Her Super-Secret Rebound Boyfriend

by Kerri Carpenter

  “Don’t ‘Ma, don’t’ me. I really like her.”

  “Stop.”

  “Nope,” she said with a mischievous grin. The same expression he’d seen on his sisters millions of times.

  “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “I’m your mother, and you will do what I say. Now, I think Lola is very sweet. Plus, she’s just gorgeous.”

  No argument there. “She is.”

  “I can’t believe she wasn’t taken already.”

  He turned to watch her again. Lola and Gwen seemed to be in the middle of something serious. Their heads were close together, and they seemed to be speaking in hushed tones.

  “She recently got out of a relationship,” Luke said as he remembered Captain Douche Canoe who’d dumped her.

  “That man’s loss was our gain.”

  Luke felt his eyebrow rise at his mother’s statement. “Our? How about my gain.” Luke took a long drink of his piña colada.

  “She’s already part of the family.”

  The tropical drink stuck in his throat at his mother’s words. Part of the family? Whose family?

  “Uh, that’s a bit much, Ma. Don’t you think?”

  “Not really. She gets along with everyone, and she’s fun to be around.” His mother reached across the table and patted his cheek, lingering for a moment. “She makes you happy. We can all see that.”

  They could?

  Lorraine laughed. “You look like I just hit you in the face with my favorite cast iron skillet.”

  “I mean, this is a bit of a heavy talk for a pool party.”

  “Watching the two of you reminds me of myself and your father when we first met.”

  This time Luke’s drink didn’t get stuck in his throat because he was too busy spitting it out on the table. As he reached for a napkin to clean it up, he offered his mother his best what-in-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about look.

  Lorraine simply laughed. “It wasn’t always bad with your dad, Luke. We were very happy in the beginning. Very much in love.”

  “Oh yeah, I’m sure you were. Right up until he left you and his four kids and his house.”

  “Things changed. I used to focus all my energy on hating the situation and despising him. Guess what? That got me nowhere. Instead, I decided to remember the good parts.” She pointed around the patio four times. “I got one son and three daughters from him. I learned that I could not only be a working mother but a damn good one. I took care of this house.”

  “But he didn’t want to stay with us,” Luke said.

  “Again, that’s not what I focus on. I remember how it was in the beginning. The romance and the wonder. Like what you have with Lola.”

  Luke wanted to throw his hands up in frustration. He didn’t know how to process his mother’s words, her revelation. His chest ached, and for a moment, the patio spun out of control. When it righted itself, there was Lola, standing up and drying off with a towel.

  He liked her. A lot. Apparently his delinquent father had felt the same way about his mom. Then something changed. Something inexplicable.

  How could someone go from feeling the way he was right now about Lola to the complete opposite? More importantly, what if he did the same thing to Lola?

  What Luke realized in that moment was that he liked Lola way too much to ever hurt her.

  …

  Irked and irritated after his talk with his mom, Luke rose and stalked into the kitchen. He didn’t really know why he’d come in here so he started opening and closing cabinets, searching for nothing. He moved down the counter until he was at the refrigerator. For good measure, he opened and closed that, too.

  “Looking for something?”

  Luke jumped. He hadn’t heard Winnie come in. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

  “Because in case you haven’t noticed, we’re having a party. There’s enough food on the patio to feed a small country.”

  She jumped up to sit on the counter, a gesture she’d been doing since she was little. She also eyed him long and hard, another thing she’d been doing forever. Winnie was the sweetest of his sisters, but man, when she pinned him with that stare he felt like he was being interrogated in front of Congress.

  “What?” he asked.

  She tilted her head and one of her curls fell over her eye. She blew it out of the way. “You’re acting weird.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Yeah, okay,” she said, sarcasm coating her words.

  He leaned against the opposite counter, crossed his legs at the ankles. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

  “So you’ve been telling me since we were little, and yet you can’t seem to get rid of me.”

  “But I’ll keep trying.”

  Luke grinned. He loved all of his sisters but he particularly adored Winnie. There was a lovable innocence to her. She could ask him to jump off a building and he’d do it.

  She jumped down off the counter. “I like Lola.”

  He felt his shoulders slump. “Me too.”

  “Do you like her? Or do you like-like her?” Winnie made a kissy face to go along with the question.

  He threw an apple at her, which she easily caught.

  “Well?” she asked.

  “I like-like her,” he said glumly.

  “Then why are you frowning? Isn’t that a good thing?”

  “Win, do you ever think about Dad?” His question caught her off guard. Her eyes widened.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Not really. I mean, he’s been out of our lives for so long now.”

  “Yeah, but he’s still our dad.”

  “I guess. But I wasn’t as close with him as you were. And Gwen. I know you two took it a lot harder than me and Mia. What made you bring him up? Especially when we were talking about your girlfriend.”

  If only she knew. Luke considered coming clean. He was well aware that Winnie would be the most understanding. In fact, he wanted to let loose. Tell her that Lola wasn’t really his girlfriend. That they were just pretending. Only…

  Only, Luke didn’t think he was pretending anymore. He was feeling things for her. Real things. Heavy things. He like-liked her, as Winnie had put it. And he’d never been like this before with a woman. He’d liked his life like that. Simple. Uncomplicated. Free from the possibility of getting hurt. Free from hurting someone else.

