At least ten times during the car ride over, I’d almost turned around and called the whole thing off. How the hell did Rock convince me to do something like this? I was about to lie to my entire family about a guy. I’d never lied to them about anything. When I was ten I’d even told my mom I’d taken a second cookie out of the jar because the guilt was gnawing away at me.
I knew the real answer to why I was about to be a massive, irredeemable liar, though.
Because I would do anything to make sure my mom remembered this reunion as a good memory instead of a tragic one.
Mom had been hospitalized for extreme high blood pressure three years ago, and ever since, everything had changed. She talked about her age a lot more in casual conversation. She had started to say things like “when I’m not around anymore” to me and Cameron. And she had immediately started talking about wanting a family reunion, the minute she was out of the hospital.
She’d been looking forward to it ever since, and for the last year, she’d been planning it like it was her full-time job. Mom had been through so much, and now Cameron and his kids were about to go through a divorce, too. The Erickson family needed a win. If nothing else could be good, at least this reunion could represent hope.
So even if this entire scheme with Rock made me feel like I had military-grade explosives inside my chest, it was worth it.
Suddenly the front door of the house swung open and Rock emerged, wearing a baseball cap, a tight white T-shirt, and jeans. He had a big red duffel bag slung over one shoulder that was so overstuffed the zipper looked like it was about to break. He grinned wide and waved as he approached my car, stopping to do a little twisting dance move in the middle of the lawn. He hopped in a circle on his good foot while swinging his booted foot around in front of him.
I snorted and rolled my eyes. Every moment was a party for Rock Redford.
I made a motion with my hand to signal come here now, get in the damn car, but he just gave me finger guns and kept walking over with all his usual swagger.
He finally swung open the rear passenger side door, heaving the duffel bag inside.
“Watch out, there’s a cake in that box,” I said, nodding to the pistachio chiffon cake I’d made early this morning.
“Ooh, road snacks?” he said, pushing the duffel bag in more carefully now.
“No. It’s Mom’s favorite.”
He smiled at me, his dimples already making me feel like I was on fire.
“Oh, hang on,” he said. “I forgot the pack of Reese’s I was going to bring.”
“Hurry,” I said, but he had already slammed the back door shut and was hobbling back to the house as fast as the ankle boot would let him.
“Got ‘em,” he said when he made it back to the car and sank into the front passenger seat. His scent of clean laundry and cedar filled the car, and he popped on a pair of sunglasses.
He looked so big. Or maybe he just made my car look small, in comparison. Normally the only people I had in the passenger seat were Mom, Cameron, or Cameron’s kids, none of whom were big, beefy firefighters.
“All good?” he asked.
I realized I’d been staring at him for a few seconds, marveling at the way his biceps peeked out of the tight white sleeves of his shirt.
“Yes. Sorry. Good,” I said.
“Need a water bottle? I can go grab some from inside before we go,” he offered.
I shook my head. “I’ve got some in the trunk, actually. We need to get out of here before Red sees me, anyway.”
He cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean? Red knows you’re here. He’s the one who told me you pulled up.”
I stared at him. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Rock,” I said, my voice level. “You didn’t tell Red what we’re actually doing this week, did you?”
“That I’m going to be your boo thang for the reunion?”
“Red cannot know about this,” I said. “He’s my boss.”
Rock gave me a look, slowly bringing his shoulders up in a guilty shrug. “Oops?”
“You did not already tell him.”
“Red loved the idea,” Rock protested. “He said it was perfect. Granted, he probably was just jumping for joy that I’m going to be out of his hair for the next week, but—”
“Oh my God,” I said, scrubbing my palms over my face.
“Hey, it’s okay, I mean it,” Rock said. “See?”
I glanced up and saw that Rock was pointing to the house, where Red was now standing behind the front window, smiling and waving out at us.