“Spill all the details. Did you tell him who you were from the app?”
I drop my head back and stare up at the ceiling.
“Why didn’t you?” she asks, making me feel even worse than I already do.
“How could I?” I ask, begging her for an answer.
“You mean to tell me you guysdid the deed,” she says in code in case someone hears us, “and he doesn’t know he talked to you on the app for a week? How did you guys go from hating each other tothat?”
I shrug, just as confused. “We just did. It started out the same way we always were here, but then he was super sweet on the plane when I was scared to fly. Then … I don’t know … just spending time together made our walls break down.”
She lowers her chin and her voice. “Was it good?”
“Sooooo good.”
“Squeeee!” She jumps up and down, grabbing my hands.
I want to celebrate with her, but deep down I know I can’t until he knows everything.
I push off the counter, needing to get away from her happy vibes and be more serious. “What am I going to do?”
“Um, what do you mean? You’re going to keep seeing him, right? This wasn’t just ahotel roomkind of thing, was it?”
I pull out a chair at a small table off to the right. “No, he’s made it very clear he wants to keep seeing me.”
She takes the seat next to me. “Why this face? This is a good thing.”
“It’s a great thing, if I wasn’t lying to him.”
“So, call him up and come clean. What’s the big deal? You know he likes the online version of you, and now you know he likes the real version of you, so there’s nothing to worry about anymore.”
“That’s the thing. I want to, but his mom and sisters are here to pick up his sister’s wedding dress.” I level my eyes with hers. “Something Online David told me, but Work David didn’t, and I almost screwed it up, talking about how I knew.” I place my forehead onto my arms that are folded on the table. “I’msupposed to go with them tomorrow. I don’t want to tell him and have him be mad at me while his family is here.”
She places her hand on my arm. “You don’t know that he’ll be mad.”
“His ex hid an entire part of her life from him where she was being very deceitful to her clients, which only makes it worse that I’ve been hiding this from him.” I sigh. “I know I need to tell him, but I don’t want to take the risk with them here. I don’t want to look like a complete fool in front of his family.”
A coworker enters the break room, so I instantly stand and walk back to my desk, not wanting to make a scene or have people question anything because a workplace rumor is the last thing I need right now.
I go straight home after work, just wanting to hide away and put on a movie to try to get out of my head and focus on something else for the night.
It was bad enough having to tell Jana about me and David in Montana, but when I really told all the explicit details to Macy, it just became too much. Now, I want to fade away and pretend none of this is happening for at least a little while.
I’m just about to push play on a movie when my phone rings with a FaceTime call from David.
My heart races as I hover my finger over the Answer button, wondering what I should do. Deep down, I would love to just go back to our conversations on the phone and all the joy those nights brought me, so I swipe the screen to answer the call.
“Hey, beautiful,” David says, melting my heart but making me laugh out loud at the same time.
“Ha! Hardly.” I move around my messy bun, then curl up in my blanket even more.
“Are you staying in tonight?” he asks.
“Yep, just being lazy and about to watch a movie.”
“That sounds good right about now. It’s kind of hard to lie on my couch and be lazy with so many people here. I’m sitting at my kitchen table because it’s the only quiet space and I wanted to call to say hi.”
“He meant to say he’s having the best time ever with our little sleepover.” Katie bends down to get in view of the camera.