  If his dad had taught him one thing, it was that if you let yourself love another, they had the power to destroy you. They could walk away at any time. And then you were left with nothing, except memories and broken dreams.

  “I feel like there’s a lot happening in here.” Winnie tapped a finger against his forehead. “Wanna talk about it?”

  Yes! But he couldn’t bring himself to utter that single word out loud.

  He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “Nah, not just yet. But thanks.”

  “You know how to reach me. If I’m not there, leave a message with my assistant.”

  “You don’t have an assistant.”

  “Shh.” She grinned and started walking away. “I’m going to grab another one of Mom’s fabulous piña coladas. See you outside?”

  He nodded. “Win, watch out—” Too late, she turned the corner and ran smack dab into Oliver.

  Luke watched as his sister and his best friend jumped backward as if they’d just run into a wall of fire.

  “Sorry,” they both uttered at the same time.

  Then they did that dance where they both went to the right at the same time, then the left, then the right again. Finally, Oliver put his hands on Winnie’s shoulders and moved her so he could pass on the left. Winnie’s face turned a bright shade of red, and if he wasn’t mistaken, so did Oliver’s. Weird. What the hell was going on there? Winnie and Oliver had known each other most of their lives.

  After Winnie let herself onto the patio, Oliver continued into the kitchen. He saw Luke and jumped. “Hey, man. Didn’t know you were in here. I didn’t do anything… I mean, I was
n’t…Winnie just ran into me.”

  Was he drunk? Luke shook his head. “I know, I saw. Everything okay between you two?”

  “There’s nothing between us. I mean, uh, yeah. No. Why wouldn’t everything be okay?”

  “I don’t know?” Luke finished that sentence as a question because for the life of him he had no idea what was happening.

  Oliver grabbed two beers from the fridge. He handed one to Luke and then settled against the counter where Winnie had just been sitting. “Anyway, I should be asking you the questions. What’s the deal, man?”

  “The deal with what?”

  “Come on.” Oliver offered a “get serious” stare.

  “You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”

  “You and the sexy librarian.”

  Ah. Now he got it. “Lola?”

  “Hell yes, Lola.” He blew out a long whistle. “Man, she’s something. Not your usual type though.”

  What was that supposed to mean? “What the hell, dude?”

  “Get real. You typically go for the blonde space cadets with lots of highlights, too much makeup, and purchased boobs. Although, I have to say that behind the glasses and buttoned-up clothes, I happened to notice Lola has quite the impressive figure.”

  For the first time in his life, Luke understood the term blood boiling because he felt like his insides were on fire.

  Oliver must have noticed something changed because he asked, “What? You’ve been spending all this time with her and you haven’t noticed her body?”

  “I’m not going to talk about her body.”

  “Why not?” Oliver honed in. Then he folded his arms over his chest and gave Luke a long once-over. “Wait a minute. Oh man.”

  “What?”

  “This is serious.”

  “What?” Luke repeated, suddenly feeling like all the air had left his body.

  Oliver threw his head back and laughed. “You’ve really fallen for the sexy librarian. Wow.”

  “No, no, no, it’s not like that.” Right?

  “I never thought I’d see the day that commitment-phobe Luke Erickson would take a tumble into love.”

  Luke choked on the taste of beer he’d just thrown back. Coughing, he set the beer down on the counter. “You’re full of it.”

  Oliver grinned. “Nope, you’re full of it. Full of love. For Lola.” He drew out her name, batted his eyelashes, and started making kissy noises.

  “Shut the hell up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Enlighten me then. I saw how you were looking at her. Plus, you did the protective hand on her back thing.”

  “The what? I think you’ve been watching too many Lifetime movies. Time to reclaim your man card.”

  “Fuck off,” Oliver said good-naturedly. “But I know what I saw out there.” He pointed toward the backyard.

  “You know nothing. The whole thing between me and Lola is fake.” Oliver lifted one eyebrow in obvious disbelief, so Luke kept going. “Seriously. I met Lola at our reunion. Remember? She and her crazy friend crashed it.”

  “What? Wouldn’t have expected that out of her.”

  “She was coerced into it. But in any case, we started talking and we made a deal. I wouldn’t out her at the reunion if she would pose as my girlfriend for my family reunion.”

  “Interesting.” Oliver took a long pull of beer as he considered.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “I do. Speaking of Lifetime movies, this little plan is right up there. But answer me this. Your family reunion was last week. What is she doing here today?”

  “She…well…” He sputtered a few more words before he finally fell quiet.

  What the hell was he supposed to say? What did he even feel? Luke didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to acknowledge that Oliver made a good point. There was absolutely no reason to keep Lola around.

  Except that he wanted her around.

  He liked her being around.

  He liked her. A lot. More than liked.

  Maybe loved.

  Oh shit.

  “You know what I think?” Oliver asked. “I think that during your little diabolical plan, you fell for her. I think you have some serious feelings for Ms. Lola McBride.”

