Just a Girl - Becky Monson Page 0,34

better of it.”

“Wow, thanks,” I say, my voice flat.

“Bree’s right,” Thomas pipes in. “Which is not something I say often.”

Bree rolls her eyes. She’s smart to not dignify Thomas’s comment with a response. He never gives up that easily, though.

“You guys,” I whine, laying my forehead down on the table in front of me, extra dramatically. “What am I going to do?”

“I’ll tell you what you’re going to do, camper,” Thomas says, his voice extra loud, and I don’t even have to pick my forehead up off the table to know people are probably staring. “You’re going to pick yourself up, go into his office and flash him your boobs, and then Bob’s your uncle.” He uses his terrible British accent for that last part.

I pull my head up, just enough so he can see my squinty-eyed glare. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“Yeah, Thomas. Terrible idea,” Bree says.

“I don’t understand what the big deal is. Did he not tell you the other night that he ‘really liked you’?” Thomas says.

I sniff, just once. He did say that. I can’t believe it was just last night. I can’t believe that only twenty-four hours ago, I was eating sushi with an amazing man and having all the feels, only to find out the next day that he’s now my boss. Life really can change in an instant.

“Yeah, but that was before he found out that I lied to him,” I say.

“But did he say that it was over between you two?” Bree asks.

I think for a second, sitting up so I can see Bree’s face—plus keeping my head down like that was giving me a headache. “No, I mean . . . he never said anything like that. Not yet at least.”

“So, don’t let him,” she says. “March into his office on Monday and tell him that a little thing like you not telling him where you really worked and him being your boss shouldn’t stop whatever was happening between you.”

“Magic,” I say on a sigh.

“Huh?” Bree says, her lip curling up on the side.

“It was magical between us.”

“Gross,” Thomas offers. “You know, they have an ointment for that.”

I roll my eyes at Thomas.

“Okay, sure. Magic,” Bree says. “I think you should ask him why a little warranted dishonesty between two people should stop this magical thing from happening.”

“Maybe don’t say ‘magical,’” Thomas says. “It makes you sound a little hokey.”

I let my shoulders slump. “What if it’s not enough? What if the lie is too big and he can’t get over it? I know I had my reasons, and while I guess they were valid—”

“They were totally valid,” Thomas says. This is probably more to defend his own interference in the whole thing than to make me feel better.

“Just go talk to him. And don’t take no for an answer,” Bree says.

“Yeah, you march right in there, and you tell him. If he really wants you, one little lie shouldn’t get in the way,” Thomas says, pointing at me with his index finger.

I think about it for a beat. Could I do that? Could I walk into Henry’s office on Monday and tell him that this is stupid and we should just overlook it all and be together? Do I have the gumption? The nerve? In truth . . . I don’t. But I also think Henry and I should be together. I feel it in my bones. And I barely even know the guy. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?

I sit up a little straighter. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“You go,” Bree says, with a nod of her head. “You got this.”

I don’t feel like I’ve “got” much of anything right now, but I do have a tiny morsel of hope, and I have to try.

“And if all else fails,” Thomas says with a mischievous glint in his eye, “boobs.”

Chapter 10

Thomas and Bree are right. Why did I just assume that because Henry is my boss that what we have is just going to end?

I mean, we both withheld things, we both had good reason, but now that it’s all out in the open, we can roll with this thing. And there is a thing here. I feel it, and I know he does.

I don’t text Henry or call him over the weekend. I decide that we both need some space and also I want him to see my face, to hear the earnestness in my voice when I tell him how I feel. I also need to prep myself. There