Meghan had promised me an honest to goodness invitation to her wedding, and four days after she and my sister went home, it arrived in the mail.
We'd had a wild weekend together, regardless of whether you were talking about all three of us, or just me and my sister Jenifer, but Meghan had made a good point.
In order for us to convince people we were a legitimate couple, we'd have to be convincing in public, where others would see us interacting together, and after having some time to the let the whole idea soak through me without Jen in front of me to serve as a distraction, I realized it would be a real feat to pull it off.
I gave it a lot of thought and decided to surprise her. I scheduled some appointments out of town, arranging them so I'd be able to take her out to lunch and then spend the evening with her.
Supposedly, I'd been sending flowers on a regular basis for some time, so it just seemed like the thing to do when I stopped to grab some on my way to see her. The florist on the corner near her office had a nice bunch of daisies that I knew would put a smile on her face. It was a small arrangement, big enough to be noticed, but not so large as to be obnoxious, and I figured delivering them to her personally, at her office before taking her to lunch, would go a long way toward setting the tone for how we were perceived as a couple.
I stepped off the elevator and immediately knew I was being scrutinized; when I asked for her, it was like the wizard had come from Oz to see Dorothy, and I was conscious of several sets of eyes looking at me as I walked back to her work area.
Jenifer jumped up from her desk and hugged me when I came around the corner and stepped into her cube.
"I didn't expect to see you here," she said, hugging me tightly.
She knew I was coming. The stage was set and the actress was giving her performance. Her face lit up as she saw the flowers.
"How else was I supposed to bring you flowers and take you to lunch?" I asked. The flowers and lunch were improvised additions to our little 'script.'
So was the kiss.
Like it was the most natural thing in the world, Jen kissed me. Not quite square on the lips; her lips melted in to mine, her upper lip between mine, my lower lip between hers. It was a shock, and then it was over, allowing me to take a deep breath. Fortunately, my back was to the opening of her cube. Those who were meant to see her kiss me saw that and not the surprised look on my face.
"I'd love to go to lunch with you," she said, still holding on to me with one hand as she sat the flowers on her desk with the other. "Let me finish up this one thing."
Jen sat back down at her computer and I looked at the frames hanging next to her desk. Professional certifications, credentials reflecting her training hung in a triangle.
"You must be the oft discussed, never-before-seen boyfriend."
I turned me head to the doorway, then my body. Flowing red curls, green eyes, light green dress covering what looked to be a stunning figure, with great calves showing beneath.
Focus, I told myself. Bad form to even give the appearance of playing the field when you're with your girlfriend, whether it's your sister or not.
"See," Jen said, "I told you he existed. Mike, Allyson; Allyson, Mike."
Allyson and I shook hands as she licked her lips. She had a charming smile.
"Several of us used to kid her that she bought a picture frame and dropped a picture of somebody's brother in it," Allyson said.
"I travel a lot," I said. "Usually, when I'm in town, it's just for the weekend. And then again, a lot of the time, Jen comes to see me."
"It must be hard," Allyson said, "being so close to someone, yet so far away most of the time."
"You know what they say," Jen said. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. We try to make the most out of our time together."
"Must make for some great weekends, then." A new voice. Attached to an arrogant smirk.
"Kyhl, this is..."
"Richard," he said, sticking his hand out to shake mine. "Most folks call me..."
"Is it Rick or Dick?" I asked. My emphasis was on dick. Allyson bit her lips suppressing a smile; Jen's eyes went wide.
"Rick," he said, his face flushing with embarrassment. "Call me Rick. Look... you're coming to Meghan's wedding, right?"
I nodded.
"Great. Hey... maybe we can toss a few back and get better acquainted some time?"
He was already walking away as I nodded to him.
"Fat chance," I said when he was gone.
"It was nice meeting you," Allyson said, smiling. "Come around a little more often."
Jenifer sat shaking her head as she secured her work station and grabbed her purse.
"Not here ten minutes and you insult one of my co-workers," she said, "and make eyes at another. What kind of example are you setting for me?"
"Oh, please. Like you haven't called him that at least once a week since you started here. And I was just being polite."
"More like once a day," she said, pushing her chair in. "Or more. But I try not to keep count. And you were more than just polite. I saw you checking her out.
"Not that I can blame you. She is pretty."
"Not as pretty as you are," I said, sliding an arm around her and kissing her on the cheek.
Hands grabbed me from behind and then I felt a body slide around me.
"Fancy seeing you here." Meghan pushed a wisp of hair out of her face.
