Duncan’s eyes narrowed, most likely because he was trying to decipher what the hell she was saying. “What happened to—what’s his name—Steve?” he asked.
“I haven’t seen him since our first date.”
“After you asked him to be your fake boyfriend?”
Oh, this was a mistake. “You know what? Never mind,” Retta said, moving to stand up.
Duncan stopped her by saying, “I’ll do it for all three parking spots.”
Shaking her head, Retta settled back in her seat. She had to think about her staff. “The best I can do is offer you one spot free and clear.”
“Two,” he countered.
“One and we can alternate the remaining two monthly,” she said.
He was silent for such a long time before saying, “Add the recipe for the blueberry scones and it’s a deal.”
“Let me get this straight,” Anthony said, holding up hitting pads for Duncan to punch. “You go over there to negotiate parking spaces and you come back with a girlfriend?”
“Fakegirlfriend,” Duncan said, increasing the speed and power of his punches. “I also got us reasonable parking and a scone recipe.”
Despite pressure from his business partner to negotiate for a first-come, first-serve policy, Duncan thought it was a wrong strategy. He knew the parking was important to Retta as well, so he hadn’t wanted to push too hard and wreck a business relationship.
After several minutes, Duncan backed away and caught his breath, leaning over the top rope of the ring.
“So, you’re supposed to attend a wedding and an engagement party and pretend like she’s your girl?” Anthony asked.
“Why is this so hard for you to wrap your head around?”
“Because Duncan Gilmore voluntarily entered a relationship.”
“Fake relationship,” Duncan said, taking a drink of water. “You don’t think I can pull it off?”
Anthony screwed his face. “Your longest relationship—if you want to call it that—lasted, what? Three months?”
“It’s called acting. None of it’ll be real.”
“Acting? You need to let go of that high schoolMidsummer Night’s Dreamrejection, brother,” Anthony said.
“Man, fuck you,” Duncan said, laughing.
“You also know nothing about her. How are you going to play a convincing boyfriend?”
“We have adate,” Duncan said, placing heavy air quotes around the word. “That should be enough for us to get to know each other and make us seem like a real couple in front of her family.”
His friend shook his head, exasperated. “Do you hear yourself? I’ll let this parking thing go and release you from this ridiculous plan.” Anthony touched each of Duncan’s shoulders like he was knighting him.
“I gave her my word, and besides it works out for both of us.”
He wasn’t completely sure of the reasons Retta wanted him to pose as her boyfriend at her cousin’s wedding. But if he had to guess, he would say she wanted to ward off questions about her relationship status.
His sister often complained about the questions and comments she’d receive from different family members about getting married. He got them too, but they were never laced with judgment or condescension.
“Wait, do you want to sleep with her or something? Is this some long game to endear yourself to her?” Anthony asked, clapping his padded hands together before positioning them for Duncan to hit.
He dropped his head backward for a moment. “No, because there’re less complicated ways to get laid.”
In fact, he’d be looking into those ways as soon as this arrangement with Retta was over.
