Play Fling (A Stupid Cupid Book) (23 page)

Brooke hugged one arm to herself. “I should
have gotten a lot more done this weekend. I got nothing done. If I
don’t get some merchandise, I won’t have a business and business
has really been picking up. Christmas is just around the
corner.”

She spoke earnestly even if she looked
hesitant. He believed her.

He cleared his throat. “I understand. I kept
you in bed, you need to buy stuff. I get it. It’s cool.”

“I’m not saying I regret playing hooky.” She
stepped closer. “There weren’t any worthwhile sales all weekend,
anyway.”

Thank God. Minxy might be back.

“But, there are five sales this weekend
including an estate auction which is a total rarity in Reno, so I
have to go and pray I find something.”

Elliott’s pulse picked up. This was the first
time she’d spoken of her business. “Yard sales? Isn’t it a little
cold for yard sales?”

“Moving sales. You’d think so, but when
people need to move or need some cash….” She tossed her hair back
and sat back down. She picked up the highlighter and classifieds
again.

“So, not yard sales.”

She half shrugged. “No. They’re really just
yard sales named moving sales to try to sound not so cheap and
outdoors in the middle of winter. But, every one I’ve been to is in
a yard or a garage. Thankfully, it hasn’t snowed down in the valley
for a few weeks.”

Elliott swallowed. Should he ask? No, she’d
laugh. She’d think he was making a play. To hell with it. “I love
yard sales. How about if I tag along?”

“Yeah, right.”

“No. Really. I love a good yard sale.” He
did!

“Are you teasing me?” she asked in a high
pitch.

He put his hands up. He’d be honest even if
it killed whatever they had going. “Nope. Swear to God. I’m a yard
sale, antique store, swap meet junkie. It’s my Mom’s fault. Well,
her and Indiana Jones.”

Brooke stared at him for a moment then
doubled over into laughter. Terrific. Should have kept his trap
shut and left when he still had a shot at seeing her again. Now, he
might as well leave the toothbrush she told him not to. So, she’d
think about him when she scrubbed her toilet with it.

“Yeah, yeah. Hah hah. Go ahead, laugh it up.”
Her laugh was infectious, though, and he had a hard time not
chuckling as well. “What can I say, I’m a history nut and my mom
dragged me to them from age five on.” Her cheeks looked so pretty
when they were pink. “They’re like excavations without the
dirt.”

Her pink cheeked happiness sobered. She
lowered her voice. “You’re one of those nuts that shows up too
early and knocks on the door while they’re still setting up, trying
to get first pick, aren’t you?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, that was my mom. She
was a sucker for a good buy. I’m more the what’s-this
–and-where-did-it-come-from type. The guy with a funky hat chatting
up the owner who buys the statue your mother-in-law gave you that
you hate, but she finally died and you can sell the thing as long
as your husband never knows. That’s me.”

Brooke smacked her knee. “What her husband
doesn’t know won’t hurt him. He has a terrible memory anyways,
right?”

“Yes!” Elliott pointed at her. “Exactly. I
love it. You should have seen some of the stuff my mom let me drag
home. She let me buy this bronze statue once. I swore it would be
worth something. I told her the whole way home. She nodded and
smiled and roughed up my hair.”

“Was it?”

“Not even close. It was an incense burner.
You can find the same statue in any head shop in town. She probably
knew the whole time. I paid more for it at the silly yard sale than
I would have at Grateful Dreds any day.”

Brooke’s mouth hung half open, ready for
another giggle. He wanted to yank her up, twirl her around and kiss
her.

“What will you be looking for?” Elliott
asked. Hint, hint. Nothing like a second pair of eyes, right?

“Memorabilia. Retro, vintage type stuff. My
store is called Memory Lane. It’s an eBay store.”

“Cool concept.” With his best puppy dog eyes,
Elliott nodded, hands in pockets. He knew they would have a blast
going together. All she had to do was agree. Come on. Just one
little word.

Brooke eyed him thoughtfully. He waited.

Was he willing to beg her? “Hey, if you
thought about it, I’ll bet Shope’s class could even help your
business. You know, get a feel for the times and whatnot.”

Her eyes popped a little. “Yes. It might.”
She angled her head. “Okay. The first one is Saturday morning, 6am.
Do you want to meet me there or should I pick you up?”

