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“Uh, no. I think I’m just going to tag along with the rest of the Grissom crew. Abigail and the others—they’re all riding together.”
Sarah handed me a little bottle of whiskey. “Actually… Abigail caught me in the hallway yesterday afternoon—Heath asked her to be his date.”
“Oh.” I sighed, realizing Heath was going to watch me show up to this gig alone despite lying to him about having a date. Not that I wanted one now, anyway. My date was going to be on the altar beside the groom, and we were the only two who knew. The only two who could know.
Dammit, I would have loved to tell Heath. Rub it in his face a little.
“Guess I’m flying solo, then.” I twisted the cap off the bottle and tilted it back, taking a long swig. Sarah drank hers at the same time, wincing as she swallowed.
“I wish the boys would get in touch,” she said. “Owen sent me a cryptic text that just said the word ‘sink’, and that was at least a half hour ago.”
“According to Mason, he’s having a pretty good time. Maybe too good.”
A devious smile crept onto Sarah’s face.
“What?”
“Can you just admit you’ve got a thing for Mason already?”
“A—a thing?” I scoffed. “No I don’t. I’ve told you this already.”
“Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t think Mason Reed’s good-looking.”
I couldn’t. I looked down at my bracelet instead, feeling a warmth spread across my cheeks.
“Exactly,” Sarah said, giggling. “It’s so obvious.”
“Sarah. He’s Finley’s dad,” I said, looking back up at her face. “I can’t.”
“Just because you’re attracted to him doesn’t mean you have to act on it.”
Whoops. I tucked my hair behind my ears, glancing over my shoulder into the living room, where the other women were hyping Vicki up as she took off her robe. “Okay, yeah. Mason’s… cute. And sweet. But I’m not about to get myself fired.”
I awaited her reaction, internally urging her to assure me I wouldn’t be fired. If she said anything at all to indicate a relationship with Mason wouldn’t necessarily be that big of a deal, I was going to tell her the truth—or at least half of it. Tell me I wouldn’t get fired.
“I know you wouldn’t. I’m just saying—I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you two got together.” She attempted another sip of her whiskey, scrunching up her face again, before adding, “When you’re no longer Finley’s teacher, of course.”
Of course.
The way she added those last words, like they were a warning, reminded me we needed to tread carefully. Sarah was still my boss, and I was still breaking district policy. If she knew about my relationship with Finley’s dad and didn’t report it, it could probably jeopardize her job, too, for all I knew. I couldn’t ask her to cover for us.
“Yeah, maybe one day,” I said, taking both of our empty bottles and throwing them in the trash.
If Sarah’s hang-ups about my history with Owen hadn’t driven a wedge between us, this certainly would. As I trailed behind her back into the living room, the weight of my secret had never felt so heavy. We had just had this productive heart-to-heart conversation, and then I proceeded to look her in the eyes and lie.
She was wrong—I didn’t deserve her.
chapter thirty-eight
mason
“Are you trying to kill him? He’s a lightweight.”
“The only thing getting killed here is the vibe,” Xander answered, dropping a five-dollar bill in the tip jar at the first bar of the night. Xander chose this place because it had a comically exorbitant number of one-star reviews, and he wanted to see what it was all about. “And you’re single-handedly responsible.”
I said nothing as I watched the other three guys tip back their shot glasses. It was their second round, and this came after we all shared the filthiest pitcher of beer ever poured.
We had taken an Uber here from the restaurant, which was a relief—it meant I could at least have a couple of drinks myself, and I wouldn’t have to navigate through downtown Indy again until it was time to head back to Woodvale.
