“You may know what it means, but you don’t have one.”
“I’m still seeing Bailey,” he shot back.
That was another perk of their arrangement. He could use her to get his family off his back and vice versa. She had four siblings, all of which were married with kids. They’d mutually agreed to serve as each other’s significant other decoys. So far, it’d worked wonders with her family and his parents. Nana on the other hand wasn’t buying it. She had an uncanny bullshit detector and had never bit when he threw out the “I have a girlfriend” line.
“I’m not talking about a booty call, Nathanial Edwin Holmes. I’m talking about love.”
He sat up straighter at the use of his full name. It was a Pavlovian response.
“She’s not a booty call, Nana,” he uselessly defended.
“Fine then I’m not talking about friends with benefits,” she clarified.
He couldn’t argue with that.
“I’m talking about something real. A commitment. The girl that you’re going to grow old with.”
She was talking about something that he didn’t deserve. He’d forfeited the right to any happiness in his personal life a decade ago at Whisper Lake when he’d betrayed his brother and the only girl he’d ever loved…