Chapter One

Will Bryant Gets A Shock

November 4, 2022

Becca Taylor sounded like a lovesick puppy, and if she didn't stop sighing every time she read one of her girlfriend's messages, Will Bryant was going to beat her over the head with her phone. That, or smash it into a zillion pieces.

Okay, so he probably wouldn't do either of those.

Maybe. It all hung on the next thing to fall from her lips.

Becca sighed. "I hope she calls soon." She stroked the screen with a single finger.

That was it, he was done. That phone was going to Samsung Heaven.

Will held out his hand. "Give me the phone, Becca."

Her eyes narrowed. "Sure. You can have it—when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."

"Fine. Then either quit drooling over Kristen's picture, messages, whatever, or go do it someplace else. You're putting me off my lunch."

She glared. "I miss her, all right?"

Will rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, she only left an hour ago."

"But she'll be gone all weekend. And I can't help it if I feel things deeply. I'm in love." She pasted on a sweet smile. "You should try it sometime."

He snorted. "Not if it makes me act anything like you. How about a little perspective here? She's gone home for the weekend. She'll be back Sunday night. Surely you can survive that long without her?"

Becca gave her phone another wistful glance.

Apparently not.

Will peered at the clock on the cafeteria wall. His next class started in twenty minutes. No way was he putting up with Becca until then.

I'm being mean, aren't I?

For reasons Becca hadn't gone into, no one at home knew she was into girls. Will had thought her parents sounded cool, but if she wasn't willing to come out to them, then there had to be stuff going on that he knew nothing about.

"I think you need cheering up. They're showing Glass Onion at the Main this weekend. You liked Knives Out , didn't you? Or there's Enola Holmes 2 . We could go for a pizza first." Anything to stop her moping.

Becca smiled. "And this is why you're my bestie. Yeah, that sounds cool." She turned her head to gaze through the windows at the snow-covered ground. "And that looks freezing."

"We've got coats, boots, scarves, gloves… I think we'll survive."

Her phone rang, and she pounced on it. "See? She loves me too." Then her face fell. "Aw crap, it's my mom."

"Want me to go?"

Becca shook her head. She held the phone horizontally, one end to her lips. "Hey, Mom."

"I wanted to catch you before you had a class or something." Her mom's voice was audible.

Will hoped the call didn't get too personal, not that Becca would be fazed by such a thing. She hadn't even blushed when her boob had popped out during a dance rehearsal last semester.

"Just finishing lunch."

"Then I suppose you'll have to change into… well, whatever it is you wear when you dance. Except… should you be dancing on a full stomach?"

Becca rolled her eyes heavenward. "Okay, I hardly think a salad and an apple are gonna make me bust at the seams. And who says I'm dancing? We do have real classes too, y'know, Mom. In a classroom? You can't get a degree in Dance with just performances. We study technique, choreography, dance theory, kinesiology…"

"Is that a real word, or did you just make it up?"

Will stuffed his hand into his mouth to stifle his laughter.

Becca gave him another glare. "Of course it's a real word. It means the study of movement."

Mom huffed. "Why couldn't you study a proper subject, like Aiden did?"

"Dance is a proper subject." She mouthed a yell.

"That's not what your father says. You know what he calls it?"

"Yes, I do, and please don't say it again." She took a deep breath. "Was there a reason for you calling me?"

"You haven't forgotten about the party next weekend, have you?"

Becca rolled her eyes. "No, Mom. How could I forget your silver wedding anniversary? But I won't be coming home Friday. I've got a performance that night. I'll go straight to the hotel Saturday."

"Are you bringing a date? That would be okay."

Will gave her a sympathetic glance.

"No, Mom, it'll just be me."

"You know, I was talking about you just the other day to Josh. He's the new management trainee. Such a sweet boy. He's a little older than you, but such lovely manners."

"Mom…"

"And Richard works in the kitchens. He's a pastry chef, and oh my lord , the things that boy can make." There was a pause. "I could ask if either of them would like to take you to the party."

"Mom, we talked about this. You have to stop trying to fix me up with guys, okay?"

"But you're twenty-one and still single."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"By the time I was twenty-one, I was—"

"Married, and you'd had Aiden. Yes, Mom, I know. But times change. Let's face it. You got married in the last century."

"It was only 1997."

"And now it's 2022. Are you trying to fix Aiden up with a date too, or is it just me?"

"I've invited a lot of the girls from the hotel. I'm sure he'll like one of them."

My mom , Becca mouthed, with another eye roll.

Will kept his mouth shut. Matchmaking seemed to be her mom's favorite occupation.

Then Becca stilled, her eyes widening. Will noted the gleam in them and straightened. He knew that look.

She's up to something.

That was never a good thing.

"Actually, Mom, I was gonna call you. I have some news for you. Really exciting news, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You need to stop setting me up with dates because I…" She swallowed. "I just got engaged."

Will's jaw dropped.

"Oh my God. When were you going to tell me?" Her mom's voice went ultrasonic.

"It only happened last night."

Will gaped. "You and Kristen got engaged ?" he whispered.

Becca fired him another glare. "Ssshhhhh!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Mom. Just someone on the next table talking way too loudly."