  “Shut the fuck up. You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Having Oliver acknowledge the situation and his very real feelings for Lola made Luke want to lash out. “It’s not real,” he practically screamed.

  “None of it?”

  “None. I feel nothing for Lola.” He shrugged, as if the words coming out of his mouth were true.

  Only they weren’t, and just saying them felt wrong. So very wrong. They left a bitter, acidic aftertaste on his tongue. Right then, he thought he heard something. It sounded like a strangled noise forced from the depths of someone. Probably just his mom’s cat coughing up a fur ball. He listened closer but only heard the backdoor closing. He hadn’t been aware anyone else was in the house.

  An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach.

  “Well, if that’s the case, then maybe I’ll ask her out.”

  Luke froze. “You’ll ask who out?”

  Oliver rolled his eyes. “How many beers did you have today? Who have we been talking about? Lola.”

  “You’re going to ask Lola out?” Lola? His Lola? “Over my dead body,” he said as his fingers curled into fists.

  Once again, Oliver started to laugh. “Man, you have it bad.” He grabbed his beer and slapped Luke on the arm. “I’ll let you deal with that. See you back outside.”

  Luke took a moment, let his best friend’s words sink in. He didn’t know what to do. The only thing that seemed to make sense was to be with Lola. So he headed outside, anxious to talk to her. His steps were lighter as he entered the backyard.

  After a quick perusal, he didn’t see her so he sidled up to his mom.

  “I saw you chatting with Oliver.”

  “Guys don’t chat, Mom.”

  She laughed. “Excuse me. Did you two have fun?”

  “It was…illuminating.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Never mind. Hey, have you see Lola?”

  “No, honey. We were talking for a little bit. Then she went inside to the bathroom.”

  Inside? The hair on the back of his neck stood up straight.

  Mia bounced over to them then. “Hey, what’s wrong with Lola?”

  Those hairs on his neck started to tingle. “What do you mean? I was just looking for her.”

  “She’s out front. She looked really upset.”

  “Oh dear,” Lorraine said.

  “She said to apologize to you, Mom. She’s leaving.”

  “Excuse me.” Luke handed his beer to his sister and bolted for the door to the fence. He ran around the outside of the house and spotted Lola looking at her phone on the curb by the street.

  “Lola, hey, Lola.” He dashed up to her.

  Lola glanced over her shoulder. Her eyebrows drew together, and she started walking in the opposite direction.

  “Lola, wait.”

  “No,” she called over her shoulder.

  He thought he heard her say “not for you,” but couldn’t be sure with his heart hammering loudly in his ears.

  Finally, Luke caught up to her. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. “What are you doing out here? Where are you going?”

  “I’m getting an Uber.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can go home.”

  “Are you not feeling well?”

  She pinned him with a hard stare. “I feel fine.”

  Her answers were all terse. He was getting nothing out of her. Even though he had no clue why she was leaving, Luke had a pretty good idea that she was pissed at him.

  “Lola, please tell me what’s wrong. You were having so much fun earlier.”

  “Was I?” she asked. “Hard to believe that since it’s not real.” She waved her arm at his mom’s hou
se, and then she moved her hand in between the two of them. “None of it.”

  His blood turned to ice as he recognized his own words being thrown back at him. He realized then that Lola had been in the house. She had overheard his conversation with Oliver.

  “You heard me.” His voice was soft and low. Suddenly, he felt like he was going to be sick.

  “In the kitchen? With your best friend? Saying there was nothing between us? Um, yeah. I did hear that.” She shook her head back and forth, her bangs swishing across her glasses. “I guess it’s better to hear it now rather than later down the line when I’m even more invested in you and your family.”

  She clutched her phone even tighter. Luke could see her knuckles turn white.

  “Lola…” But he didn’t know how to finish that sentence. What could he say to make her understand?

  She closed her eyes. “I’m such an idiot. Frankie tried to warn me.”

  “Warn you? About me?”

  Her eyes flew open and she pushed him. Hard. “Yes, about you. How you would hurt me. And you did.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “You didn’t mean to hurt me or you didn’t mean what you said to Oliver in the kitchen?”

  He saw hope spring into her eyes. She took a step forward.

  “What I overheard in the kitchen, was it…just talk? Like locker room kind of talk? Or did you mean it?”

  This was it, an incredibly important moment. This could save his relationship with Lola.

  He wanted to tell her he was afraid and that he’d just been mouthing off to his friend. He wanted to keep her here and not have her go away mad. But he also wanted to protect himself. His father’s face flashed in his mind. All that pain washed over him.

  “I meant what I said to Oliver.”

  Tears instantly formed in her eyes, but she took a few deep breaths and kept them from falling.

  “Why did you sleep with me? If none of this is real, why have you spent every day with me for the last week?”

  When she put it like that… She wasn’t the idiot. He was. Only, he’d wanted to sleep with her because he was falling for her. He needed to tell her that, but he couldn’t seem to get the words out.

  “No reply.” The disappointment on her face tore at something deep inside him.

  “Look, Lola, I told you that I don’t do this. I’m not made for relationships.” Each word tasted bitter and wrong.