by Jo Leigh
“What about your dad?”
“His name is Gordon. And he probably doesn’t have a clue.”
Molly looked up for a moment, most likely digesting the situation. When she turned her attention back to him, she asked, “Am I supposed to be me? Or different?”
The question knocked him a little sideways. “No, not someone different. The whole reason this can work is because they’d all completely believe you are someone I’d fall for.”
Molly’s face was a picture of stunned confusion, but she cleared her throat and gave him a short nod. Cameron handed her back the little bit of cola that she’d left in her glass.
“Okay,” she said, after polishing off the soda. “In this make-believe scenario that we’re acting out for the benefit of your family, are we lovers?”
“I can’t imagine that’ll come up, but it’s your call,” he said, as rapidly as he could spit out the words.
“No. No, we’re not. We’re taking it slow. Very slow.”
“I know. Don’t rub it in,” he said with a wink and ignored the smile she was trying to hide. She handed him her glass, and he put it in the sink with his own. “Ready?”
Molly patted her back pockets, took out a small tube of lipstick, swiped it on her lips, then put the tube back. “I look okay? Nothing open that should be closed?”
“You look gorgeous.”
“Wish me luck.” She walked out to the landing, but stopped in front of the door to the bar. “If you see me cough behind my hand, rescue me.”
“Got it. Coughing behind your hand is the signal. Oh, one more thing you should know.” He stopped, his hand on the door pull. “I don’t really brew beer for a living.”
* * *
THE BAR WAS bigger on the inside. In fact, it was huge, and it was full of people, and it was loud. She pulled on a smile, hoping it would do more than make her sound happy.
Nope. She was still reeling.
He was a chemist? A PhD? Part of a pharmaceutical research team? Who’d waited until two minutes ago to tell her?
She had so many questions, and he’d left her no time to ask them. Yet he’d still managed to point out that they were really only casual friends and their relationship was little more than a business arrangement so far. So, everything was cool, right?
Then he’d walked her through the door.
To meet his family.
Cameron’s arm went around her waist. She jumped a little, then leaned against him as she’d done at the awards banquet. It worked like a charm. While it didn’t remove her anxiety or assuage her confusion, the comfort of his embrace gave her the courage to take the next step forward.
“You okay?”
“So far,” she said.
“How about we get some beers, then take a look at our options?”
She smiled up at him. She rarely used alcohol as a social tool. But today? Yes, yes and more yes.
A real honest-to-goodness chemist. Huh. Of course, it changed nothing. But it was surprising.
“Come look at what we have on tap. You can have your pick of the crop.”
They walked along the edge of the crowd, past numerous tables, some made of wood, others of plastic, all of them round. The chairs were random, mismatched. Few tables were empty, and many of them were pulled together to cater to larger groups.
It was definitely more laid-back than any wine bar she’d been to. It made her think of neighborhood pubs from television or books. More like the dive bars she’d gone to in college. That she’d stopped going to in college when her grades started to suffer. And there was another helpful reminder that getting too comfortable with Cam was not in her best interest.
Helping him with his matchmaking sisters was.
“What do you think?” he asked, slowing them down until they stopped a few feet from the huge wooden bar.
She took in as much of the room as she could. The walls were brick, painted either red or white. The artwork was eclectic. On one wall there were old beer signs, on another, what looked like local art. The heart of the taproom, though, was the bar itself. It was appropriately long, with a well-stocked display of spirits against a big mirror. To the left of that was the main attraction: maybe seventy bottles of unique beers stacked on a wooden shelf. Below that, a tap tower that served a dozen brews, and a hustling staff, all dressed in green Four Sisters T-shirts. The employees were a mixed bag, including a couple of men who appeared to be in their fifties— Oh, God, one of them was probably Cam’s father.
The taller of the two men turned her way, and that was him, of course. Same good looks, aged beautifully. It was like a peek into Cam’s future. She’d known only a few people who resembled their parents as much.
Cam squeezed her waist and nodded at a tall woman with a long braid pouring a draft. “That’s Jade. It’s not hard to identify my clan. All the womenfolk in my family are around six feet.”
“You and your dad look very much alike.”
“So I’ve been told.” He pulled her into his arms and rocked her back and forth. Slowly, in contrast to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” which blasted out of the jukebox.
When he released her, he didn’t let her go. Instead, he captured her lips. Sweetly, slowly. No tongue. Just lips on lips, soft, kind, rekindling the ache low in her stomach, between her thighs. Pulling back, his gaze lingered as his smile grew. “Come on. Let’s go meet my old man.”
“Okay,” she said and pulled up the smile that always saved her on the radio.
The braided sister, Jade, had stopped pouring drinks and stood staring at the two of them unabashedly, a pint of dark beer in her hand. Without turning, she leaned to her right and said something Molly couldn’t hear. Cameron’s father spun around, and now there were two people staring at them.
“Dad, Jade, come out here,” Cam said, shouting to be heard. Of course, everyone within fifty feet turned to stare at them. “Someone I want you to meet.”