It seemed to be Will's day to be on the receiving end of a whole lot of glares.

"So tell me. What's his name?"

Becca stared at Will, her hand shaking. "Will. Will Bryant."

Will's jaw was scraping on the cafeteria floor.

What the fuck?

"Your best friend? That Will?"

"Yes, Mom, that Will."

"But we've never met him."

"What can I say? It was all kinda sudden."

So sudden, Will appeared to have missed it entirely.

"What does he study again?"

"Astrophysics." Becca averted her gaze. "He's really smart, Mom. You'll like him."

Yeah, you look away all you want, girl. Because when this call is over…

"Well, I hope we do more than like him, if he's going to be our son-in-law. You know your father will want to vet him, don't you?"

Will was going to kill her. Slowly.

"You know what, Mom? I gotta go. I'll call you on Sunday, all right? We can talk about it then."

"Okay. Wait till I tell your father. He'll be so happy—once he's picked himself up from the floor. You will be bringing Will to the party, won't you?"

"Yes, Mom, I'll bring him."

Will's jaw dropped for the second time in less than a minute.

"Then I'll book him a room. We'll have a houseful here."

"That's great. Thanks. Bye, Mom." She disconnected.

Will pounced. "Why the hell did you tell her we're engaged?" God, he was having heart palpitations. That sharpness in his chest worried the fuck out of him, and his heartbeat thudded in his ears.

"It was all I could think of to get her off my back, all right?"

"And you don't see any issues with this? Like… oh, I don't know… the fact that I'm gay?"

"Calm down, Will."

"Calm down? I'm so stressed, I can hardly breathe. You just told your mom we're engaged, and then you told her you're bringing me to their anniversary party next weekend."

"I know, it's sudden, but—"

" Sudden ? Seriously?"

"It'll just be for one weekend, okay? Then we'll break it off."

"Oh really? And then what? You find yourself another fake fiancé for the next family occasion?"

Becca sucked in a long breath. "Please, Will. Do it for me? If I could take Kristen, I would, but you don't know my mom."

"Are you so sure she'd react that badly to discovering you're a lesbian?"

Another eye-roll. "Will, when anything remotely connected to LGBTQ+ comes on TV, you know what my mom does? She changes the channel. She doesn't say a word. Neither does my dad. And you want me to walk in there and announce I've got a girlfriend ? Not gonna happen." She grabbed his hand. "Look, it's one lousy weekend, all right? You get to stay in a beautiful hotel—it's the Pfister, where Mom works, and it's real fancy—there'll be food, music, dancing…And all you have to do is shake hands with people, smile on cue, and act as if you're totally in love with me."

"That's all, huh?"

"You can totally do this. I've seen you act, remember? That amateur drama group you used to belong to, two years ago? You can do this standing on your head."

"Oh God, you want me to do tricks as well?" His heartbeat was returning to normal, however.

She chuckled. Then she grabbed his hand. "Please, Will. Do this for me?"

"You said that already."

"I swear, I wouldn't drop you into shit like this if it wasn't positively, absolutely, extremely necessary." Her face tightened., and she gasped as though breathing has become a chore.

Looks as if she's having a panic attack too. That cooled his jets a little.

"If I could take Kristen with me, I would, but—"

"You said that already too."

She swallowed. "I'll never ask you another thing, so long as I live."

He snorted. "Don't make promises you can't keep." She let go of his hand, and he glanced at it. "We need to talk props."

Becca frowned, and then she nodded. "We'd better find a ring before Saturday." At least she'd calmed down.

Will gaped again. "I am not buying you an engagement ring."

"I'll do that. It doesn't have to be much. We'll tell them you're an impoverished student. You can't afford anything fancy or expensive."

"And you promise, the engagement's off as soon as this party is over?"

Becca placed her hand over her heart and opened her mouth to say something, but Will held up a hand. "Please don't try to convince anyone you have a heart. If you did, you wouldn't be putting me in this awkward situation."

"How rude." Yeah, that was the Becca he knew. She pouted for a moment. "I have a heart." She glanced at her phone with a sappy smile. "It belongs to Kristen."

He couldn't argue with that.

She bit her lip. "Sometimes I forget how well you know me. Anyway, as soon as the weekend is over, I'll tell my parents the engagement's off. I'll be all broken up." She grinned. "In fact, your rudeness just gave me an idea. That's why I'm breaking up with you. I'll be so devastated, they might never want to see you again."

He managed a half-smile. "At least there's a bright side." He had no wish to spend time with haters. Thank God Becca was nothing like her parents.

She sagged into her chair. "Then you'll do it?"

He heaved a dramatic sigh. "What are friends for?" Then he gave her a hard stare. "But you will owe me, big time. Especially if you're dragging me to Milwaukee."

Ugh, even the name gave him the heebie-jeebies. All he'd ever heard about Milwaukee was the number of bars the place had. Not that he'd ever been there, but he didn't think anyplace that declared itself to be the beer capital of the world would hold any interest for him. Then again, at least he'd have no problem finding a place to get drunk if he needed to get away from Becca and her family.

And there was always the possibility Milwaukee was inhabited by some of the world's sexiest men.

Maybe even the world's sexiest gingers.

Yeah, right.