The Real Deal

“You do?” I ask tentatively.

He nods vigorously. “Is that not patently obvious?” He waves animatedly in the general direction of the tree house. “After this afternoon, you think I could want anything but that? I want that. I want you. And right now, I honestly just want to find a way to be back in New York with you.”

His eyes gaze into mine, and my stomach flips. My heart hammers. The last thing I expected when he seemed to shut down was for him to come back like this.

I want to throw my arms around him and kiss his face. So I do. I tackle-hug him, and kiss his fabulous lips. “I want that.”

I head inside to take a shower, knowing everything will work out fine.





Chapter Thirty-seven

Theo

Keep cool.

Keep calm.

Stay confident.

Those were the skills I had in spades.

I might be done with the racket, but I still know how to navigate an uncomfortable situation.

Did I lie to April outside the inn a little while ago? As I raise a fork to my mouth and take a bite of the red pepper salad April’s father made, I can say with certainty that I did not.

I desperately want us to work. I want to be back in New York, carving out time with her, figuring out how we’re going to make a real go of being together.

That’s the solid gold truth.

But I lied about why I don’t want my brother here. It’s not because family’s hard. It’s because I don’t want to have to keep playing the angles, and now I must.

There are things Heath doesn’t know. Things I’ve kept from him. I didn’t want to weigh him down with my troubles while he was serving time, so I dealt with my life on my own terms. He’s been free for only a few months, and I saw him once, when I was able to get away. He had to receive permission to travel outside the state, and even though he could have obtained it, it was easier for me to see him.

His parole ended a few days ago.

I almost wish it had lasted a few days longer, because then he wouldn’t have been able to pull off the trip from Massachusetts to Connecticut so easily.

The way I see it, I have one more night to make everything work. If I win the scavenger hunt, I have a chance at winning the big prize. I can get in, get out, and get the girl. All I have to do is make sure the two pieces of my life don’t bump up against each other before I’m ready.

That’s why tonight I’m going to tell April the truth about my past. I’ll tell her in bed. This girl is the real deal, and I feel confident that she’s not going to pull a Richelle on me and kick me out of her heart simply because I’m not a squeaky clean guy. But I haven’t had a moment alone with her since, well, since the tree house, and I was all set to tell her on the street before she pulled the rug, the flooring, and the earth out from under me with her surprise.

I squared the situation with my brother when we hugged, whispering to him in a ridiculously prolonged brotherly embrace that he simply needed to go along with things if April mentioned to him that I was an actor. He’d given me a that’s not cool look, but he nodded, letting me know he’d have my back.

That’s really the only issue. April’s family thinks I’m simply a bartender, April thinks I’m an actor and a bartender, and my brother doesn’t entirely know about my boyfriend-for-hire work.

All I have to do is keep juggling until I can sort out everything.

For now, Heath has slipped seamlessly into the family, telling a tale of how he nearly caught a home run ball at Fenway Park last week. He’s in his element. Heath can fit in anywhere. “I swear it was landing in the palm of my hand,” he says, one arm raised. “Then the young girl next to me reached up and nabbed it before I did.” He shakes his head and sighs heavily. “But hey, it all works out in the end. She probably needed it more than I did.”

As April’s father serves grilled chicken, April’s mother fires off questions at Heath, just as she did to me when we met. He survives every single one, including when she asks what he’s doing for a living. “I started a consulting business. I do ethical hacking,” he explains. She asked him where he learned the skills, and he says he studied computer science at school.

That’s not the whole truth, but it’s true enough. He learned how to hack ethically because he did the opposite. Breaking into online sites was part of his stock scam. He’s learned how to share only the necessary bits and pieces of his life.

When the meal is done, April’s father rises.

“As you know, the scavenger hunt is the final event of our summer reunion games,” he says, like he’s giving a speech. “We will begin tonight and finish it tomorrow morning. You will go in teams, and you can earn points for the individual and team competition. Don’t forget the individual competition for the five-thousand-dollar prize is a particularly tight race, with Emma, Theo, and Katie all strong contenders.” My brother shoots me an isn’t that interesting look. “And as for the team competition, since we have two newcomers, I’ve decided that any points the newcomers win, will be awarded to me.” Everyone laughs at his joke. “In all seriousness, Bob and I convened and we decided that if Heath and Lacey wish to join Theo and April as a team, that each person will win points on a half-point level. That way the four of you will work together as a team, but you’ll earn points as if you were two. Does that sound fair to everyone?”

Heath and Lacey nod. The rest of the family chimes in with their yeses.

“We’d love to be a part of it,” Lacey says.

I say a private thank-you, since this approach means we can kick ass in this game, with double the mind power. The sooner we finish tonight, the sooner I can be alone with April. I can tell her everything, and I can tell her my past is behind me, too. She’ll understand. I know she will.

Besides, my brother would never rat me out.

*

An hour later, the four of us crowd into a stall inside the restroom at the ice cream shop in town and shoot a selfie. April makes a duck face, Lacey pouts, and Heath gives his best psychotic look with one eye closed. I adopt a stony expression as I click the camera on my phone.

“There you go,” I announce as we check out our mugs on my screen. One of the items on the scavenger hunt list is a digital photo of the entire team standing in a bathroom. We’ve already snagged a receipt for fifty cents’ worth of gas—none of us has a car, so we bought fuel for someone in line—a takeout menu from the restaurant next to the ice cream shop, and a photo of an out-of-state license plate when we spotted a Vermonter cruising by in a yellow Honda.

I squeeze out of the stall first, followed by Heath. Then April shoos us out of the bathroom. “Time to pee. See you later.”

“Me, too,” Lacey says.

I look at Heath. “Let’s order some ice cream.”

We leave the ladies behind and wait in line to order. It’s the first time I’ve had a moment with him.

He claps me on the shoulder. “All right, little dipshit. What’s the deal?”

“What do you mean?”

He holds out his hands. “Don’t mess with me. You told me to go along with the whole ‘you’re an actor’ thing. Want to tell me why she thinks you’re an actor?”

I scrub a hand over my jaw. “She hired me to play her boyfriend. Her family is always trying to set her up, and she didn’t want to come alone and be subjected to dates with local dudes she’s not into. So she hired me. I told her I was an actor because I’ve done a few of these boyfriend-for-hire gigs. Don’t laugh, but it pays well, and it’s helping me with some bills. I never mentioned them to you, because you were in the joint and I knew what you’d say.”

He laughs in disbelief. “What would I say, O Oracle?”

I sigh heavily. “You’d tell me to focus on one thing.”

“And isn’t that good advice?”