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CHAPTER ONE
How stupid do they think I am?
I tried to keep a straight face as the two of us continued down the hallway. The black dress I’d picked out for my failed birthday dinner felt tight around my rib cage, but in reality, it was probably just nerves.
God, why was my family like this?
Curtis was currently on his third apology. Or maybe it was his fourth. I’d lost count somewhere between the restaurant and the elevator, and I thought he had, too. I could see the sweat starting to bead along his temple, and his neat brown hair now had deep trenches from his fidgety hands sweeping through it.
“Marin, I truly am sorry. I thought for sure I’d made the reservation for tonight, not tomorrow night. I mean, how could I possibly mix up the date?” He let out a nervous laugh. “It’s your birthday after all. It’s not like I didn’t know the date, right?”
He’d said all of this before in his first three apologies, and I’d played along then, too, telling him it was all fine and I didn’t mind in the least.
“It’s not a big deal,” I’d said. “We can just eat in. I don’t mind frozen chicken nuggets or ramen as long as I’m with you.”
And he’d smiled—a genuine one this time. I’d laughed it off and tried to change the subject.
But then, after a few minutes of work talk and the changing Virginia fall weather, somehow, we’d circle back to the fact that it was my birthday.
And then the apologies would start all over again.
He was like a broken record.
I wasn’t sure who had decided my shy, introverted boyfriend should be in on this little secret, but they were either clueless or diabolical because the man was a whole-ass mess.
“I even had it on my calendar!” he said, referring to the botched restaurant reservation. But I knew there was never one to begin with.
He was acting like a cheating spouse who’d just gotten caught with the nanny.
I can’t handle it anymore.
He’s suffered long enough.
Grabbing his hand, I pulled both of us to a halt right in the middle of the hallway of my downtown apartment building.
His confused expression met mine.
“I know,” I said, raising my brow in an obvious sort of way.
“You know what?” he said casually as tried to look at anything but me.
He wasreallybad at this.
Rolling my eyes, I threw my hands up in the air. “I know, Curtis. Okay? I’ve known for about a week. Maybe more. You guys aren’t exactly subtle. Texting my mom while we’re watching a movie, Curtis? Really? You never talk to my mom.” I tried sounding annoyed, but it was actually kind of cute.
His eyes widened before his face broke out in a grin. “I thought you’d fallen asleep!”
“And miss seeing Ryan Reynolds? Never.”
“Who?” He furrowed his brow.
Until we’d met, the man hadn’t even owned a TV.
“The actor from—” I paused. It was like he was an alien. Or a time traveler. “Never mind.”
We both stood there, staring at each other, until one of us cracked—the laughter spilling from my lips milliseconds before his own filled the hallway.
“You’ve really known that long?” He grinned.