Yes! He played it as cool as he could,
despite feeling like a seven-year-old at Disneyland. Actually, he
probably felt better. He tugged his ear and acted as though he had
to think about it a minute. “I can probably swing that. Pick me
up?”

Brooke sent him a sly smile. “One
condition.”

Uh-oh, here it comes. Keep it simple. “Name
it.”

“I get to keep all the booty we plunder.”

“Absolutely.”

By the time Elliott left, drove home, and
walked through the door, Gordon had called four times. Three
messages. Elliott checked them as his laptop booted up. He’d have
to hustle if he was going to get the papers graded in time for
class. Supposedly sick yesterday or not, Shope would expect them
completed. At most, he could sneak a few less paragraphs by in his
analysis.

Gordon sounded panicked from the start.
“Elliott, call me when you get this. The shit has hit and I don’t
know what to do.”

What shit? Jason? Something with work? He
deleted the message. Moved to the next. “Elliott, please, I need to
talk the second you get this. I know it’s your class day, but
please. Just call anyways.”

Elliott hung up on his voicemail and dialed
Gordon. A rapid knock on his front door made him hang up before the
second ring. He knew it was Gordon and let him in, ignoring the
trail of cigar stink and prepared to calm his cousin down in record
time. Afterward, he’d enlist his help with these papers.

“It’s hit the fan, Elliott. Jason is freaking
out. Someone knows about him,” Gordon said.

Elliott closed his front door and put up
placating hands. “Alright, settle down. You’re not making
sense.”

Gordon sat on the sofa and started over.
“Jason is really upset. I told you how he’s been hesitant to come
out to his family with the holidays so near? Plus, there’re some
family matters his mother is dealing with and a whole list of very
good reasons for us to wait.”

It was Gordon chasing the star quarterback to
somehow earn gay approval all over again. “Jason is still making
you wait?” Elliott asked.

“Not making me. We decided together. In fact,
it was my idea.” Gordon stood and crossed his arms. “I’ll get to
all that and, I promise, you can berate me all you want when I do.
What is important foremost is that
we
decided.”

Elliott knew better than to argue when Gordon
put on his court face. “Okay. You’re right. I’m listening.”

“Thank you.” Gordon paced. “As I was saying,
we decided to wait until after the holidays. He planned to start
with his ex-wife and mother, then move on down the list from
there.”

“His ex-wife?”

Gordon nodded. “Brooke. You met her. Twice,
in fact. You see, he respects her a lot and I think he wants to
mend the harm he feels he caused their marriage. She thinks their
divorce was all her fault.” He waved his hand. “Enough said. The
plan was Thanksgiving and then it became after the holidays. New
Years Day-ish. New leaf, resolutions, Mom I’m gay.”

“Okay. I get it. So, what hit the fan?”

Gordon stopped. “Somebody knows.”

“Who?”

“Jason doesn’t know.” Gordon folded his arms
over his chest and pulled at his goatee. He paced some more.
“Someone must have seen us out. We’ve been so careful, but so
happy, too, that I think we must have gotten sloppy.”

“If Jason doesn’t know who knows he’s gay,
then how can he be sure anyone knows at all?” Elliott didn’t know
if he could keep up with all this.

“The rumor mill. Some Debbie someone. A
friend of a friend got wind of seeing something somewhere and if it
spreads too far, Jason is terrified his ex or his mom will find out
on their own. Well, not so much Nancy because she isn’t in that
social circle. But Brooke. She could run into someone. They could
drop a bomb on her.”

“It would definitely be a big bomb.”

“Gee,” Gordon said. “You think?”

“Hey, cut the sarcasm. You came busting down
my door, remember? Besides, I don’t see how I can do anything to
help.” He could be a shoulder to cry on again. “I mean, how bad
could it be to fix it? Jason tells Brooke now instead of
later.”

“That’s what I said. But, Jason is almost
ready to go on a date with some bimbo just to buy us some time.”
Gordon sat down again. “I need your help.”

“What? Find Jason a date?” Elliott
half-laughed. “Or, you want me to pop my head into Shope’s class
and tell her?”

“So, she’s in your class? I knew it!”

“It’s not my class.”

“Seriously, Elliott. You can help.”

Sure. He could help Gordon pick up the pieces
when Jason turned out to be a liar, too scared to be honest with
his family. “How?”

“You work on campus, she takes history
classes. You two talked at Thanksgiving. Even I could see sparks
fly.”

