My face, my neck, my entire body—it was all hot with embarrassment as they said those cringey words.
“Is that right?” I heard Connor say in an amused tone.
“You’ve met him—my dad’s a loon,” I said, finally catching a glimpse of Connor on my phone.
He was full-on grinning, which was a relief. I had kind of expected a mixture of awkwardness and horror.
“So we were just telling Duff, like, why not let him keep thinking that and help distract him from all the health stuff going on? If we tell our dad it’s a secret—like we don’t want the public catching wind of the relationship—then it’d requirenothingfrom you and Duff. You don’t have to do a single thing but let our dad think his delusional thoughts.”
“Just say no, Connor,” I said, wanting to melt into the ground.
“Get over here, Duffy,” he replied, and I rolled my eyes when my brothers laughed.
“Like I haven’t been trying,” I said, pushing them out of the way and snatching back my phone.
But when I finally got it in my hands, the look Connor was giving me made butterflies go wild in my stomach.
Because he looked focused.
Entertained.
Eager.
“Can we get a minute alone?” he said, his eyes appearing ridiculously blue as he smiled at me through the phone.
“Absolutely,” I replied, making a face at my brothers before walking over to the lobby area just past all the waiting room chairs.
“So, if you don’t want to do this, I respect that and will tell your brothers no,” he said. “But if you’re worried about what I think, please know that I truly don’t mind. I like Tony, and if him believing we’re in a relationship distracts him from some harsh realities, I say why not.And since I’m actively trying togetyou to go out with me and you’re sort of leaning into this wholepublic-forgiving-you campaign anyway, it kind of works, right? I have zero issues with pretending we’re, uh…further alongthan we are.”
“Seriously?” I was still reeling from the idea, so the nod of approval from Connor and the promising vibe of “further along” was a little mind-boggling. “But—”
“I knew you were a good guy,” Joey cut in, and when I turned around, yep—they were back. “Thanks a lot, man.”
“Truly,” Ty added.
“So she wasn’t lying. You seriously asked her out and she turned you down?” Matty said, looking way too shocked for me to not be insulted.
“Deadass,” he said to my brother with a half smile, shaking his head. “But last night I plied her with beer until she agreed to give me another shot.”
“The Buds’ll do it,” Matty said with a nod. “And that explains why she’s fucking perky today.”
“Enough with the perky. Could you be any more annoying?” I asked, rolling my eyes yet again.
But there was something about the way Connor was smiling at me from my phone’s display that made it impossible for me to actually feel annoyed.
I was too damnperkyfor negative feelings all of a sudden.
I wanted to skip and whistle and maybe even hum under my breath.
God help me, I thought.Connor Cunningham makes me perky.
15
Connor
What a fucking gift.
Honestly, it was wild that the goofy ploy landed in my lap.