“I figured something had to be afoot.You went from 'I'll die alone with my goats' to 'oops, a billionaire showed up' in two weeks.I may be old, but I'm not stupid."
"You're not old.You're vintage."
"Flattery won't distract me, you know.”
“It might.”
She clears a table beside me, wiping it with a dishrag.“When are you telling him?"
"Tonight."My stomach churns."At the party he invited me to.Or after.Or possibly never.Can I change my name and move to Peru?"
"Peru's nice this time of year," Sarah calls from behind the counter where she's frosting what appear to be confession-themed cupcakes."But running won't solve anything."
"When did you get here?"I ask.
"Ten minutes ago.You were having an existential crisis with the Earl Grey."She holds up a cupcake."Want one?I'm calling them 'Truth Bombs.'Chocolate with guilt-flavored frosting."
"That's not a real flavor."
"It is if you believe hard enough."
My forehead drops to the surface of the table."I'm going to tell him, and he's going to hate me, and I'll have ruined the first good thing in my life since Derek."
"First of all," Eleanor says, settling across from me with surprising grace for someone wearing orthopedic shoes, "Derek wasn't a good thing.He was a placeholder with good hair."
"His hair was magnificent," I admit.
"So is a lion's mane, but you don't marry it."She pours tea from a pot that appeared from nowhere."Second, Luke won't hate you."
"I committed fraud."
"You committed romance," Sarah corrects, joining us with a plate of cupcakes."With a light fraud chaser."
"That's not better."
"It's a little better."
"Sarah, I tricked him.Manipulated his data.Pulled every Big Tech trick I’ve ever learned to make him think we were compatible?—"
"Are you not compatible?"Eleanor interrupts.
I think about Luke in my kitchen, Luke chasing Buttercup, Luke holding me, his full mouth brushing the edge of my ear."We are, but?—"
"Then you didn't trick him.You introduced him to reality."She pats my hand."With some creative editing."
"That's definitely not how the law works."
"Sweetie, I've been married four times.The law and love rarely intersect nicely."
"Four times?"Sarah and I say in unison.
"What?I like weddings."Eleanor shrugs."The point is, you can't build a relationship on lies.Even beautifully intentioned, algorithmically enhanced lies."
"So I tell him."
"You tell him."
"Tonight."
