“I suppose so,” I say.
“Speaking of Kansas…”
God. He’s going to say he wants to meet my parents. After all, I met his father and brother.
“I’ve never been there.”
“Oh?”
“Does that surprise you?”
“A little. You’ve been everywhere.”
“Not everywhere, but a good many places both here in the U.S. and outside.”
I can’t help a smile. “Kansas never made your list, huh?”
He smiles back, which makes me smile wider. Every time I see his real smile, I get warm inside. He’s usually so stoic.
“Not yet. But it will. You and I will go there.”
“When?”
“When would you like to?”
“I don’t know. I start my contract with Susanne tomorrow. I’m not sure Eugenie wants her posts taken from a Kansas cornfield.”
He kisses my forehead. “Probably not.”
“But New York, Braden. I could do my posts in New York.”
That delicious smile spreads across his face once more. “You want to go back to New York?”
I close my eyes. “More than anything.”
“I have meetings all next week here in Boston,” he says. “But we can go next weekend.”
“I’d love that.”
He kisses me again, my lips this time. Just a soft brush against them, but I tingle all over.
“So would I.”
…
I leave Braden’s the next morning at ten to meet Tessa for yoga. She’s already at the studio warming up.
“Hey, Tess,” I say.
“I wasn’t sure you’d make it,” she says.
“Why wouldn’t I? We had plans.”
“Right,” she says, not meeting my gaze. “Plans.”
She’s thinking about last night, how I turned down her invitation for drinks, which apparently turned into dinner at Ma Maison, with Betsy.
“Tess…”
“Don’t worry about it,” she says.
“I just feel a little uncomfortable around Betsy,” I say. “I’ll get over it.” It’s not a lie, but it’s not completely honest, either.
“She feels terrible,” Tessa says.
“About what?”
“About spilling the beans about Braden and Addison.”
“There’s no reason for her to feel bad. She was being a friend. Looking out for me.”
“So you’re okay with everything?”
I shrug. “Why wouldn’t I be? It was ten years ago. So he dumped her. Whatever.”
“But something happened that left her freaked out.”
I sigh. “If she was so freaked out, why was she upset that he ended things? She could by lying for all we know.”
Tessa says nothing, just moves into a downward dog to stretch her hamstrings and calves.
I hate the damned downward dog. Hate it with a passion.
We don’t talk for the remainder of the hour.
…
“Coffee?” I ask, wiping my neck with a towel after class.
“I’m not sure I’m up for it,” Tessa says.
“We always have coffee after yoga.”
“And we always keep our shopping dates,” she counters.
Is that what she’s upset about? That I forgot to cancel our shopping date because Braden and I went to New York early? She didn’t say anything about it when we talked on the phone earlier. Of course, that was before she caught me at Ma Maison with Kathy.
I thought we were past it, but I’ve still been neglecting her.
“Coffee,” I say. “We need to talk.”
She holds my gaze for seconds before she nods. “Okay.”
Once we’re settled at Bean There Done That, I take the lead. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not, or you wouldn’t still be upset. I should have texted you and canceled our shopping. And I should have been honest with you about drinks last night.”
“I just miss you is all,” she says.
“I miss you, too.”
She stares down at her latte. “I feel like you’re leaving me behind. You’ve got this new influencing venture. You’ve got a billionaire boyfriend. You’re finding new friends. Like that Kathy you had dinner with last night. Who is she, anyway?”
“How did you know her name?”
“You tagged her in your post, genius.” Tessa chuckles nervously.
“Oh. Right.” I resist rolling my eyes at myself. “She’s a law student at Harvard. She’s interning at Black Inc., and get this. She’s dating Braden’s father.”
Tessa’s dark eyes widen.
“She invited me to dinner last night after I told you no. Braden and I hadn’t made plans, so I went. Turns out, she’s just using me.”
Tessa wrinkles her forehead. “Why do you say that?”
“She said she wanted to talk to me about influencing, but we talked very little about it. Instead, she jumped at the chance to take a selfie with me and get her name in front of my followers.”
The lie tastes bitter in my mouth. It’s not all fabricated. Kathy is definitely interested in publicity, but she’s also nice in her way. We toasted to our friendship last night.
Why am I being untruthful with Tessa? She’s my best friend. She’s not going to judge me.
Who the hell am I?
“I can’t blame her,” Tessa says. “I’ve gotten a ton more followers since you posted with me.”
“I suppose.” I take a sip of coffee. “How’s Betsy doing? Business-wise, I mean.”
“She’s about ready to launch her online store. I’ve been helping her with the accounting end of it.”
“I’m glad to hear that. And how’s Rita?”