okay with you?” Josh’s rhetorical question was an unnecessary formality. Even as he asked, he was steering his car into the parking lot of their favorite pizzeria.
They ate here an average of five times a month. On nice days, it was close enough to walk the few blocks between Grazzio’s and their apartment complex, but on this rainy October night, she was glad for the warm shelter of the car. They hurried through the falling rain to the restaurant, where Josh held the door open for her.
Inside, the leggy brunette hostess greeted them by name, with a special smile for Josh. “Hey, handsome, when are we going out again?”
Josh winked at the woman he’d taken on a couple of dates back in August. “Ah, Nancy, I’d like nothing more than to sweep you off your feet here and now. But you know George from the sports bar is crazy in love with you. I just can’t break the poor guy’s heart like that.”
The hostess shook her head, laughing. “Well, if you change your mind about being noble, you have my number.”
Piper thought Nancy would be wise to give up on Josh and give George, the bartender at Touchdown, a call. All over Houston, from the corner sports bar to the Astros’ stadium, Piper and Josh ran into women who had briefly been part of his life and wanted to repeat the experience. Piper had been on the receiving end of more than a few envious glares from women, who, unlike Nancy, didn’t know Piper had no interest in dating.
Her last relationship, the only one worth counting since Charlie, had ended when her boyfriend gently complained that her work was more of a priority than he was. She suspected that his intent had been for her to change that, but she’d encouraged him to find someone who would focus on him the way he deserved.
Piper and Josh were shown to an elevated booth with blue padded seats, and she stepped up to slide in across from him. An olive-skinned waiter with a mustache and faint accent took their drink orders and left them with a basket of warm bread. The buttery smell reminded her of her mother’s kitchen, where something was always baking, and the upcoming weekend. Piper should be thinking of a way to get out of her impulsive lie, but the more she considered it, the more she liked the idea of a human buffer between her and Charlie. Piper knew from her sister that Charlie had most recently dated the town librarian, but he’d broken things off a few months ago, apparently deciding he wanted a more outspoken woman. Specifically Piper, the outspoken woman he hadn’t valued enough when he’d been with her.
On her last birthday, he’d sent her jewelry that was too expensive to be justified by their growing up together. She’d returned the gift, but he’d still called her a few weeks later to let her know he was going to be in Houston. She’d told him truthfully that she was too busy trying to meet a project deadline to meet him for dinner and had hoped the reminder of her nontraditional priorities would dissuade him. If it hadn’t, she could be in for a very long weekend.
Josh grabbed a roll. “I’m starving.”
Lost in her own troubles, she barely heard him. She needed to be ready for her family, and she could think of only one way to do that. “Josh, I need a man.”
2
PIPER’S DECLARATION was met with immediate choking on Josh’s part. It wasn’t often she had the satisfaction of catching him so off guard. Quite the contrary, he normally delighted in shocking her.
He recovered quickly, his grin suggestive. “Why didn’t you say so back at your place? Forget the pizza, we—”
She laughed. “That’s not what I was talking about.”
Having decided that balancing the irritation of dating with her more important career wasn’t worth the time and effort, Piper was pretty much living a life of celibacy. Josh’s full knowledge of that was probably why he felt safe enough to flirt with her in the first place. No way would he ever actually go out with her. From what she’d observed, he liked to keep women at a certain distance, and he and Piper had passed that point already.
Though she admired plenty of things about Josh, his love life tended toward the…well, shallow seemed unkind, but the truth was some of his relationships made mud puddles look deep by comparison. Interestingly few of his dates complained, so Piper supposed it was none of her business. Josh didn’t lecture her on her non-dating habits, and she didn’t lecture him on the fact that he had the staying power of a—Actually, from the way ex-lovers swooned when they saw him, Piper suspected he had very impressive staying power.
She gulped down some water. “You know I’m going out of town for a few days, right?”
“Yeah. A family reunion.” He smiled. “See? I listen.”
“Well, I need a guy to go with me.” She exhaled a gusty sigh that ruffled her bangs. “I sort of let my mother think I was dating someone, and she’s expecting me to bring him home.”
His expression turned blank, his mind obviously blown at trying to imagine Piper with a man in her life. “But you aren’t seeing anyone.”
“Thank you, Columbo. Nothing gets by you, does it?”
“Hey, watch the sarcasm,” he said as the waiter returned. “You’ll give me indigestion.”
“Ready to order?” the waiter asked.
Piper and Josh exchanged guilty glances. Her “need a man” statement had distracted both of them from even opening their menus. As the waiter stood by, they debated what kind of pizza to get.
“We can split it,” Josh proposed. “Get half of the pizza made one way and something different on the other half.”
“No deal, Weber. Last time we did that, you tried the Jamaican chicken pizza, didn’t like it and ate all of my half. Besides, I might just get pasta.”
“Pasta?” Josh echoed. “Come on, this is the best pizzeria in Houston. You’re going to come here and not get pizza? That makes as much sense as…you having a love life.”
The impatient waiter clearing his throat stopped her from snapping a comeback.
“Perhaps I return in a few minutes?” the man offered.
Glancing from his menu to Piper, Josh said, “I know how much you like the Sicilian specialty. Want to just get that?”
Piper nodded, and the waiter shuffled off, appeased.
Josh immediately returned to the subject of her faux love life. “I don’t get it. What made you lie to your mom? You never lie. Having witnessed you turn away persistent men at Touchdown, I would even say that you’re sometimes painfully honest.”
Lowering her gaze to the red-and-white checkered tablecloth, she mumbled, “I didn’t set out to lie, exactly. I just exaggerated.”
“Piper, when was the last time you had a date?”
“Okay, fine, I lied. I had to get off the phone! She called to remind me that I’m the unmarried shame of the family, and I cracked. I told her I had to run because I was meeting someone for dinner.”
“And based on a supposed dinner date, she’s now booking a church and auditioning caterers.”
“For a guy who’s
