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Maybe it would have been better to turn John down, but he liked this family. John seemed like the kind of person he could get along with.
It wouldn’t last. Once his and Amelia’s fake relationship was over, so would his fledgling friendship with her brother.
He could enjoy it while it lasted, though.
“What is this?” Amelia said. “You’re connecting with my boyfriend?”
“I like this one,” John said. “We all do.”
He gave Amelia a pointed look, but her eyes darted away.
Daniel glanced over at her, feeling like there was a whole conversation he was missing out on.
“And you’re always welcome out at our house in the middle of nowhere,” Randy added. “Though it may not be your thing.”
“It sounds nice.” He only wished he could see it.
They were interrupted by a waitress coming to take their order, and it hit Daniel just how much he could see living this life forever. With Amelia and her family.
After breakfast, they drove back to the condo, Daniel’s mind still on what could have been.
“S-so, you and John.”
“I don’t have to talk to him again.”
“No,” she said. “It’s not that. He just usually doesn’t go out of his way to connect with others. It’s a compliment, really.”
“I don’t want to make it harder for when this ends,” he said. “So I won’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, about that . . . How long did you want to do this for when we get back?”
That was a complicated answer. “I didn’t have a date in mind.”
“Right, and with the news, I bet it’ll last a while.”
“Yes, but we don’t have to pretend for very long if you don’t want to. I’m sure news like that will linger for months.”
“I said I would pretend to be your girlfriend until it died down. If it’s months, then . . . I’m fine with that too.”
“Because you want to or because you feel like you have to?”
Her cheeks turned pink. “I want to. And if in that time period, you did want to take John up on his offer, then do it. I don’t mind. Maybe I could start running regularly too.”
“I think I’d like that.”
“You know what else I’d like?” she asked. “To enjoy the waves on our last day here. Want to go for a swim?”
“Don’t we have errands to run? We could go to Target.”
Amelia’s nose scrunched, and he remembered how badly their previous Target trip had gone. “Can we just skip it for now? I think I want to be in the water. We go back tomorrow anyway, and I have plenty of what we need back in Atlanta.”
“That works for me.”
They arrived at the condo and immediately went down to the beach. The salty air simmered with the memories of the night before, but she seemed content to enjoy the water, and this was their last chance to.
By the end of the day, Daniel had forgotten about all of his problems.
But then, when he was toweling off, he finally checked his phone.
