Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)(39)

She took a step closer and looked at me. “Jacob, I am going to be the best girlfriend you’ve never had.”





Chapter 18

Briana



I’d had to cancel on dinner with Alexis. I couldn’t explain to her why I was suddenly honor bound to be somewhere else tonight, so I just told her the second truth. I had a date with a hot guy. She was more than happy to go home early on those grounds. Plus I think she missed Daniel.

I ran home after work and got ready. Alexis had done Benny’s dialysis for me before she left, which was perfect because I was on a tight turnaround. I picked a cute gray top with some jeans. Did my hair and makeup, and Jacob picked me up in a black F-150 at exactly eight o’clock.

I was going to do anything he needed to make this fake-girlfriend thing work. I was about to put on an Oscar-worthy performance the likes of which Hollywood has never seen. I was so committed I would tattoo his name across my boob. Pose for fake engagement photos if he wanted them. Hell, I’d fake a damn wedding.

I saw him arrive in the Ring Doorbell, so when Jacob came up the walkway to get me, I was already coming out. I didn’t want to invite him in to see the time capsule I currently lived in.

“Hey,” I said, squeezing out the crack in the door and closing the screen behind me.

“Hey. Ready to go?”

He was wearing jeans and a thin black V-neck sweater with the sleeves rolled up. Very handsome.

“I brought a bottle of wine,” I said, holding up a chardonnay.

“They’ll love that,” he said, slipping his hands in his pockets.

He looked a little nervous. His jaw was tight.

I peered around him at his truck. Lieutenant Dan had his head out the open back window.

“You brought your dog!”

Jacob looked over his shoulder. “Yeah. I take him everywhere.”

I jogged down the walkway to pet him with Jacob following behind me.

“He’s so cute,” I said, ruffling the dog’s head. He wagged his tail and made an excited puppy noise. “I didn’t really take you for a truck guy,” I said, scratching Lieutenant Dan’s ear.

Jacob was smiling a little, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fixing up the cabin. I needed the bed.”

He looked at his watch. “We should get going. I think we’re going to be the last ones there.”

“Okay.”

He opened my door for me and then went around to the driver’s side and got in.

“So where’s your parents’ house?” I asked, getting buckled.

“Edina,” he said, firing up the engine.

I nodded. “Hmmm. Fancy.” Probably a nice house. Not like where I lived.

The outside of my house was just as ugly and dilapidated as the inside. The lawn was all crabgrass and cracked walkway and old paint. I was sort of glad Jacob didn’t say anything about it.

“Where do your parents live?” he asked, making a left out of my neighborhood.

“My mom lives in Arizona with her new husband, Gil. I don’t have a relationship with my dad. This is good,” I said. “Ask me more questions. We should try to know as much about each other as we can before we get there.”

“Good idea.”

“So how did we meet?” I said. “They’ll probably ask us.”

“I told them I moved hospitals to be closer to my girlfriend. So that means we had to have met a few months ago and we couldn’t have met at Royaume.”

“Okay. Why don’t we say that Benny came into your ER at Memorial West and that’s how we met.”

He nodded. “I like that. But let’s not say which ER so technically it’s the real story. I think we should try and stick to the truth as much as we can. Keep things as simple as possible.”

“I agree. Do they know you’re donating a kidney?” I asked, looking over at him.

He shook his head. “I wasn’t going to tell them. But only because I didn’t want it to get back to you. My mom is friends with Jessica. And Zander. And Gibson.”

“Are you going to tell them now?”

He shrugged. “I guess I could,” he said, getting on the freeway. “No reason to hide it from them at this point. Hey, are you allergic to nuts?” he asked.

“No. How about you? Any food allergies? Stuff you don’t like?”

“I hate well-done eggs. Can’t stand the smell. And I don’t like dill. Other than that, there isn’t much I won’t try. What about you?”

“I think yogurt is gross. And cantaloupe makes my throat itch.”

“No yogurt, no cantaloupe.” He glanced at me. “So what time do I need to have you back? Are you doing Benny’s dialysis?”

“My best friend did it for me before she left.” I smiled. “Benny was gone before I got home. He’s out with friends celebrating. He shaved and everything. There was beard hair all over the sink. I didn’t think I’d ever be so excited to have to clean that shit up again.”

“He doesn’t clean up his own beard hair?” he asked, changing lanes.

“Does any man? I mean, you guys think you do. You do the wet-toilet-paper wipe-down thing and call it a day.”

“I actually do clean up my beard hair,” he said.