She pointed at him. “Hey! It could happen!”
His smile faded. “I have no doubt.”
Her heart did a somersault. “Promise me,” she whispered.
He was quiet a moment. “I get it,” he finally said. “Us falling for each other wouldn’t be smart. We’re both leaving Sunrise Cove sooner rather than later, and we lead very different lives that would make it nearly impossible to maintain a relationship.”
Well, if he was going to be all grown up about it . . . And yet, she appreciated that. His honesty. She appreciated it a lot, and it made her feel a whole lot better about things.
“My turn for a question,” he said. “You mentioned not really having a family. What happened to yours?”
Moment of truth. She looked away, eyed the high warehouse ceiling and the lighting, the people milling in the store— “Jane?”
“I’m not in contact with them.”
Gently he turned her face back to his. “None of them?”
“Not in a long time, no.”
“Jane,” he said softly.
“Believe me, it was for the best.”
“What happened?”
She shrugged. “I got bounced around a lot as a child between anyone even halfway related to me. Kind of soured me on the idea of family.” She shrugged again and even smiled, though she hated to talk about her childhood.
Hated.
And then there was the way Levi was looking at her, like he felt sorry for her. The thought of anyone pitying her made her feel anxious again, and though she knew how much worse it could have been—that she’d had her basic needs taken care of, had never gone hungry or without clothes—thinking back on her life never failed to make her feel like a spare button, the ones that came attached to new sweaters but were easily removed and tossed aside. “My turn now,” she said. “Do fake girlfriends get the friends and family discount?”
He laughed, breaking the emotional tension, but his eyes remained serious. “Fake girlfriends get whatever they want. Why?”
“I was hoping to buy my roommate the jacket sitting at the checkout counter.”
He smiled. “Smart. Funny. Sexy. And a shrewd businesswoman. You got it. So . . . we’re doing my parents’ dinner party?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “We should probably spend a little time getting to know each other before the dinner.”
She blinked. “Like a date?”
“Great idea,” he said. “Yes, a date.”
She stared at him.
He smiled.
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you just trick me into going out with you?”
“Or . . . did you just trick me into getting the discount?” he countered.
She had to laugh. “Smooth. We’re talking a pretend date, though, right?”
“Whatever you want, whenever you want. Just name the time and place.”
She hesitated, shockingly tempted. “I don’t know . . .”
“If it helps, you could consider it a fact-finding mission on your pretend boyfriend. We can get to know each other.”
“When I’m ready.”
“When you’re ready,” he agreed.
At just the thought of what she was agreeing to, meeting his family while playing a role that she’d never been any good at—doting girlfriend—she quivered with more nerves than she’d battled while climbing up this wall.