Andrea Laurence - The Boyfriend Arrangement

“And now you’re ready to talk? ’Cause you’re sure as hell going to give us every detail,” Lucy sassed.

Harper shrugged. Not really, but the time had come to spill some information if she was going to pull this off. “I guess I have to if I want to bring him on the trip.”

“I noticed you RSVP’d for two, but you left off the guest’s name,” Violet said. “I was wondering what that meant.”

“Yeah, I was hopeful that things would work out for him to come,” Harper continued to lie, noting that after pretending she had money for a decade, pretending to have a boyfriend wasn’t as hard as she’d thought it would be. “But if it fell apart between us, I thought I might bring a friend. Or no one. But things are great and so Sebastian is coming. I’ll give you his information to add to the travel manifest.”

“I’m eager to meet him,” Emma said. “And intrigued. You haven’t really had much luck dating since you and Quentin broke up. Where did you two meet? He’s not one of your Tinder finds, is he?”

“Oh, no. Those were a mess. I actually met Sebastian at one of the hospital fund-raisers this winter. The one raising money for the orthopedics center, I think.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie. They had met there. They just hadn’t started dating. “He works with medical equipment. He can tell you more about all that. Anyway, we hit it off and he asked me to dinner. Things have just sort of progressed from there.”

“Wait,” Violet said, sitting at attention on the sofa. “We were all at that fund-raiser. Do we know him? Sebastian who?”

“Sebastian West.” Harper was suddenly nervous that maybe they did know him. She and Sebastian hadn’t gotten together to talk yet, so she ran the risk of getting caught not knowing something obvious about him if any of the girls knew who he was. Quentin had recognized his name and company, so it was a possibility.

Thankfully none of them perked up at hearing his full name. “I doubt any of you know him. He spends more time working than socializing. He’s super smart. I’m excited for you all to meet him.” She grinned wide and hoped she was selling her story.

“We’re all excited,” Violet echoed as her eyes narrowed at Harper in suspicion. “I can’t wait for Monday.”

Harper took a large sip of her wine and nodded with feigned enthusiasm. “Me neither.”

Three

Sunday evening Sebastian arrived at the bar a full fifteen minutes before he was supposed to meet Harper. He wasn’t particularly anxious about their meeting, but he couldn’t stand just sitting around his apartment any longer. He’d sat there for the last two days trying to fill the hours. Without work, he found he had far too many minutes on his hands.

He’d spent as long as he could packing and preparing for the trip. He’d taken his clothes and his tuxedo to the cleaner. He’d carefully collected his toiletries and underthings, but that had taken only a few hours out of his newfound free time.

Sebastian had tried reading a book. He’d watched some television. Both had bored him after a short while. By Sunday afternoon he’d had nothing to do but pace around his apartment and wish away the hours. He wasn’t sure how he’d get through the next two weeks if he hadn’t met Harper and had this trip to Ireland fall into his lap. He might just go insane. How was that supposed to improve his health? Mentally weak but physically strong? What good was that?

When his watch showed it was almost time to meet Harper, he’d rushed out the door. He’d taken a table in a quiet corner, ordered himself a gin and tonic with lime—ignoring doctor’s orders—and awaited her arrival with his notebook open to read over some notes. He carried it almost everywhere he went, writing down ideas and schematics when they popped into his head. He’d learned the hard way that he could lose the spark of inspiration if he didn’t immediately capture it.

This way he was still waiting, but at least he was out of the house and potentially doing something productive in the meantime. Thankfully, Harper showed up a few minutes later. She was looking attractive and fashionable once again with layered lace tops and a long sweater over skinny jeans. Today her dark hair was pulled up into a bun, highlighting the line of her neck and her dangly earrings.

Sebastian was once again struck by the fact that this woman should be able to find a boyfriend easily. He didn’t understand why he was even there pretending to be one. Then again, the same thing could probably be said of him. Life was complicated sometimes.

“Thanks for coming. And thanks for doing all of this,” she said as she settled into her chair across from him.

“No problem. Would you like a drink?”

“Just water for me,” she said with a polite smile. It surprised him. A glass of wine or a martini seemed far more her speed. He didn’t question it, however, and waved down the bartender for her water.

“Are you packed and ready to go?” she asked.

“Mostly. What about you?”

“The same. I feel like I’m not ready, although I can’t imagine what I haven’t packed yet.”

“Don’t forget the slinky lingerie,” Sebastian said. The sudden image of Harper wearing some kind of silk-and-lace chemise came to his mind and made him immediately regret his words. He didn’t need that vision haunting him over their next week together.

“What?” Harper’s eyes were suddenly wide with concern.

“It was a joke,” Sebastian soothed. And that’s what he’d intended it to be, even if a part of him wouldn’t mind if she threw a nice piece or two in there.

“Oh,” she said, visibly relaxing. Apparently the idea of being his girlfriend for real was not nearly as appealing to her as it was in his own mind. “Yeah, no, I’m packing the ugliest pajamas I’ve got.”

“Flannel footie pajamas with a zip front?” he asked.

“Yep. I’ll be dressed as a giant pug dog.”

Interesting. “Trapdoor for convenience?”

“No, just a front zipper, but they do have a tail and a hood with puppy ears and a nose I can pull up.”

“Excellent. Since pugs aren’t my thing, I’m sure the sight of you in that dog outfit will squelch any misplaced attraction that might arise between us.”

“Perhaps I should buy you one, too. I saw one that was basically a poop emoji costume.”

“Not Spider-Man or Deadpool? You went straight for the poop emoji?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

They both laughed for a few moments and the tension dissipated between them. Sebastian was relieved. He didn’t want either of them to be uncomfortable. It would make the week ten times longer than it would be already.

“So tell me everything I should know about you,” Harper began. “I’m your girlfriend, after all, so I need to know all the important things.”

Sebastian tried not to wince at the thought of talking about himself. He hated doing that. He tried to think of what he would share with someone if he were really dating them, but he found he didn’t know the answer to that, either. “I’m from Maine. A small coastal town called Rockport, specifically. I went to MIT. Technically, I’m a mechanical engineer, but I’ve branched out quite a bit after college.”

“I thought you worked for a medical supply company.”

Sebastian frowned. That was probably his fault. He liked to keep the details of his work vague. “Not exactly. BioTech is a medical research and development company. My partner Finn and I develop new medical technology.”

“Your partner? You mean you don’t just work there?”

“Eh, no. We started the company together out of college. I own it.”

Harper frowned, wrinkles creasing her forehead. “Are you serious? I offered you every penny I had in savings to go on this trip and you’re the CEO of a company? You probably make more in an afternoon than I do in a paycheck.”