Andrew dipped his head toward hers, his voice low and his breath hot on her cheek. “According to what I overheard, it’s the ArorTech holiday party. They recently bought out a smaller company here.”
“HealthLink. Dad’s firm brokered the new building deal.”
“You already know as much as I do. Still want to do this?”
Pretend she was from a place she’d only been once, worked for a company she knew the barest details about, and did a job she never held—being whoever she wanted, as long as it fell within those guidelines. It was a stupid, terrifying, fascinating idea. “I’m in.”
She and Andrew wove through the pockets of people, building on each other’s stories as they went.
“I started in photography, but I had grander aspirations,” Andrew told one couple who asked how he got into his line of work.
Someone else wanted to get Susan’s input on the corporate training programs and what they should expect. She slid into a response without hesitation. “It’s always hard to say with a new satellite group. We have standardized materials, of course, but each office needs a unique approach. I did a class in Dallas, where I had them all dance to salsa music.”
If she put the right kind of thought into her answers, she could keep them vague with mostly-truths, and people drew their own conclusions. It felt weird, making up stories. At the same time, she was more herself than she ever got to be at Dad’s office parties.
“Are the two of you… you know?” Another colleague asked.
“A thing?” Andrew filled in the blank.
The man looked like he was anxious for a little bit of corporate gossip. “Well, yeah.”
Andrew shook his head. “I find the moment that a woman makes friends with me, she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance. And I find the moment that I make friends with a woman, I become selfish and tyrannical. So here I am—a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so.”
She might have been confused by the convoluted response, but the word-for-word recital from My Fair Lady and the fact Gossip-Guy seemed impressed were entertaining.
Two hours later, when they finally said their goodbyes and headed outside, she was grinning like she hadn’t in ages. How could one evening of lies feel more natural than a night with a people who called her friend?
Because despite her fake backstory, she never once had to lie about how she was feeling or mask over basic questions about her. The realization thrilled her.