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“Oh.”
“It was in the paperwork.”
“About that.” I lay both hands flat on the table, but Samantha swings by just as I open my mouth.
“Cassie, it’s nice to see you again. We realized yesterday in the last minute rush of everything we didn’t get some of your information, or even your sign off on the paperwork for participating inThe Onecontest this week. Thanks again for filling in at the last minute— even without a profile. You were a real lifesaver.”
She pulls a few pages from her clipboard and hands them to me, along with a pen.
“You won’t have time to fill these all out now, of course, but afterward is fine. Just don’t leave until they’re done.”
“Sure.”
She darts away and before I pick up the pen, I take a deep breath and meet Chris’s eyes. He’s rocked back in his chair, watching me closely.
“That explains a lot.” The hard edge to his voice matches the rigid set of his jaw.
“I’m sorry. I can explain. See, yesterd—”
“You lied.”
He’s deathly quiet and, rather than being mad, he seems… disappointed, which is a million times worse.
My heart pounds. “No! I didn’t lie. Everything they said about me was true. I’m a florist. I like live comedy, interior design, and puzzles.”
“Do you have a profile onThe One?”
I stop cold and press my lips together. No amount of explaining can change the answer to his question.
“No.”
His eyes close, and he takes a deep breath in through his nose. Finally, in staccato, “Are you even single?”
“Yes! I’m as single as a dollar.”
“Wha—” he begins, confusion suffusing his expression, but stops short when his phone lights up and vibrates. He snatches it off the table and stands.
“Excuse me.”
“Of course.”
He stalks out of the room just as Samantha pops her head back in and announces five minutes until we’re going to be escorted to the set. I stare down at the paperwork, the words blurring as tears fill my eyes. I reach for the pen, even though it seems now I don’t even need to bother filling it out.
9
Chris
I take the call, lifting the phone to my ear.
“Morning.”
“Good morning. Didn’t know if I’d catch you.” Derek, my brother, sounds way too peppy for this early in the morning.
“You did.”
“Ooh, why so gruff?”
“Shouldn’t you be making your wife breakfast in bed right about now?” I rub the back of my neck, which, thanks to Cassie’s revelation that has me second guessing everything, is tight now.
