Truly (New York 1)

He scratched his chest, on which no shirt had yet materialized. Chest hair. God, Mom was going to see Ben’s chest hair. It wasn’t right. His eyebrows were all worried.

“You don’t have to do this,” she said.

“Lie to your mom?”

“Um, yes. Any of it. I mean, if you want to take off, I guess—”

Allie interrupted her. “Do you have dog treats?”

“I think you left some. They’d be in the cabinet.”

“Good. He can’t take off. It’s too late. He can take off later. Right now, he’s a PA. Right?”

“So that’s a secretary? I’m a sports agent’s secretary?”

On a scale of one to ten, with three being his normal level of jadedness and ten being a full-scale Ben meltdown, he sounded like he was around a five. Maybe a six.

“Apparently.” May wanted to groan. Or die. “Please?”

Allie had a mad glint in her eyes. Ben had chevron eyebrows. He was going to get all yell-ish again, and then she’d have to explain, and—

He nodded decisively at Allie. “Okay. If that’s what May needs me to be, that’s what I am.”

“I like him already,” Allie said.

“This wasn’t my idea,” May clarified.

The doorbell rang again, and she wove past her sister, bracing herself for disaster.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Ben had never seen a mother and daughter as alike as Allie and Nancy Fredericks. They were both tiny, with brown hair and bright blue eyes. They both talked with their hands and tilted their heads like birds, moving with an abrupt, hopping intensity.

They both wore dark green, May’s mother in a Packers sweatshirt, her sister in a jersey like May’s, but tailored to fit and worn over jeans with a brown leather belt.

After Nancy Fredericks glanced at the couch—where May and Allie had tossed the pillow at the last possible second, creating a tableau that made it appear as though Ben had slept in the living room—she tilted her head and turned her attention on him.

Ben felt like a worm about to get eaten.

“So you’re Ben!” she said. “It’s good to meet you.” She reached out a hand, and Ben shook it, wishing he were wearing a shirt. “I didn’t think I would get to, which would have been a shame, because then I couldn’t thank you for taking such good care of May.”

Ben tried to look humble and deserving as she pumped his arm up and down.

“You have to come over for lunch. It’s the least we can do before you get back on the road.”

He attempted to catch May’s eyes, but she was looking at the carpet and chewing on her lip. He was on his own.

“That would be nice,” he said tentatively, “but—”

“That’s settled, then,” Nancy replied. “Do you have coffee on, May? I need caffeine to get through the rest of this day.” She started walking toward the kitchen, and May trailed behind her as if connected by an invisible rope. “I had no idea we’d left so many last-minute wedding things to do until I got my list out this morning and realized that most of the tasks involved about a hundred little subtasks, and when I wrote all of those out, oh my goodness. I’m so glad you’re home to help. And you need to tell me what you’ve been up to, because I know Allie said it wasn’t your fault that you couldn’t make it, and of course there’s no phone service at the cabin, but I’ve been going crazy not hearing from you!”

“I know,” May said sheepishly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Nancy said. “Just tell me there’s coffee.”

“In the freezer,” she answered. Ben heard the freezer door open.

Allie grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the bedroom. “Where’s your shirt?” she whispered.