“You couldn’t take it back.”
She nodded. “I’ve been dodging questions ever since. I’m sure they suspect the truth but I’m not backing down.”
“So all they know is that you have a boyfriend and he can’t come home with you for your sister’s wedding?”
“Right. But we supposedly spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve together at his family’s house. And, of course, they wanted to speak to him to wish him a Merry Christmas. I’m still not sure how I managed to convince them that he was helping his mother with something.”
He pictured her all alone for the holiday—all for the sake of perpetuating a lie. “Dump him. If he’s too busy to go to your sister’s wedding with you, then he shouldn’t be your boyfriend.”
“I can’t dump him. He’s not real.”
He picked up her cocktail and passed it to her, his fingers brushing across her knuckles when she accepted the drink. He wanted to grab her hand and hold it in his, but held back so he didn’t come on too strong. Touching her felt too damn good. “If I was your boyfriend, then you damn well wouldn’t be sitting here alone on a plane with a stranger like me.”
“He’s not real, remember?” She took a small sip and wrinkled her brow. “Wow. I can taste the cranberry juice in this one.”
Her comment made him laugh. “Is it a long distance relationship? That would explain why your man couldn’t come to the wedding.”
She rolled her eyes. “You might as well call it ‘dead but don’t know it yet’ relationships. They never work.”
He agreed with her views in this instance, but he couldn’t resist teasing her. “Do you have the numbers to back that up?”
“Not exact statistics,” she peeked at him, her lips curling up. “But I think it’s pretty safe to say that four out of five of them fail.”
He flinched. “Ouch. Though, I agree. I’ve seen it happen.” He pointed at her. “But you need a good reason for boyfriend not to come along—or he’ll look like a loser.”
She tapped her fingers on her leg. “You might have a point. If he’s supposed to be as wonderful as Susan’s fiancé, why can’t he come with me to the wedding? Hmmm… Maybe he needs to work.”
“When is the wedding again?”
“Saturday, and Susan is my younger sister. She is marrying the perfect boy she dated in her perfect senior year of high school, the only man she ever slept with, blah, blah, blah.” She waved her hands in a circle, then rolled her eyes. “You get the point.”
“Sounds like she’s perfect,” he quipped.
“Yeah, pretty much.” She grinned, then took another sip. Watching her pink lips, he’d never been so fucking jealous of a cup before. “And then there’s me, with no one special in my life. No one I’ve ever been serious about, anyway. Just flings. But my family doesn’t want to hear that. They want weddings and love and security.”
“So you made him up to get them off your back?”
“Exactly. I’m the shame of the Moriarity family. It may seem a bit old-fashioned, but they think a woman of a certain age needs to be married with kids. The fact that I don’t have a boyfriend, and—gasp!—my younger sister is getting married before me…well, let’s just say it’s code orange for my parents. It’s a bit melodramatic, but there it is. I made up a boyfriend just so they don’t worry about me. In all reality, I don’t even want one. But if they knew that, they’d have it in their head that I’m miserable up in Maine all by myself.”
Oh, he knew how that went. He was also one of the only ones in his family who wasn’t seeing anyone. His mother was constantly suggesting nice women she knew. He lifted his glass to Kayla and took a drink. “I’m right there with you on the lack of relationships thing. A few months ago, my mother went so far as to chase down a woman in a parking lot to get her phone number for her ‘hero son fighting overseas.’”
Kayla choked on a snort. “You’re making that up.”
“I wish I was,” he said solemnly. “But it’s a true story. One among many I could bore you with the whole flight.”
She burst into uncontrollable laughter, clutching her stomach. He had a feeling the drink had more to do with her amusement than him, but he’d take it. She was intoxicating when she laughed. After she recovered, she swiped a tear away from the corner of her eye. “Oh my God, I would literally pay to see that. I’m not even kidding.”