5
BLAKELY
Idrove into the office with my stomach tied in so many knots I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to get them loose. At least Gio wasn’t there when I arrived. I wasn’t sure I could face him. He’d always been able to read me. One look at me and he’d know the whole thing with Kellan was one big, fat lie.
“I heard you’re bringing your boyfriend to the party tomorrow night. What gives?” My work wife, Harriett, slid into my office around lunchtime. “Want to grab a bite and fill me in?”
“Good news travels fast, huh?” My office chair creaked as I leaned forward to rest my chin in my hands. Taking Kellan up on his offer was a bad idea. There was no way I’d get away with it.
“Who is he? Where did you find him?” Harriett shut my door and perched on the edge of the chair in front of my desk.
“He broke into my condo last night while wearing a Santa suit.” It wasn’t any use trying to deflect her questions. She always got the truth out of me one way or another.
“Seriously, where did you meet him?”
“I told you, he broke in. My roommate’s staying with her boyfriend this weekend, who happens to be Kellan’s brother. He had to be in town for some party, so she told him he could stay at our place.” I unwrapped one of the chocolates I kept in a dish on my desk. I’d been chowing on them all morning.
“And she didn’t tell you?”
“She sent a text, but I didn’t see it until after I’d clocked him over the head with a giant wooden nutcracker.”
Harriett put her elbows on my desk and rested her chin on her hands, mimicking my position from a minute ago. “This is getting good. How did you wrangle him into going to the party with you?”
“You’re enjoying this way too much.” She’d been dating the same guy since college and kept telling me she needed to live vicariously through me. Unfortunately for her, my love life had been lackluster since Gio dumped me. The joy in her dark brown eyes told me she was wringing entirely too much satisfaction from my predicament.
“I want to know more about him showing up on your video call half naked. I heard he’s built like a linebacker.” Her eyebrows waggled. “Did you do the dirty with Santa last night? Tell the truth.”
“Of course not. After I figured out he wasn’t a real robber, I got him an ice pack and told him he could stay in Gloria’s room until he could find a hotel today.” I grabbed another chocolate even though they weren’t helping. “Then Gio started being his usual dickish self and asked him if he was coming to the party. Kellan said yes.”
“Oooh, Kellan’s such a sexy name. Remember Kellan Lutz from the Twilight movies?” Harriett’s eyes glazed over as she let out a wistful sigh. “Why don’t you look more excited?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I don’t know, sweetie. If I’d secured a date who looked like a pro football player and was willing to pose as my boyfriend to put my ex in his place, I’d be doing cartwheels down Main Street.”
At seven stories up, my office window looked down on one of the main thoroughfares running through downtown Bourbon. I glanced down at the street, half expecting a parallel universe version of myself to be doing exactly that. “What’s going to happen after the party, Harriett? Kellan’s only in town for the weekend. Yes, it will be incredibly satisfying to see Gio’s face when I show up with him tomorrow night, but then what? Am I supposed to pretend to keep dating him forever?”
“You stage a break up at the party. Work it out ahead of time so you’re the one rejecting him.” She clasped her hands over her heart. “He’ll make one last dramatic play for you and then you can reject him. Gio will see you as the desirable one who got away, and your hot Santa will be off the hook.”
“You really think that will work?”
“It’s either that or continuing to make up excuses about why he isn’t around anymore. Sure, you could drag it out for a while, but you know Gio. He’s a big enough dick that he’ll keep pushing until you crack and admit the whole thing was a hoax.” She gave me her very familiar I-told-you-so look.
“I don’t know what I ever saw in him in the first place.”
Harriett walked around the desk and pulled me into a hug. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. He can be super charming when he wants to.”
She was right. I’d met him right after college when we’d both been volunteering at a dog shelter, and he’d seemed like the real deal. Things changed once he started working for his dad. It was like I barely recognized the man I’d fallen in love with anymore.
“Fine. We’ll breakup tomorrow night. I just need to get Kellan on board and make sure he’s okay playing the role of my lovesick, desperate boyfriend.”
“Don’t sell yourself short.” Harriett picked up the quarterly report on the edge of my desk and used it to swat my hand away from the candy jar. “A guy like Kellan would be lucky to have you.”
I rolled my eyes. In what universe would a man like Kellan be lovesick and desperate over me? “You haven’t met him yet. Once you see him, you’ll agree with me that a man like him would never, ever settle for a girl like me.”
“We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one.” She dropped the report back on the pile of papers. “Now the most important question… what are you going to wear?”
Since I hadn’t been planning on going, I hadn’t given it much thought. “I don’t know. We have to wear something red or green, right?”