Page 34 of Miss Belief

“I don’t know. Erasing it sounds pretty good. Guess it’s a good thing again we’re not actually dating. Otherwise, I’d say I’m failing spectacularly. Yet another reminder to wait before getting back out there.”

Made sense. He should wait. It was clear he wasn’t anywhere close to being over his ex and what had happened. “Hey, as your friend, I should remind you we need to hit the gym hard tomorrow to make up for this salty Chinese food. You’ve cancelled the last two mornings.”

“I’m already down eight pounds, I’ll have you know.”

“It’s so unfair for men to be able to drop weight so quickly.”

“I know. But regardless of whether it’s fair or not, I’ll take my loss as a victory. To the gym it is. We only have two days until we leave. Oh, which reminds me. I bought you luggage.”

He got up and went into his bedroom, returning with two pieces of brown leather luggage.

“No way.”

“What?” He appeared confused by my expression of horror.

“That’s Louis Vuitton luggage.” I didn’t know a lot of designers, but I knew Louis.

“Yep, it sure is.”

“This is too much. Is someone seriously going to judge my luggage and say, ‘OMG, does she have Samsonite luggage? What a loser’?” Suddenly I was in jeopardy of puking up my Chinese food.

He chuckled. “Believe me, they’ll be dissecting every detail. And for the record, there is nothing wrong with Samsonite luggage. It’s what I have.”

“Then why the hell would you get me this fancy stuff? You have to return it.”

“You’re being serious?”

“Yes. How can you possibly justify spending that kind of money on luggage? By the way, it goes under the plane and gets dirty, beat up, and often lost. Fancy luggage like that is a flashing neon sign telling people to steal it.”

He seemed to contemplate. “Good point. I’ll return it tomorrow and get you something else.”

“Samsonite. Black. Or blue if you’re feeling fancy. But plain luggage, Reid. I mean it.”

“Yes, ma’am. Now will you calm down and stop looking like you’re tempted to chuck your controller at my head? We wouldn’t want to scar this handsome face right before the big weekend, now, would we?”

I realized I was indeed gripping the device as though I was ready to throw a major tantrum and take out an innocent controller in the process. “Standing down now.” I cracked a smile and sat back down on the couch.

“Phew, that was intense.” He took a seat beside me. “You were really angry.”

“Damn right I was. Designer luggage is a ridiculous expense.” On the other hand, if I was searching for a turnoff, the way he was so careless with his money could be it. But the problem was he wasn’t spending it on himself. He was being generous. Which wasn’t a turnoff. Dammit.

“I guess when you put it the way you did, it is rather silly to have expensive luggage. Now then, you ready to lose the next game?”

“Ha. I’ll have you know I’m an excellent driver.”

I wasn’t, but it didn’t matter. I had the best time regardless of my inability to come in any higher than sixth place.

* * *

“Hey,Teagan, you sounded stressed, what’s the emergency?”

Chloe’s face came into view over my FaceTime screen, making me miss her fiercely. I was in serious need of my best friend and her advice as I sat on my sofa at six o’clock in the morning my time. I only had one more day in the office before my trip. “The emergency is manners. I need some. Stat.”

She giggled. “Um, I’ll overnight them via FedEx? What’s going on?”

Where to start? “Well, I’m flying out early tomorrow morning for the Turks and Caicos to attend a wedding with Reid as his fake girlfriend. There will be fancy dinners and the reception, and I’m panicked. I’m not equipped to be around rich people with all those forks and knives on the table.”

I had to give her credit for taking the news in stride. She did a slow blink with wide eyes. “I know it’s early there, and you need to get ready for work soon, but I need a summarized version of how all of that came to be.”