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“Not our story to tell,” Frank said. “What I want to know is why the hell is he still going on dates?”
“It’s a cover, apparently,” Mindy said. I frowned at her, and she smirked.
“Why?” he asked.
Great, we had circled back to the question I’d dodged earlier. I was about to open my mouth to tell another lie when Sid came into the kitchen. He looked at us all, clearly read the tension in the room, then walked over and gave me a peck on my forehead.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said.
“It’s okay. I was about to tell them why you’re still going on dates from the dating app,” I said.
Sid froze.
“Yeah, what the heck, man? I picked you up from the bar because of a horrible date, and you’ve been on a lot in the past few months. If you’re with Kat, why are you going on dates?” Frank asked.
“And why keep it a secret from everyone?” Mindy added.
God, they were worse than our parents. I didnotknow how to answer any of that. Sid and I hadn’t spent any time together since the gala. We had plans to go to our parents’ houses this weekend, but hadn’t gotten together to get our stories straight. Since the gossip blog had outed us, we really needed to get on the same page.
Sid cleared his throat. “I understand it seems weird, but Kat’s family—including Rebecca—isn’t the most supportive. Also, I’ve seen the drama you’ve all gone through when the town hears about your personal lives. I didn’t want all the attention. I also didn’t want them to judge Kat’s dating reputation or mine. It wasn’t something I wanted brought into the light.”
That was extremely believable, and I almost forgot we were pretending. It scared me how good Sid was at lying. It wasn’t an attractive trait, yet I couldn’t be more attracted to him at this moment for saving me. My head was scrambled. This lie would be the death of us.
“Look, things escalated quickly with us, and it took us both by surprise. I never would have pictured myself with Kat, but it works. She’s outgoing, and I’m levelheaded. She makes me happy, so I don’t want to hear any judgment from you guys.”
Mindy lifted her hands, and Frank scoffed.
“I wish you would have told me, man.”
“Like you told me when you were dating Mindy behind everyone’s back?” Sid fired back.
“That wasn’t the same thing.”
“How was it not? You guys kept it a secret from everyone, and then it blew up in your faces.”
“Then you should have learned from my mistake and told me,” Frank shouted. “I’m your best friend. Or at least I thought I was. We could have gone out for beers instead of you going on dates. No one would have been the wiser.”
I didn’t know how much this lie of ours was going to hurt everyone. It wasn’t supposed to get this big. The lie was supposed to be just for the night of the gala to get our parents off our backs, but now it was so out of control that it was hurting the people we loved. I wanted to come clean.
As if sensing my panic, Sid reached over and squeezed my denim-clad leg under the table. The feel of his hand on my thigh was calming, and I relaxed beside him. As long as we were in this together, it would work.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “My parents and Rebecca have judged me my whole life. I wanted something of my own that everyone’s negative opinion of me didn’t taint. Sid was kind enough to respect that, and he agreed to keep up the charade of being single until I was ready to share with everyone.”
Sid squeezed my leg again, and I felt reassured that everything would be fine.
“Why did we have to hear about it from the damn gossip rag and not you?” Frank asked.
Mindy pointed at Frank in agreement. “Yeah. I thought we were better friends.”
“It wasn’t our plan, but it slipped out at the charity gala we went to last weekend with our parents, and someone must have overheard,” I said.
“We’re sorry, but you’re the first of our friends to find out,” Sid said.
“Fine. When’s the wedding, and where is your ring?” Mindy asked.
Jeez, she was like a damn shark, and it was intimidating as hell. I felt like I was in the ocean bleeding out.
“It’s getting sized, and we haven’t set a date yet,” Sid said. He didn’t miss a beat, and the lie rolled out like truth. He was scary good at it.
