There was no point in opening my laptop up again as I was going to meet Finn in town. I promised him I’d show him the shops and introduce him to some of the locals. But Jasper was right. I hadn’t thought this all the way through. How would I explain why I was giving him a tour? What should I introduce him as?
And this is what keeping secrets does. You get caught up in a set of rules that are so much more confusing than the truth.
There was one way to defuse this and avoid any unwanted questions. Grabbing my cell phone, I called Zoey.
“Hi. How are you doing, Reesa?” she answered.
“I’m good. I was wondering if you are free this afternoon.”
“I am. What do you need?” she asked.
A chaperone.
I needed it, not just because of what others might think, but things were just starting to heat up last night, and then he put on the brakes. He said we’d pick up where we left off, but I couldn’t let that happen – at least not in the public eye.
“I’m taking Finn downtown to show him around. I’d love it if you could join us,” I said, crossing my fingers she’d say yes.
There was a pause. I figured she was double checking with Bennett. When she answered I was thrilled. “I’d be happy to. Did you want me to pick you up or meet you somewhere?”
“Why don’t you come to my house and we can leave from there?” I suggested. It was better than having to find parking for three different vehicles.
“What time?”
“I’m going to leave the office shortly. So come by whenever you’re ready,” I said. “I’ll update Finn and he can meet us there.”
“Sounds good. And maybe we can all grab something to eat while we’re down there. I haven’t had lunch yet. Have you?” she asked.
“No, I haven’t. Zoey, thanks again for saying yes.”
“Thanks for the invite. I’m looking forward to getting to know Finn a little better. We didn’t get much of a chance over dinner at Alex’s the other night. He was practically glued to you.”
“We…we had a lot to talk about,” I said.
“Hmm. That’s what it’s called now?” she snickered. “Okay, I won’t tease you anymore about it because I don’t want you to retract your invitation. I’ll see you soon. Bye!”
Zoey ended the call and I slumped in my chair.
I must be terrible at hiding my feelings.
If Finn decided to take the job, maybe we wouldn’t need to hide any longer.
And if he doesn’t take the job, then none of this will matter. He’ll be gone and I’ll be here alone.