Jade put the glass on the bar so quickly it splashed, and Cam’s father wiped his hands on a towel with a grin that was very familiar to Molly. In less time than it would have taken her to run to the exit, she found herself face-to-face with two tall, good-looking people who didn’t bother to hide their curiosity at all.
“Now, who’s this?” Cam’s father asked, sparing the briefest glance at his son.
“Dad, Jade, this is Molly Grainger. Molly, this is my dad, Gordon, and my sister Jade.”
There were handshakes. Enthusiastic handshakes. “Good to meet you, Molly,” Gordon said. “You must be someone special if he’s brought you around to this place.”
“Oh, wait, you’re the woman from the trading-card thing Emmy’s doing.” Jade bumped her father’s shoulder without turning to him. “Remember Emmy said she’d met a pretty nice guy? What was his name...Jonas? From that group she goes to? That’s right, isn’t it, Molly?”
“I don’t know about Emmy’s date, but yes. I met Cameron from his trading card.”
“That’s been a few weeks now.” Jade finally looked at her brother. “You didn’t tell us that you were still seeing her.”
“As hard as it is to believe, you guys aren’t in charge of my social life. Or any other part of my life.”
“Now, Cam,” Gordon said, “we all have your best interests at heart.”
“I appreciate the sentiment. I do. In fact, that’s why Molly has graciously agreed to be here today, despite knowing she’ll be grilled like a jewel thief.”
“Hey.” Jade frowned. “Don’t talk to your father like that. Our manners are impeccable.”
“I wasn’t referring to him. And you might want to stop staring like you’d never seen another human before, huh? Give Molly a break?”
“The solution to this is simple.” Gordon stepped back and nodded at a door that led behind the
bar, probably to the cooler. “Why don’t we find Amber and Emmy and give Molly something to drink. Get to know each other a bit.”
Cameron looked at Molly, and from his expression she could tell he wasn’t sure what to do. He’d never mentioned a private conversation. Of course, he’d never mentioned being a chemist, either. God. She really had to let that go....
She had enough to worry about with everyone ganging up on her. Oh, Christ. She’d be center stage. They’d want to know about her background, a lot of which she hadn’t told Cam. She might’ve appreciated the irony more if she wasn’t ready to bite off every one of her fingernails.
“You know what?” Cam pulled her closer. “I promised her a true Four Sisters experience. We’re gonna find ourselves a table—even if we have to bring one of the spares out from the back room—and get some beer and some food, and you guys are free to stop by now and again. Deal?”
Jade looked as if she was ready to argue, but Gordon nodded immediately. “Absolutely. I’ll take care of the table. Jade, maybe you can find out what kind of beer Molly would like and we’ll go from there.”
Molly’s relief made her knees wobbly. Now that Cam had laid out the rules, she could breathe again. Take things as they came. She made the first move. “I saw a few people had flights,” she said. “I’d love to sample what you have on offer so I can get a real feel for your brews.”
Jade nodded. “Come on. I’ll get you a couple menus. You’re into wine, right?”
“Yep,” Molly said, joining her as they headed to the bar, letting Cameron go with his dad, but only because she had to. At least they were talking about alcohol. She couldn’t wait to have some of her very own.
“I like wine,” Jade said, “especially the reds. A good Merlot, a nice Shiraz. I’ll have to quiz you for tips on good buys.”
By the time Molly had ordered her pale-ale flight, a round table had been shoved into place for them near the bar. That meant a lot of shuffling from the other patrons, but no one seemed to mind. The minute five chairs were corralled, all of the folding variety and not very comfortable looking, Molly took a seat.
Jade had poured the flight, four different samples of beer on a wooden tray with grooves that held two-ounce glasses. Cameron handed her a menu before he sat down next to her, and Gordon brought back two big glasses of a dark draft for himself and Cam.
It was like living in a montage sequence, all accompanied by Adele on the jukebox.
Cam took a large swig, then gave her a briefing on the ales she was about to taste. At this point, it probably wouldn’t have mattered if she was tasting Dom Pérignon White Gold Jeroboam—all she’d be able to discern was wet. This was worse than taking exams. Worse than teaching her very first class.
Then Emmy appeared at the table. It was odd to see her in this context when Molly had met her only in the city. She looked far more relaxed here, which came as no surprise—everyone in the building looked at home. “Molly!” she said, falling into the last empty chair. “I didn’t know you were coming. How nice. Cam mentioned you guys were still seeing each other. Cool.”
“I think so,” Cam said.
“It’s good to see you, too, Emmy. How’s your luck been with the trading cards?”
Molly couldn’t have asked a better question. For the next twenty minutes, Emmy regaled everyone at the table with her story about how she’d been dating a guy, Jonas, who was nice, but not right for her, not for the long run, and how she should’ve known right away when he told her he didn’t much care for beer. That got Gordon talking about how he didn’t trust people who didn’t like beer, and everyone seemed to have an opinion on that.
