“I know. It stinks. But we can still fix this.” Jamie looked at me. “It’s not like I’m asking you to take a stranger. This is Simon. You guys are friends. It’ll be easy to pretend like you’re in love.”

I stood there frozen in one spot, paralyzed by Jamie’s words. I had to stop him. There was no way I could agree to Simon pretending to be my boyfriend for a single minute, much less an entire weekend. Like an old-school movie reel, my mind flashed through all the moments I’d ever shared with Simon. All the tiny sparks I’d felt between us, the looks, the conversations. It was like someone turned a mirror on my own life, bringing into sharp focus the fact that such a weekend could never happen. Instead of dousing sparks with water, an uninterrupted weekend with Simon had the potential to do the exact opposite. Granny Grace’s warning roared in my brain. You want to avoid trouble with the one brother? You stay far away from the other. But how could I explain that to Jamie? It was impossible. My mind started scrambling for other reasons—reasonable reasons—to thwart his plan.

Simon crossed his arms. “Jamie, it’s a bad idea.”

Good. At least he and I were on the same page.

“Why? It’ll totally work.”

“What about social media?” I asked. “There are pictures of us out there. How would we explain that?”

“Lane, you never post anything on social media. Your Facebook status still says single.”

“Are you serious?” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened Facebook to check.

“Yep. I just checked the other day. There are no photos of you and me together on Facebook, and if your mother is anything like mine, that’s all she uses.”

“Doesn’t Lane’s family already know your name?” Simon asked. “How would we explain her boyfriend suddenly becoming someone different?”

Jamie’s face fell. “That’s a good point.”

“Except . . . they don’t know your name.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. Why was I trying to help?

“You’ve never told them my name?” Jamie asked. My words couldn’t have done much to bolster his confidence.

“Well, no,” I said. “But you haven’t met my mother. Our relationship is complicated.”

He frowned.

“My brother knows your name, if that matters,” I added.

“That’s enough, then, right?” Simon said. “Your brother would know something was up.”

“Actually, John would probably help us pull it off if we needed him to.” What is happening? It was like my words were functioning independently of everything logical inside my head. “He gets it. He’s got the same family I do.”

“Then for sure we can make this work. If we’ve got a man on the inside, it’s a done deal,” Jamie said.