"Thought I'd come take her to lunch and spend the night. If she'll let me."
Jen smiled and slid her hand into mine.
"Oh, she'll let you. Spend the night. She may not let you leave afterward, though."
"Wanna come to lunch with us?" Jen asked.
"Can't. I've got other fish to fry. But we'll catch up later."
Jenifer hooked her arm in mine as we left her office. There was a Chinese restaurant just down the street from her office, and a few minutes later, we were sipping hot tea, stirring bowls of egg drop soup and waiting for our meals.
"You are going to owe me so big," I said.
"I know," she said. "But you have to admit, so far, it's working out really well."
"So far?" I asked. "Jen, sweetheart, it hasn't even started good yet."
"How do you figure?" she asked. "After last weekend, I'd think we were off to a great start."
"You've been to weddings," I said. "Forget how goo-goo eyed the wedding is supposed to make all the single women, especially those with boyfriends in-tow, and think about how we're going to be expected to interact together. That is where the real convincing is going to take place."
"Well," she said, "they do have us together in the same room, with a king-size bed."
I sat there looking at her.
"And then there's dinner, dancing, and everything else," I said. "People expect to see certain things, Sis. You expect to see a man and a woman acting certain ways toward each other when they're in love."
"You make it sound like they'll expect you to raise my skirt, bend me over a table and take me right there in front of everybody," she said.
"No," I said, "but your office is a pretty structured environment. People will be able to tell, outside the office, when we're together, whether or not we're a real couple."
"Do you love me?" she asked.
"Don't be silly," I said. "Of course I love you. If I didn't I wouldn't be here."
"I love you, too," she said. "And in spite of the fact we haven't lived under the same roof for years, I venture to say we know each other better than anyone else does.
"So," she said, "let's give them a happy, in-love couple."
"It's not that simple," I said. "You have to work with the people in your office, some of the same people that'll be there for the wedding. Do you really think you can live the lie?"
Jen stared at me over her cup and smiled.
"How honest an answer do you want me to give you?"
"Be as honest with me as you want to be."
She took a deep breath and chewed her lip as she stared back at me, and then she swallowed hard.
"You and Meghan are the only people that know you're my brother. Everyone else, my co-workers, her fiancé, everyone... they don't know any better than that you're my boyfriend, and it's been that way for more than a year.
"I've said 'no' to at least a dozen men that asked me out or wanted to take me home, and early on, when I was first telling my fib, there were a couple of guys that really wanted into my pants, and in moments of weakness and want, I almost let them."
Our waiter arrived with our meal, looking suddenly uncomfortable as he overheard our conversation.
She bit her lip again and swallowed hard, waiting for him to leave, and then she spoke slowly and evenly.
"But I've been completely faithful to you since I started telling people you were my boyfriend. I haven't dated anyone else, I haven't kissed anyone else, and I certainly haven't slept with anyone else."
"Are you sure faithful is the word you want to use there?" I asked.
Jen nodded. "Remember discussing Denny and the big breasted woman he says he's going to sleep with one last time before he and Meghan get married?"
I nodded.
"I see the way other people look at Meghan, and I hear the things they say behind her back." Jen reached over and locked her fingers with mine. "I won't do that to you. I swear. I love you."
I'd never seen such an earnest expression on my sister's face, and I swallowed hard as I grasped the amount of faith and trust she was investing in me.
"I love you, too, Sis."
"I know you do, Kyhl."
We ate our lunch quietly, stealing glances at each other, and I took her back to work, walking her back to her desk when we got there.
"By the way," she said, digging in her purse. "This is the new key for my apartment. They changed the locks a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't had the chance to get one made for you yet." She handed me the key.
"I should be home a little before six," she said. "We can figure out what to do about dinner then. Of course, if you're naked when I get home, that'll be okay, too."
I was suddenly aware of someone standing behind me as Jen leaned in to kiss me. I cupped her face in my hands, holding her to me a little longer and gently molding my lips to hers. She looked up at me, her eyes showing vulnerability as my thumbs brushed her cheeks.
"I'll see you at home, then," I said, smiling as I turned to leave.
One of her co-workers looked at me with wide eyes as I brushed past her and headed for the door. Rick glared at me from the entrance to his cube.
So she wanted the performance to be convincing, did she? If we were going to pull it off, I felt like we were well on our way to running a good game.
I stopped off at the store and bought a few groceries. I already knew what we were going to do for dinner; I hoped Jen liked being surprised as much as she liked springing them.
