I already made the lasagna this morning. I was going to try out the recipe on Jason tonight. Dinner’s at six o’clock.”
Shit. Now what?
“I don’t know. I’ll have to check with him. We hadn’t made plans yet to see each other today. I don’t know if he’s available.”
“Come on. What else would he be doing on a Sunday evening?”
“Anything else.” She racked her brain for manly pastimes. “Football. Poker. Lifting weights. I don’t know what he does with his teammates.”
Jen laughed. “He’s your boyfriend. You should know.”
This wasn’t working. She was digging her hole deeper. “I told you we’re still new.”
“Fine. Just call him and call me right back.”
“Okay. Bye.” Sighing, she disconnected and punched in a text.
ALICIA: Sister insisting we come for dinner tonight. Text me back with a good excuse why you can’t.
She hit send and then realized she’d better warn him about her other lie, just in case, God forbid, he ran into Jason at the pub or something.
ALICIA: Also told her you’re deploying Thursday so next weekend no good.
She hit send on the second text and laid the cell down. She’d done far too much already pre-coffee. Time to remedy that.
The beans were only halfway through grinding when her cell rang. She saw Brian’s number on the screen.
Cursing, she grabbed it and moved out of the kitchen and away from the noise of the automatic coffee grinder.
“Why are you calling? You could have texted,” she said, in lieu of hello.
Brian laughed. “Good morning to you too. And I decided you sending me on a fake deployment warranted a call.”
“I had to think of something. She invited us for dinner Saturday so I said you were leaving on SEAL stuff Thursday and I didn’t know when you’d be back. So she said to come over tonight instead. I was stuck. I need a good excuse why you can’t come tonight. What do you do with your guy friends on a Sunday night that you would be doing tonight so we can’t have dinner?”
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave . . .”
“Stop quoting Shakespeare to me and give me a good reason you can’t have dinner.”
“Is that Shakespeare? Hmm. I didn’t realize.”
“Brian. Focus.”
He chuckled. “Here’s a radical idea. How about we just have dinner with her tonight?”
“What? Why?”
“Because it will be more believable than if you keep throwing out fake excuses. It can be my farewell dinner for my impending departure Thursday. Where am I going, by the way?”
“I told her that’s classified.”
“Well, at least that part’s realistic. What’s she cooking? I don’t get homemade Sunday dinner often.”
“Vegan lasagna.”
“Hmm. Less enticing. But still, I think we should show up.”
She sighed. “I’d be happier if you just had plans with your friends. Don’t you go to strip clubs or something together?”
“You want to tell your sister your new boyfriend bailed on dinner to go to a strip club?”
“No. I guess not. But don’t you have any plans for tonight?”
“Yeah. I do. I was going to go to bed early because I have to be on base for a meeting at zero-seven-thirty.”
“That’s not very exciting.”
“I had enough excitement on my last deployment, thank you. My real deployment. Not the fake one you’re sending me on.”
“Fine. We’ll go. But I’m telling her we have to leave early.”
“Sounds good to me. What time should I pick you up?”
“Dinner’s at six.”
“I’ll get you at five-thirty then. And I’ll bring a bottle of red wine.”
Crap. He really was a good fake boyfriend. But that didn’t mean he’d be a good real boyfriend, she reminded herself. “Okay. See you then.”
“Looking forward to it,” he said.
At least one of them was.
She disconnected and in an act of rebellion texted her sister rather than calling her back.
A small thing, yes, but it made her feel better.
She needed something to cheer her up. Even the aroma of the fresh ground coffee and the prospect of a color coordinated closet wasn’t doing it for her anymore.
TWELVE
Alicia answered the door breathless with her boots in her hand rather than on her feet. “I’m so sorry. I’m almost ready.”
Enjoying seeing this side of her, he shook his head. “No rush. Take your time.”
“Come in. I’ll be ready to go in a minute.”
“All right.” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, as she trotted to what he assumed was her bedroom.
He’d picked her up on Valentine’s Day for the party but he hadn’t come in past the foyer. This was his first time seeing deep inside the sanctuary of