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“Oh, but Isodo.”
“Can’t a girl just meet a guy on a dating app?”
“If you were purposefully meeting him here, then why did you introduce me toRickas your boyfriend?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
She let out a sigh and then unlocked her phone, opening her Tinder app and showing me the photo of Rick. I furrowed my brow and, suddenly, the reasoning became very clear.
“You were bamboozled.”
“I’m sorry, what? The term is catfished.” Jamie pulled her phone away and locked it, setting it face down on the countertop.
“Same thing.” I smiled at her, holding in my chuckle as I took a sip of my beer, keeping my eyes on her.
She heaved a sigh and shook her head. “I don't need this from you, too.” She grabbed her handbag and shoved her phone inside, standing up from the bar stool, “I would say it was great to see you, but it wasn’t. Thank you for saving the day and your set was great. See you later, Elliot.”
“It wasn’t great to see me?” I asked as she began to turn away. “So youhavebeen ghosting me?”
“Ghosting is a relative term,” she grumbled over her shoulder.
“Five months with absolutely no contact is pretty much the definition of ghosting.”
“How old are you? Forty? And you’re the one holding a grudge over it?” She turned back to me, her eyebrows pinched and anger in her eyes.
“I’m thirty-six, and I honestly think I have every right to know what I did that warranted the silent treatment?”
Our eyes locked on to each other. She glared. I glared. Jamie was the first to break the staring contest and she slumped her shoulders as she let out the longest groan I had ever heard. This groan even topped Clay’s, and Clay has given some pretty epic groans.
Staying silent, I raised an eyebrow and watched as she plopped her small bag on the bar top and flopped back onto her stool.
“Listen,” she began, “maybe some ghosting did happen but that doesn't mean it had anything to do with you.”
“Ghosting has everything to do with the person being ghosted—”
She held up a finger to stop me. I bit my lips together and waited.
But she didn't continue. She rolled her eyes and turned her body away from me, facing the bar. Her Mango-rita was still on the counter in front of her and her fingers found the stem, lightly rubbing up and down.
“Okay, so then . . . can I know the story with Rick?”
“It’s long.”
“Well, the guys are done packing up and I don’t have anywhere to be.” I grabbed my mug, raising it ever so slowly. Maybe if I kept her eye contact, she’d give in. She opened up five months ago, she could open up again.
She raised her glass and took a small sip before taking a deep breath. “I have a family reunion coming up—it’s this big, long event and I go every year. Everyone does. My sister and her family, my brother and his family . . . my other brother who stays as far away from everyone as possible. We’re all there. For three weeks. And I . . . months ago . . . told my sister I had a boyfriend, and now they expect him to come to the reunion.”
I pieced the rest of it together from that. She didn't even have to say anything else. I shook my head and chuckled, “So you’re in need of a boyfriend?”
“No, I’m not actively looking for a boyfriend. I just thought . . . maybe I could find someone to pretend to be my boyfriend for the family vacation.” She laughed at herself. “It sounds insanely stupid now that I’m saying it out loud. Madeline would be very proud of me.”
“For becoming a book trope?”
Her eyes fluttered over to mine, before a roll took them back to her drink.
“So”—I put my mug down, a bang hitting the counter louder than I intended—“you’re leaving for a family reunion, and your family thinks you have been in a long term relationship, when you haven't, and they expect to meet him there?”
“That sums it up. Ugh. I’ll just convince Milo to let me call him once a day and send him photos. I’m pretty sure Madeline would let me borrow her husband.”
My mouth moved before my brain could stop it. I was still drawn to Jamie, even though she clearly had no interest in me, maybe that would be the excuse I would tell myself for the rest of time.
