“Does your dad think we’re together too?” I’d hate to have to lie to the mayor, and Ramses raised a hand.
“Doubt it. But if he does, we’ll play it off. I got you.”
I hoped so, and opening the door, Ramses let us into the dining room, but really, it looked like a catalog feature for Better Homes and Gardens. Large white flowers on the table and chairs and tulle on the back of the chairs like this was a goddamn wedding. Then there was the spread, all kinds of frickin’ food as white-gloved attendants stood against the walls in wait of assistance.
“This is family dinner?” Ramses pulled my chair out, and I sat down.
He sat beside me. “Mom gets really into it.”
“Apparently.”
A door behind us eased open, and Ramses’ mom clicked in with a new arrival, a thirty-something man in a business suit. She introduced him to me as Liam, the mayor’s chief of staff, and after I shook his hand, his mom seated him at the end of the table.
“Gets to sit next to the big man,” Ramses edged in. “He’s obviously not family, but might as well be. Dad sees him more than anyone else.”
A bit of spite came with that comment, but another arrival came in, and we pulled apart. The woman was dazzling in her silver gown and immediately hugged Ramses’ mom.
“Thanks for letting me use your hand lotion, Evelyn. It’s just so dry outside right now.” The woman rubbed her hands, then noticed me. Like stopped right in the conversation. I knew her too; I just didn’t know which one of her I knew.
She and her sister were twins after all.
Either Mrs. Hastings or her sister stood in front of me right now. I assumed Mrs. Hastings since she was married to Ramses’ uncle, but when Ramses’ mom introduced her to me as Daisy, the wife of the mayor’s chief of staff, Liam, that cleared everything up.
“Oh, we’ve met,” Daisy said, her smile warm on me. She stood back. “I had no idea you’d be here tonight.”
“Well, I think it’s new,” Ramses’ mom edged in. “I believe they’ve just started dating. I heard from some of the girls downtown when I mentioned who Ramses said he’d be bringing to dinner tonight.”
So apparently Ramses and I were the talk of the town. My eyes averted, and Ramses palmed his face.
“Mom, seriously?”
She waved him off. “Oh, you’ll stop and let me gush. She’s gorgeous, and you never bring any girls home.”
“For good reason.” Ramses’ look was apologetic as he stared at me. “I’m sorry.”
It was cool, but it wasn’t. It was what it was and something we’d ultimately decided together so it wasn’t his fault. We knew what we were getting into when we decided to pull this.
I just didn’t know how big it’d get.
It was big, the whole room staring at us. Even the mayor’s chief of staff, Liam, had his eyes in our direction. All focus on me, no one realized when the mayor came in, and I believed only I had because he stared right at me.
He stopped, an older man of maybe forty or fifty. He had a bronze shade to his skin, his hair a salt and pepper. He looked a lot like Ramses, but didn’t. Obviously older. His family’s attention on me, the mayor’s eyes narrowed. “What’s going on here?”
We all looked at him, Ramses’ mom going over. She put a hand on his arm. “Darling, this is the friend Ramses brought. December Lindquist. She’s his girlfriend.”
She whispered that last bit, giggling, but the mayor didn’t giggle. He frowned, and looking at Ramses, his thick, dark eyebrows narrowed only harder.
“Is that
true?” Mayor Mallick asked. He panned to me. “Are you two dating?”
Ramses said nothing, his hand on his face. Dropping it with a sigh, he chose to nod, and his dad came over.
He put out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Immediately standing, I put a hand in his. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
I didn’t know whether I should call him “sire” or even “your majesty.” All in all, I felt neither was appropriate, and we all sat but only after the mayor did. He was royalty in his own house, and placing his hands on the table, his attention transferred to me. Liam immediately began chatting off his ear, business things from what I heard, but the mayor wasn’t hearing any of it. He kept looking at me, and feeling awkward, I stared at Ramses.