He laughs.
‘Back in a flash,’ he says.
‘Okay, JJ, what are you doing?’ I ask her once we’re alone.
‘Solving all your problems,’ she replies. ‘This is a win-win-win situation.’
‘That’s an extra win,’ I point out.
‘Yeah, well, I thought it might help with your other situation too,’ JJ replies.
I stare at her, waiting for her to explain herself.
‘Look, be cool, but Andy is sitting at a table, nine o’clock, and he’s been glaring over here this entire time,’ she says.
‘Really?’ I reply.
I subtly look around the room, looking at him without ‘seeing’ him, and JJ is right, he is staring this way. My stomach flips.
‘See, he is looking,’ JJ says. ‘Intensely. With feelings.’
‘He doesn’t have feelings,’ I whisper. ‘He has a fiancée. He doesn’t care who I’m eating breakfast with.’
‘He clearly does, and if Jake plays along, this could be exactly what you need,’ she continues. ‘Because Andy might finally have to confront his feelings for you, if he sees you with someone else you’re serious about.’
I scoff, but it comes out weak.
‘I doubt that.’
‘Don’t be so sure,’ she sings.
I risk another glance towards Andy. He’s still watching. He’s pretending that he isn’t, talking with Cordelia, but his attention keeps slipping back like it’s magnetised.
‘Win-win-win,’ she whispers. ‘And, if I’ve got it wrong, well, I’m right about the book deal, and Jake does need your help, and he did save you from the fountain – and the slush pile. You owe him.’
I mean, I don’t know that I owe him, but I do want to help him out. Unless of course he is going to buy a big chunk of Rosewood and bulldoze it to build some ugly modern apartment complex or whatever.
Do you know what? Maybe this could work.
‘So what exactly are you two proposing?’ Jake asks as he puts three plates piled high with everything down on the table. ‘Because it sounds like you’re asking me to pretend to be engaged.’
‘That’s exactly it,’ JJ replies. ‘Just until you both get what you want.’
‘Is this what you want?’ Jake asks me.
This is my chance, to back out or to lean in. I know I should probably say no, because what a sad world if this is my only shot at a book deal, but the reality is that it probably is; plus, I don’t know, there’s something about him that makes me want to say yes.
‘I’m game if you are,’ I say with an optimistic smile.
‘Then so am I,’ he says. He folds a pancake in half before taking a huge bite. He sucks syrup from his fingers and, truly, it’s one of the horniest things I’ve ever seen.
JJ claps her hands with glee.
‘Great. Then we’re agreed.’
‘Great,’ I say, without the same level of confidence.
‘Do you want to take a walk, after breakfast?’ Jake suggests. ‘Just the two of us, figure this out? I promise not to let you fall in the fountain, obviously.’