“Or she isn’t into gossiping about her love life.”
“Is that the story you’re going to go with?”
Damn. He could compound his errors by continuing the pretense, but his sister was better than any lie detector in the land. Besides, maybe she could help him find a way out of this farce that he never should’ve started to begin with. “Okay,” he said. “So hypothetically, let’s say I do have a pretend girlfriend.”
Tess crossed her arms. “Uh-huh . . .”
“What if I wanted to make things real?”
“Let me guess,” she said. “You’re asking for a friend.”
“Sure,” he said. “Let’s say that.”
Tess looked at him for a beat. “Is your friend asking for advice to get into this woman’s pants, or is he genuinely seeking advice on how to get to know this person—because I don’t want to see her hurt, and you have a way of being effortlessly charming when you want to be and getting whatever you want.”
“I’m asking for a friend, remember?”
“Is your friend an idiot?” she countered.
He sighed. “Forget it. Forget I asked.”
The door opened and nearly hit his sister in the ass. Shirl Cutler came in, bouncing with joy. “Guess who I met today during my volunteer shift at the humane society!”
Levi turned and thunked his head against the steel shelving. “Why?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t tell her who I was.”
Mateo came in behind Levi’s mom. “What did I miss?”
Levi sighed. “And you’re here why?”
His mom gasped. “What kind of way is that to speak to your oldest, bestest friend?”
Behind her back, Mateo grinned at Levi.
Levi very discreetly gave him the middle finger.
“And I invited him here,” his mom said. “Because we have all that leftover food from today’s birthday lunch for Dusty. Mateo’s just worked a bunch of days in a row and I bet he hasn’t eaten a good home-cooked meal in forever. I’m packing him up leftovers.”
Mateo was one of the best cooks Levi knew. The guy was actually a huge food snob. Even though Levi believed that Mateo had indeed worked a bunch of days in a row and was probably near dead from exhaustion, there was no way he hadn’t eaten.
“Come help me, Tess.” And with that, Levi’s mom and sister were gone.
Mateo plopped into one of the two chairs in the corner and rubbed his hands over his face.
“Long few days?” Levi asked.
“You could say that.”
Levi dropped into the other chair. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“No.”
“Okay, glad we could clear that up.”
Mateo swore beneath his breath. “What do you know about your pretend girlfriend’s best friend?”
“How do you know about Jane?”
“I have my ways. Tell me what you know about Charlotte.”
Levi shrugged. “I met her last night. She seems really nice.”
“Nice? That’s it?”
“I know she’s a doctor,” Levi said. “At your hospital. Which means you know way more about her than I do.”
Mateo leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and his face into his hands.