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Lies of omission. “It’s just their son, actually. Who’s there now. There’s a guest room, obviously. The house is being fixed up. And…stuff.”
“You sound awkward,” Noah said. Words and mincing them were not her thing. “What’s up with this guy? You know him or something? Oh, hold up. Is this…wasn’t your ex-boyfriend—”
“Yeah, something like that,” I cut in quickly. I sensed Adam’s presence behind me. Turning, sure enough, he stood right there. “It’s…interesting.”
Noah continued. “Are you telling me you’re crashing with your ex-boyfriend? The one from high school you never got over?”
“Hey! Not true.” Okay, valid. She’d known me since freshman year of college. Same dorm, same floor. She’d seen me in those early post break-up days at my lowest points, pathetically pining. “Anyway. So, about coming up here…”
“No worries. I hear you loud and clear. You’ve got work to do.”
“Well, not exactly—”
“I can hear it in your voice, Jillian. You may not be admitting it to yourself yet, but there are unresolved issues it’s time to get past. Give me details later.” She punctuated her request with a wicked laugh.
“Don’t laugh. It’s not what you think,” I said through my teeth.
“Sure thing, Jan.”
I hated when she called me Jan like Jan Brady. I couldn’t remember when we started using the phrase, but in our friend group whenever we said something fake or obviously dumb, a sarcastic “Sure thing, Jan,” followed.
Adam had walked off a few paces to give me privacy, but I still couldn’t be open about the situation. I mean, I couldn’t exactly admit I didn’t hate being here with him and was glad we’d spent the day together. Having Noah come up wouldn’t make sense at this point. Any hotel we’d find would be outside of town, and the vibe of a girls’ weekend had completely shifted.
And maybe I was okay with that.
“We’ll try this trip again,” I told her. “This is important. I miss you.”
“Aw, Jillian. I miss you tons. Plus, I’m dying to see Hudson in person again. I can’t handle another virtual call with her and her weird pouty lip filters.”
“Pretty sure those are her real lips.”
“Those lips are not real.” She snorted. “That was mean, sorry. I just don’t understand Hudson right now.”
Same. “I’ll make sure we reconnect soon.” My personal mission. “Oh, real quick. Check in with Marcy. Her dad is in surgery.” I filled her in, we said our goodbyes, and I ended the call.
I turned to Adam. “Hey. I had to tie up a loose end.”
He looked past me, the faintest scowl on his face. “So that was Noah? Is he like…a boyfriend?”
I rewound my conversation and remembered I’d said Noah’s name as I squeezed past Adam in the bike shop. And I may have mentioned Noah earlier. A mischievous spark ignited. “Yeah, he meant to come up for the weekend, but it’s not going to work out. He’s got an interview with ESPN.”
Adam’s jaw unclenched. “A sports guy?”
“Football. Pro. Met him at U of M.”
His cheeks flushed. I watched him gain composure in seconds, rearranging his scowl to a not-at-all-believable neutral expression. A thrill ran through me. Adam was jealous.
And I loved it.
Just for a second, I wanted to hang onto this. Cruel? A little. Juvenile? Absolutely. He didn’t like the thought of me having a boyfriend. But if he put his ego aside and thought about this logically, I’d spent all day with him and never once mentioned a boyfriend. In fact, I’d admitted I had zero social life for the university staff to nitpick over. Plus, I’d planned a girls’ weekend. That was like the number one rule of a girls’ weekend. No boys allowed. Unless we had some honorary arrangement or the friend group was any gender—but whatever. Not the case here.
I’d let him squirm long enough. “Noah is a woman.”
His brow furrowed as his posture relaxed a few molecules. “Noah? Is a woman?”
“Yup.”
He cocked his head with narrowed eyes. “The football boyfriend doesn’t exist, does he?”
