didn’t show. She had plans to meet some dude she’d been talking to on Cupid Match. This wasn’t for me. I just thought it’d be a shame to let the pizza go to waste.”
Harlow looks away from us and my overt manipulation of the truth. Melissa smirks, unconvinced, but decides to let it be.
“I agree. It would be such a shame.” She takes a seat in front of Harlow and me, grabbing the wineglass from my clutches. “Sorry to hear about your date girl, but hey … his loss, right? I mean, look at all you’ve done for a first date. Hell, what would you have in your bag of tricks for a second date?”
Harlow takes a sip of her own wine, but I don’t miss her subtle flinch. Guilt swirls in my gut. She doesn’t deserve this. I totally dismissed her, and then Melissa added a crushing blow by joining us and her jab.
“It’s fine. Maybe I dodged a bullet. Some people may not be worth the effort, so when they show you who they are, it’s best to believe them the first time.”
Her gaze pierces mine as she gulps the rest of her wine. She stands, dusting the sand that has accumulated on her dress.
“Where are you going? Don’t let me run you off. This is your setup, after all. I’m just joining my guy here.”
“Melissa, stop,” I snarl.
“Oh dear, you’re not running me off. Like Phoenix explained, he just happened to come out here to see what the glow was. Now that you’ve joined your guy, just thought I’d keep this lovely setup from going to waste.” She leans down and places the pizza between us. “Enjoy.”
She walks away, and I have an overwhelming urge to go after her. Fuck. I look back at a smiling Melissa—devious and contrived.
“I don’t know what the real story is here, but I know that wasn’t it. Her spirits were too broken for the truth to be anywhere near this scenario.”
“You don’t fucking get to question me. This is not an inquisition. You’re not in a place to even be jealous if this was more. You fucked up and have a ways to go to make things right. I don’t have to appease you with lies.”
This is only partly true. I have every motivation to feed her lies. I need to keep her threats at bay and unravel her motives. Keep your enemies close and all that.
“Whatever. You don’t have to keep reminding me that I need to fix what I destroyed. I made a mistake, one that I deeply regret, but that girl wants you. I know what it looks like because I feel the same. She can’t have you. I will do whatever it takes to make things right again.” She blows out a frustrated breath. “If what you say is the truth, then she’s lying. There was never a date with a guy from Cupid Match. No sane person goes through this much trouble for some random stranger they’ve yet to meet. You meet at a public place to see if that person is even worth a second date. I call bullshit. This setup was intended for you.”
She grabs a slice of pizza and sips on the wine she took from me. “The pizza is good, though. Nice try on her part. Glad I came back early.”
It takes everything in me not to snatch the pizza from her—the pizza, by her own admission, made for me.
“Why did you come back early?” I have to school my features so that I don’t show my annoyance and concern for Harlow.
“My mom has a little flair for the dramatics. She had to get her gallbladder removed laparoscopically and insisted I be there in case she didn’t make it out of surgery. The procedure is pretty routine, but her Wikipedia and Google searches turned her into a basket case.” I have no idea what half the shit is that she’s spewing. The call came from her father, not her mother. She has no idea that I know. She continues with her lies, and I pretend to listen intently. “Of course, everything went fine, and they discharged her later that day at her insistence. She wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible, happy to have escaped the many complications from her search.”
“Well, I’m glad your mom is fine. Just know that you can’t be all accusatory. I’m not your guy. I’m giving you more leeway than I probably should.