If Gordon only knew. He wouldn’t tell him,
though. Not until Brooke got comfortable with complicated.
“So?”

“So, you don’t have to go to her class. You
could bump into her, though.” Gordon steepled his hands. “Make
conversation. Feel her out. Find out if she knows already.”

If she knew? Try, has no clue. Brooke’s
wishes to keep it simple aside, telling Gordon about their
involvement didn’t sit well. Plus, Brooke had been clear about her
rule. She hadn’t spelled out that he was her little secret, but
Elliott was no idiot. Until she let him in, mum was the word.
Especially when it came to the ex-husband’s new lover,
cousin-friend or not. “Oh, sure. I say ‘Hi, how are you? Seen any
gay bombs go off around here?’”

“You know what I mean.”

“If I find out she doesn’t know anything,”
Elliott began. He should just stay out of it. He couldn’t.
“Assuming I can bump into her. Assuming I can then figure out a way
to bring something like that up.” He could just tell Gordon the
truth in a couple days and act like he’d happened to find out. “Not
only that, but be able to verify it somehow, too.”

Gordon’s whole demeanor changed. Relief and
hope.

Elliott saw it as a long way to fall. “Is
Jason going to tell Brooke now, rather than later? Is he going to
keep postponing? Or will he honor you and tell his family the
truth?”

“I promise you. If you do this for me, he’ll
have no excuse left.”

Jason shouldn’t need excuses, but Elliott
wouldn’t say so when Gordon’s heart was so easily broken.

Chapter Eighteen

“Toying with a young girl’s heart isn’t how
the angels intend us to make a match,” AJ insisted. He stood near
the door, arms crossed.

Miserable all week, Millie had filled up on
fast food and plotting. She couldn’t keep waiting. Every nail
chewed off, she’d obsessed over Brooke’s inevitable fallout long
enough. “I won’t be toying with Michelle Shope’s heart. She is
already completely crazy about Elliott. I’ll just be helping
her.”

“And what about Brooke? How will her heart
withstand losing Elliott to the girl?”

She didn’t have time for this. “Look, AJ. It
isn’t that Brooke isn’t strong. She is. Smart, too. What woman
isn’t dumb, when it comes to a guy like Elliott?”

“What exactly does that mean?”

She hated that tone of his. Sweet and patient
with her. Millie wasn’t made of glass. “It means I spent a week
watching her move farther and farther away from who she is meant to
be with. Jason.”

Millie got her coat on, ignoring AJ shaking
his head. She had to time her ‘accidental’ run-in with Michelle
Shope perfectly. What little information AJ had secured on the
co-ed made Millie certain; locating her was a gamble. Millie needed
Elliott out of the picture. What better way than with a young,
bouncing distraction like Michelle?

“I wish you’d reconsider.”

“I know. But…I can’t.” There was just too
much too lose. More than the heartbreak she wouldn’t be around to
help her best friend through. She’d lose AJ and that heartbreak,
she couldn’t face. Elliott would only hurt Brooke. Better now than
later.

Millie arrived at the Book Exchange feeling
worse, not better. She sat at a corner table, fingers crossed that
neither Brooke nor Elliott would show up. AJ’s warning echoed
through her. “Bad idea.”

Apparently, love isn’t a battlefield, no
matter who sang it. But she was low on time and high on pressure,
and maybe Elliott and Michelle would live happily ever after.
Brooke would get hurt, but who was to say Michelle would?

Screw it. With less than two weeks until AJ
was taken from her, playing fair wasn’t an option. Manipulating
Michelle Shope into unwittingly helping her cause would get Brooke
out of cloud sixty-nine and back onto Jason. Last weekend, that
Debbie Hines-whoever yard sale incident convinced Millie that Jason
and Brooke had never been the problem. Being surrounded by a bunch
of jealous, nasty gossips like Debbie who wanted to see Brooke
fail, caused her divorce.

Millie knew envy, or, technically speaking,
Kiki knew envy. When envy ran deep enough, it changed people.
Directed at a person with enough length and force, envy destroyed
more than lives. She wouldn’t let herself dwell on past pain now,
though.

Millie adjusted her chair for a good view of
both the store and the café. This would work. If she did this
right, Elliott would move on to a girl his age, Brooke would be
glad it went no further, and all would end fair. No matter what AJ
said.