“My sister didn’t believe me about the text.”
“Did she listen to the voice note?”
“Yes, and knowing me, she probably considered that maybe you’d made it under duress.”
He laughed. “I’d like to see you force me into something.”
“Well, today’s your lucky day. You’re going to help me fix this.”
“I already did. I can’t control whether your sister believes the truth. Neither can you, so my suggestion would be to let it go. Let it play out.”
“I told them I was with you, David. That we were dating.”
His smile evaporated. “Why the hell would you say that?”
“Because —at the time— it was the smartest way through.”
“That makes no sense.”
I closed my eyes for a second. “David, listen…”
“You’ve made an absolute mess of this.” He released a humorless laugh. “The voice note was fine. I could have recorded a follow-up if things were that fucked.”
“Wemade a mess of this,” I corrected.
David shook his head. “I don’t remember being at this exchange. I don’t remember giving you the green light to tell your family I’m your boyfriend.”
My fingers curled into a fist as I tried to grasp onto my final semblance of patience. “I’m not going to an engagement dinner, wedding rehearsal, and ceremony with the tiny inception of a text you sent.”
“Get someone else to do it,” he said. “Or, better yet, get an actual partner. You already have one person in line.”
His tone had enough grit in the last sentence to make me do a double-take. “Isn’t Hart your friend?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
The look of sheer annoyance and disgust on his face was what it had to do with everything. He disapproved. He loathed the idea. Maybe I didn’t know his friends or how hespent his free time. But I knew when he was a hairpin trigger away from being pissed as all get out.
“I gave them your name,” I said, trying to reel him back in. “It’d set off a million and one alarm bells if I showed up on someone else’s arm. I’m trying to get them to believe me, not push myself deeper into suspect territory. Besides, I don’t want to taint the possibility of actually dating Hart.”
“You plan on dating Hart?”
“He asked me out, so it’s on the table,” I said.
The quiet between us was heavy. I waited for a snarky comeback about not being interesting enough for Hart.
“Okay.”
I frowned. “Okay?”
“I’ll do it.”
My fingers unfolded, the marks in my palms getting much-needed relief. “You will?”
“Don’t look so grateful,” he muttered. “It makes me second think.”
I tried to fix my face into something less ‘thank god I don’t have to scramble to come up with a solid Plan B.’ It got easier to frown when I remembered the person he’d been seeing.
“This won’t get in the way of whoever you’re dating… right?” I asked, more hopeful he’d finally tell me who it was, so I’d better work through my odd bout of jealousy.
