Her efforts to put some distance between them were for naught, since he caught up with her outside. In just a couple of his long strides, he was right next to her, and her senses were overwhelmed by his sheer John Carmondy deliciousness. “You have four plans?”

“Almost five.” If she was being honest, however, the parts missing from her fifth plan were fairly critical. “Personally, I like plan number two the best.”

“What is plan number two?” They reached his car, and John opened the passenger door for her. Although she gave him a sideways glance, she swallowed her snarky question about whether they were on a date. Instead of giving him a hard time, she slid into her seat and tried not to feel weird about the whole thing as he closed her door and circled around to the driver’s side. Once he was in his seat, he started the engine and then turned toward her expectantly.

“You’re actually up for making a plan this time, rather than just winging it?” she asked.

With a crooked smile, he raised his hands palms up in a What can you do? gesture. “Seems like it’d be a waste of four good plans if we don’t use them, now that you’ve thought them up and all.”

“In that case, head to Mother Tick’s house, and I’ll tell you on the way.”

Chapter 15

“I still like plan number five the best,” John complained as he parked in the grocery-store lot a block from Mother Tick’s house.

“Four and a half,” Molly corrected, not for the first time. “It has huge gaping holes in it. So much could go wrong.”

“I think that’s why I like it—there’s so much room for improvisation.”

Giving him a look, she opened her door. “Improvisation is fine when a plan goes sideways, but it’s better to at least start out with a solid plan…like plan number two.”

“You just want to be pretend-married to me.”

“Yeah, that’s it,” she said dryly as she stretched and tried to surreptitiously check out the house. “I made that very wish when I blew out the candles on my cake at my last birthday. I wish more than anything that I could pretend to be married to Carmondy.” As he walked over to join her, she gave him a poke in the side. It must’ve been a ticklish spot, because he jumped and swatted her finger away. “Doofus. Why would anyone wish that?”

His expression showed exaggerated offense. “I, for one, would love to be fake-married to you.”

Even though she knew he was teasing, and she’d just been playing along, his words took her off guard. She went quiet for a beat, too flustered to respond.

“Pax?”

“Sorry.” She shook off the strange moment, silently commanding her feelings to knock it off and quit being weird. Grabbing on to the first excuse she could think of, she stared at Tick’s mother’s house. “Thought I saw something move. So…plan two, then?”