t say anything to Donald for now. But if you can’t convince her to be your girlfriend in the next three days, then I’ll have to tell her the truth about her lease. And you will owe me big-time for this.”

That was a given.

“Anything else I should know?” He picked up his glass and started drinking.

“My grandmother wants my teammates to reenact a scene from Magic Mike for her eightieth birthday party.”

I probably should have waited until he’d finished his soda before springing that on him.