I could feel the bead of perspiration on my lip and as much as I wanted to wipe it away, I knew that would just draw attention to myself. I was hoping that in the dark, Spencer hadn’t noticed.
“What do you want to tell people?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what story do you want to tell them? I just want to make sure we’re on the same page before we head inside.”
“Oh,” I spluttered. Inside, I was thanking God that Spencer was beside me right now because the reality was I’d hadn’t even thought about how to explain it. Any of it. No amount of makeup would cover the split lip and the stitches. Right now I had no lie on the tip of my tongue that I could roll out confidently. “Ummm…”
“I have an idea,” he offered.
“Yeah?”
“What if we just tell everyone you had an accident?”
I exhaled heavily. It was pure genius. It was simple. Easy to remember and it wasn’t that big of a stretch. Or at least it was a lie small enough that I was comfortable with it. “Sounds perfect,” I admitted, offering a small, simple smile.
When Spencer reached over, took hold of my hand, and silently started rubbing circles with his thumb, my whole body melted into the seat. We sat in silence in the front of the car, both staring out the window into the darkness, the music from inside muffled, and it was calming. More than I wanted to admit, Spencer eased everything. I don’t know if he was doing it to help me or himself. I guess it didn’t matter.
