Four
He’s not going to come.
Miri twirled her gin and tonic in her hands, wiping the condensation down the glass. Could this day get any worse? Muddy bus splatter. Flashing a hottie. Nervous oversharing. Finding out the hottie she’d flashed, overshared with, andliedto was somehow a participant on this expedition, while pouring a cup of brown goo all over her hiking boots.God, those are gonnareekin a few days.That was all pretty bad. Then, getting completely ambushed by Corrie into being a co-lead on this excursion?
And now getting stood up? She had to be breaking records on terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days here.
Even taking the whole Moon City expedition out of the equation, the fact that Rafa had asked to meet for a drink in the first place was still mind-boggling.He, someone who by the look of things must succeed in the dating department, had askedher, someone whose dating prowess could be summed up aswent on numerous impressively bad dates—several years ago—and not asingle one since. Though…wasit a date? Officially? Maybe Rafa’d been asking out of politeness, seeing as they were staying in the same hotel and all.
Miri closed her eyes and shuddered.Riiiiiiiight.That makes more sense.A pity invite.
One thing was certain: he hadn’t bothered confirming their “date” before departing the team meeting. Not that she could blame him. She’d barely looked at him throughout that entire disaster of a dinner, unwilling to acknowledge that they knew each other. After avoiding Rafa for the evening, of course he wouldn’t think she’d show. No, he’d flown out of there like a bat out of the Amazon—much like Miriwishedshe could do.
The barstool next to her scooted out, and Miri’s heart kicked up a notch—only to realize itwasn’tRafa.
“Hey, Anissa,” she said, dejected.
“Ouch. Nice to see you, too,” Anissa said, taking the seat next to her.
“Sorry, I was just…”Getting stood up?“Never mind.” It was too embarrassing to say it out loud.
“Well, don’t worry. I’m not staying. The minibar in my room wasn’t stocked, so I’m grabbing a couple provisions.” Anissa waved down the bartender and placed her order—a few bottles of red and a bottle of cachaça. “I’m stocking up for later,” she clarified.
Miri smiled and shrugged. “Hey, I don’t judge.”
“And this is why we are friends,” Anissa said, stealing a sip from Miri’s drink while she waited. “Drowning your sorrows?”
“What do you mean?”
“Corrie’s announcement? You looked a bit deer-in-the-headlights up there.”
“Oh…that.” Sigh. Was it that obvious? “Yes, I mean, no.Deer in the headlights, yes. Drowning my sorrows? Not exactly.” Not how Anissa intended the question, at least.
“So you’re excited, then?” Anissa said. “Personally, I think it’s awesome. You’ve always wanted to lead an expedition.” She snacked on a couple of cocktail peanuts sitting in a dish on the bar like it was no big deal.
Because, yeah, leading—co-leading—an expedition to alost citywas nothing. Not when you’d never even led an excursion into a metropark, let alone the freaking Amazon rainforest.
Miri wasn’t ready for this responsibility. She’d never been the lead on a dig—oranyjob for that matter. Even her invitation for this assignment was a result of being Corrie’s mentee. And now Corrie was throwing her to the wolves—Dr. Bradley Quinn.
She’d heard plenty of things about Dr. Quinn.Assertive. Skilled. Genius.
In other words, the opposite of Miri. How was she supposed to get her voice heard over Dr. Quinn’s? Miri was no Corrie Mejía.
She dropped a cocktail peanut down her shirt, and it skated right by her B cups—okay,okay, A cups—and straight through to the floor.
Yeah…she wasnothinglike Corrie Mejía.
“Yeah, no, it’s great,” Miri said. Unconvincingly, by the skeptical look on Anissa’s face.
“Miri, we’ve known each other for, what? Seven years? I can tell when you’re bullshitting me.”
“I’m not bullshitting! Seriously. I’m genuinely excited!” Miri proclaimed with every ounce of bubbly energy she could muster. “See? I’m celebrating.” She lifted her glass and took another sip. “Mm-mm. So pumped.”
Anissa laughed. “You aresucha bad liar.”
Miri’s shoulders sank. “Fine. I was waiting for someone, but it looks like I got stood up.” She twirled the glass in her hands again.
A devilish smile formed on Anissa’s face. “Ooooh, girl! Nowthat’swhat I’m talking about! Are you getting your freak on before we hole up in the jungle?” Anissa stuck out her tongue and waggled her brow.
