Free Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection by Violet Duke

Rob was probably daydreaming about Tara.
    And she was still alone…and needing to go to yet another heartbreaking dinner at the house of the man who only wanted her to pretend to be his girlfriend.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
     
    COULD THIS DAY get any worse? Rob thought as he cleaned up after his three to five-thirty shift and prepared to hand the reins over to Nick and Gretchen.
    Tara Welles and Lance Burk. Now there was a pair who deserved one another.
    He shook his head remembering their visit.
    Seeing Tara was like running into a pesky little sister, but seeing Burk always inspired him to violence. To want to sack him. It was the very way of him. So. Damned. Annoying.
    He spotted Elizabeth’s car pulling up in front of the shop. Punctual, as usual.
    Jacques stood by the counter, chatting it up with Gretchen. Nick played a final round of his favorite electronic game on his smart phone. Some sports thing, of course. A couple of customers lingered over waffle cones and sodas. Rob slipped out unnoticed.
    “Hey,” he said to Elizabeth. “Recovered from the rappin’ jugglers yet?”
    One small corner of one side of her mouth lifted into a very literal half-smile. It was a funny thing. For someone who didn’t talk much, the lady sure had a way of expressing herself.
    “Ah, don’t worry,” he said. “They’ve got gigs lined up for weeks. We probably won’t see them again.”
    She stepped out of the car and he saw she was wearing a long skirt. A nice one in a pretty shade of green. Very delicate ankles.
    “Th-That’s not what w-worries me, Rob.”
    “What worries you?”
    She raised a brow at him and sighed. “Let’s just go.”
    He put his palm on her shoulder to stop her from turning away. “No, c’mon. Tell me. Please.”
    Some kind of private battle duked it out on her face, but she seemed to give in to his request. “This m-m-morning, what you did, getting those jugglers. I-I didn’t like it. It was risky and it made me nervous, but—”
    “But what?”
    “But it was also k-kind of ingenious. How you p-pulled it off. It’s not something I would think of. Ever.”
    A pride he didn’t want to admit, but couldn’t deny, crept into his spine and crawled up it, making him stand taller. “Thanks, I think,” he said.
    “You’re welcome. Sort of,” she said back.
    “Anything besides that on your mind?” he asked her, hoping it might be something else good but fearing it probably wasn’t.
    “No,” she answered quickly and, before he could fish for more compliments, she slid into his car, sank into the leather seats and angled herself away from him. Great. They’d make a believable couple, all right, just not a couple still in the throes of infatuation.
    He cracked his knuckles, revved up the engine and played his part by pretending to ignore her, too. And, so, onward to Mama’s for a second dinner they went. Two meals down. Only twenty-eight to go.
    As promised, a huge pan of lasagna awaited them. The aroma of oregano, basil and garlic greeted them at the door like a butler, while the “Material Girl” sang cloyingly through the speakers of Mama’s stereo. Home again.
    Mama was busy in the kitchen and the kids were with Maria-Louisa in the basement again, but Tony ushered them in, took the plate of cookies they brought, clapped him on the back and smooched Elizabeth lightly on the cheek.
    “You look smashing tonight,” his brother told Elizabeth, giving her the Male Eye-Scan (face, chest, legs, chest).
    She grinned at Tony. Tony winked at her.
    “Knock it off,” Rob said to him. “You’re a married man. You don’t get to ogle or wink or flirt.” At this, Elizabeth turned her big, surprised eyes on him.
    “What?” he said to her. “You’re my girlfriend, and my brother ought to be checking out his wife, and his wife only . There are rules.”
    She and Tony made eye contact, and Rob heard her whisper to Tony, “You know the truth, don’t