Page 87 of Fake it ’Til Fall

“How do you know all that?”

“Easy. I asked your mom.”

My hand stops on the coffee mug.

“You asked my mother about Daisy?”

“Not like that.”

“Mark.”

“I mentioned you’d gone out with a Daisy Thorn a couple of times. Tested the waters. See if she’d believe it.”

I scrub a hand over my face.

“Fuck.”

“She believed it,” he says, sounding proud of himself, which is impressive considering I’m two seconds from finding a new agent and possibly a shovel.

“My mom thinks we’re together?”

“Exactly what we need.”

“No.”

“Yes. Your mother said you and this Daisy character have been hanging out a lot. Puck loves her. You go to that café every day. She seemed very open to the idea—even when this Daisy’s part of the enemy family.”

I stare at the wall.

Why is he still my agent?

I really have very poor judgment.

Also, my mother is a menace with phone contacts and too much free time.

“I never wanted to lie to my mother,” I say.

The truth of that sits badly in my mouth.

Because I hadn’t thought about her.

Not really.

I thought about the job, the dinner, the parents, the school board, Daisy’s ex, Daisy’s mother, Daisy’s face when she said she didn’t want to go back like this.

I did not think about my own mother hearing I was seeing someone and hoping it meant I was finally becoming easier to worry about.

Now what?

Call Mom and confess I’m fake dating a Thorn?

She’ll be disappointed.

Worse, she’ll be tender about it.

I can handle anger. Disappointment is different. Tenderness is a knife wrapped in a sweater.

“Can you two start posting on social media?” Mark asks, cutting through the thought.