Page 94 of Man Flu

“You want me to quit and go away, don’t you?” she responds.

“No, Brielle. I’m just being a mother figure to you. After all, I am old enough to be your mother, right?” I roll my eyes and lean forward for my bag.

“Well, you’re firing Logan, so maybe you should hang onto me for a bit longer before you have no one left to help you.”

I look over at her and furrow my brows. “Take it easy. I was just trying to be a friend. If you’re not happy, make yourself happy.”

“Ditto,” she says.

“I’m working on it,” I snap back.

“I can tell.” Brielle rolls her eyes and nudges me out of my seat so she can grab her hot pink duffle out of the overhead compartment.

Neither of us says much to one another as we make our way off the plane and down to baggage claim. “I’m sorry, Brielle. I was just trying to help, honestly.”

“I know I annoy you, but you don’t have to be so obvious about it.”

Why is she acting like this? “Did something happen?”

“Nope,” she says with a clipped tone.

“Okay.”

“I’m lying. Something did happen,” she says.

“What? What happened?” What could have happened? We haven’t left each other’s side in days.

“It was me,” she says.

“What was you?” We’re standing in the waiting area of the gate we just deplaned from, and people are staring at us because I’ve been a little louder than I should be.

“I told Logan to look you up on Words With Friends last year after Rick left you.”

“What?” I shout. My blood runs cold, yet my face feels like it’s on fire. “This is a joke, a goddamn joke right now, right? But it’s not funny.”

Because I’m still yelling, a TSA security officer approaches us. “Ladies, is everything okay?”

“No, she created a stalker and sent him to me!” I continue, now sounding like a nutcase, and officially making a scene.

“A stalker? How do you create a stalker?” the TSA officer asks, seeming more curious than serious, despite my erratic behavior.

“He’s not a stalker,” Brielle laments. “It’s Logan Grier. He’s a friend’s friend of Adam’s. We were all out for a party one night and someone mentioned setting him up with a nice woman who didn’t know a whole lot about sports … and well, I made magic.”

“You made magic?” I huff. “You set him up with me through a stupid word game. Then, when things didn’t work out that way, you—”

“Told him there was an opening as a temp, and you might prefer that way of meeting someone, versus the online dating thing that hadn’t worked out for you.” Brielle is biting her thumbnail. Maybe she just realized how asinine this all sounds or how stupid it is to interfere with someone’s life the way she has. How could she be so deceitful? “He told me you probably wouldn’t be too happy when you found out the truth, and that he’d just keep trying to meet you through your word game conversations, but I was impatient. I wanted him to make a move.”

“This was all you. All of it. I tossed aside a great guy because you had to interfere.”

“Wrong. I found you the great guy, Hannah. I was trying to help you. You were so miserable, and I just wanted to see you happy again. Forgive me, please.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brielle angry, not like she is right now. But how can I just be okay with this? I can’t be. I’ve been blindsided, and I feel like a fool.

“I don’t know what to say right now.”

“Ladies, can I get back to my job now, or should I pull up a few chairs and invite some people over to watch your Jerry Springer episode?”

“We’re fine,” I hiss.

“Oh, and if Logan Grier wants to date you … come on now, even I wouldn’t turn that guy down, and I’d be eternally grateful to the friend who made it happen!” The security guard walks away chuckling, which kind of infuriates me a little more. I’m a joke in everyone else’s life, it seems.