Before long, several small plates of pub grub arrived at the table, along with the appropriate accoutrements, and it started to feel to Molly more like a party than an interrogation.
She found herself actually enjoying the beer, enjoying listening to the banter and relaxing into Cam’s affectionate touches.
It took her almost an hour to realize no one had asked her much at all, which was strange, and that in her whole life she’d rarely been around a family who got along so well. Certainly never in any of the foster homes or group homes she’d lived in. Even Phillip and Simone, while they’d been wonderful to her, weren’t the kind to tease each other or get in each other’s faces.
The Crawfords made it look so easy.
Emmy relinquished her chair to Amber, who looked a lot like the other sisters, except that her hair was shorter and streaked with blue, but she ended up hanging around anyway, telling Molly all kinds of interesting tidbits. That she was the second-oldest sister at thirty-seven, and that Ruby was the oldest at thirty-nine. That Cameron had been a “first-class nerd” growing up, and if Molly wanted a laugh she should get him to play basketball.
“It’s okay, though,” Amber said. “We forgive him for a lot on account of he’s saving the world.”
Guessing that had something to do with his being a chemist, Molly looked at Cameron. She could see he wasn’t pleased. When he finished glaring at his second-oldest sister, he attempted a smile as he met Molly’s gaze. “I’m not saving the world. Eventually, hopefully, we’ll save a lot of lives.”
“Save lives?”
“I bet he never even told you how important his real job is,” Emmy said. “But when his team gets funded, they’re going to find a way to outmaneuver the strains of bacteria that have figured out how to resist our antibiotics. I fully expect him to win the Nobel Prize. Eventually. Well, maybe not on his own.”
Molly found a smile for him and hoped her face didn’t crack with the strain. “No, he hasn’t told me nearly enough about his real work.”
“Right now, my real work is making beer. Besides, it’s not a sure thing that the project will ever get funded.”
Gordon put a hand on Cameron’s shoulder. “No matter what, though, we should still have you for at least four more months, right?”
Molly had just picked up her beer. Instead of taking a sip, she set it back down before she spilled the whole thing. Well, wasn’t Cameron just full of surprises today? His mouth and eyes had tightened. Clearly, he hadn’t wanted her to know he was here only temporarily. That he had a separate life. His family’s rush to set him up with a wife made a little more sense to her now, she supposed.
She realized she was frowning. Upset more than confused, and that wouldn’t do. Her job today was to make them all believe they were a couple. A couple who would tell each other little things, like how they were leaving for God knew where in a few months.
“You want to try another beer?” Cam asked her.
“Yeah, thanks. I would. In fact, I think I’ll go up and take a look at the drafts again.”
“I’ll come with you.”
She stood and smiled at him, making sure it reached her eyes. “I’m going to make a pit stop first. Can I get you something else from the bar while I’m there?” She looked around. “Anyone?”
No one took her up on her offer, and she made her way to the restrooms. By the time she was inside, locked in a stall, she’d settled down enough to get some perspective.
Why would he have told her? He was right when he’d said their deal was more business than personal. At her own request. He’d never claimed to be anything but a one-night stand. She’d broken the rules by asking him to stick around. He was under no obligation to fill her in on the details of his life. Or the big picture, for that matter. So why was she so hurt?
Yes, this revelation meant she’d have him as an escort for only a few more months. That was better than not at all, right? The truth didn’t have to change their agreement.
Except...
Her heart started to pound.
...in one vital area.
He’d be gone soon. In a matter of months. She wasn’t about to fall in love with him that quickly. Especially giv
en that they’d see each other only a dozen times or so, maybe less.
So. It might not be the one-night stand he’d wanted, but it would solve a couple of problems. First, she would continue to be his girlfriend until he went back to his other life. And, far more important, she no longer saw any reason for them to put off having sex.
It will, in essence, be a four-month stand.
Uncomplicated and perfect. A win-win all the way around.
She finished her business and stared into her own gaze as she washed her hands. Now that she understood the parameters, and that there would be no chance of him messing with her future, the ride was about to get a whole lot more interesting.
Lingering, she practiced the smile she was going to give him. For someone who was supposed to be some kind of genius, he sure was a dope. She couldn’t wait to see his expression when he realized his error. If he’d told her the truth right off, they would’ve been tangling up the sheets long before tonight.
10
IT WAS HIS own fault. He should have said something to Molly about his work in Syracuse sooner. He hadn’t given it much thought, actually. What they had in common was this life, not the other. He liked that it was simple with her, that they could have this connection where they understood each other’s shorthand.
But she’d been shocked by the news that he was here temporarily, no denying that. The question was, should he feel guilty about it? Apologize? Tell her he was sorry for failing to mention his other career? Ask her to forgive him for not bringing up his still-unsettled future? Nope. The only thing he could feel bad about was the fact that she’d been caught unawares, but that was bound to happen. His sisters had also outed him for being lousy at sports and being a big nerd back in high school. Frankly, that was more upsetting to him.
