I hesitate for a second or two, a twinge of guilt stabbing me. No, that’s more than a twinge. That’s a freaking basketball of guilt. “Great,” I say, then realize I’d better hedge my answer. Ourromanceis going to end soon. “Everyone needs a rebound now and then,” I add, using his prior line.
“Truer words,” he says as his smile disappears. “I haven’t seen the media make much of it yet. But that might happen, you know?”
I remember his words about the media’s obsession withthe grieving widower, and it hits me how little I know about Lake’s relationship with his late wife.
Well, why would I know much? There’s been no need to discuss it.
“I’ll be ready,” I say with a bright, peppy smile, but when I leave his office, my gut churns. I feel nauseous from the little lies I’m telling him.
Daniel’s my boss, but he’s a friend too, and I hate that I’m not telling him the truth.
But I can’t, right? Once you let the truth out, it can snowball. And really, Lake and I only need to keep up the lie for a few more days till the wedding.
There’s one person I need to tell the truth to though, and I can’t wait much longer.
Someone I avoided the other night.
Someone whose father I just met.
Someone who thinks her brother is broken.
I call Clem.
* * *
There aren’t enough pages in my Notes, Complaints, and Existential Crises notebook for all the possible outcomes involved in telling Clem I’m banging her brother. But Elena would be proud of me for doing this—listing all the different things that might happen when I see my friend. That is, if I ever tell Elena about the fake dating. But first, I focus on Clem. I write out the outcomes on the bus ride home from the arena. It helps with my worry that things might go wrong when I talk to her.
IthinkI know how to smooth things over though.
Before I catch the next bus, I pop into a store in the Marina that has everything, find what I need, then hop onto a bus out of town.
Once I arrive in downtown Cozy Valley, I feel ready. I let the fresh air center me and yes, the cozy vibe centers me too. I pass Whiskers and Kisses where the store’s tuxedo cat bats lazily at a stuffed mouse from the top floor of his tower. Would Thor like a mouse like that? I’m tempted to pop in and grab a toy, but I have to remind myself I’m not here for Lake. I’m here for his sister.
Up ahead, The Meet Cute comes into view. That’s the bookstore Clementine opened a couple of years ago. A brick wall along the side of the store is painted neon pink, showing off the spines of popular books from the last few years—likeTop-Notch Boyfriend,The Twelve Hate Dates of Christmas,When You Kiss Me Like This, and other fan favorites.
I open the door as Clem calls out a question to a group of a dozen or so avid readers, draped across the couch in the shape of lips and several pink folding chairs.
“And for the grand prize and the chance to call yourself the Trivia Smut Queen—what did Lucy fromBangableproclaim was the wildest place she’d ever banged her enemy?”
A woman with tattoos of books dancing down the bronze skin of her arm darts up a hand. “The hot-air balloon as it flew over the food festival in Lucky Falls.”
Clementine picks up a silver bell from the counter and rings it. “All hail Mariana Valdez.”
Mariana stands and takes a bow while the others clap and cheer for her.
Clementine grabs a sparkly tiara off the counter, waving to me when she spots me. She’s wearing a shirt with an illustration of a cat reading a book on it, and the wordsBooks. Because Murder is Wrong.
She bestows the tiara on Mariana. After that, I busy myself checking out her sticker collection and hoping the confession goes as well as I believe it can.
Once the trivia club has filtered out, Clem shuts the door and locks it, leaving just me and her little dog, Fern, all frosty-faced, who glances up from her heated bed behind the counter and gives me a look that seems to translate as:Did you bring me a biscuit? If not, I don’t care about you.
“I don’t have a biscuit, Fern.”
The cutie sighs the most dramatic dog sigh of all time, then curls into a ball on her bed, looking the other way.
“You’re dead to her,” Clem says, as she joins her little critter behind the counter.
“I’ll do better next time,” I say to the pup then glance around the shop, hoping to ease into the convo. “Looks like trivia night was great.”
