Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Merrick Kincaid.”
My mother gasps, and I curse under my breath, slapping my hand over my mouth.
What have I done? I’ve officially lost my mind. She’s driven me to tell lies about an innocent man just to get her to stop her insistent nagging about me finding a date.
I’m going to hell.
This lie is just getting deeper.
“Mom, I need to get back to work.”
“Oh, honey. I’m so thrilled for you. I’ll call you later and you can tell me everything. Including why you’ve kept this to yourself.” The line goes dead before I can agree. I drop my phone on the counter and bury my face in my hands.
“Fuck my life,” I mutter. Tears burn my eyes. I’ve royally screwed this up, and I’m not looking forward to admitting that to my helicopter mother. Why, oh why, did I have to open my big mouth? This is going to suck. Maybe I can just get in my car and drive? Take a few days to decompress and figure out how to break my mother’s heart and admit that her oldest daughter is a liar.
“Courtney?”
I lift my head and give a half smile to my boss, Jordyn. “Hey.” I exhale a heavy breath and square my shoulders. So much for disappearing. It’s time to face the music. I might as well start with my boss. It’s her brother-in-law I attached myself to.
“What’s going on?” Her tone is guarded, yet there’s concern there as well.
“Oh, you know, just me spitting out lies to shut my mother up, and me trying to figure out how I’m going to tell her about it when she calls me back tonight after work, wanting more details.”
“I know it’s none of my business, but I heard you talking about Merrick. He’s my family, so I need to know what’s going on. You look stressed, and if Merrick is in trouble, I need to know. Our family needs to know. We need to be there for him. And for you,” she adds.
I smile at her. It’s genuine because the Kincaids stand behind one another as if it’s their job to do so. “Merrick isn’t in trouble. That’s all me.”
Jordyn tilts her head to the side to study me. I groan because I know she’s not going to leave this conversation with that simple explanation.
“You want to talk about it?” Her gentle tone has me wanting to tell her, even though she’s probably going to be pissed, but it’s the right thing to do. Especially if this lie makes its way back to Merrick or anyone else in their family. Jordyn will be able to explain what happened while I hide under a rock with shame.
“No, but I feel as though I need to explain myself.”
“I’m all ears.” Jordyn leans her hip against the counter, giving me her full attention.
I’m grateful we don’t have any customers. “Okay, so you know that my sister, Chloe, is getting married in a few months, right?”
“I do.” Jordyn nods.
“And you know how my mom has been pressuring me to bring a date.”
“You’ve mentioned that a time or fifty.” She chuckles.
Her reply helps me relax a little. Jordyn is an incredible boss, and maybe she can give me some advice on how to handle this with my mom. Maybe I’ll get lucky and she’ll understand and won’t be mad at me or, even worse, fire my lying ass.
“Right. Well, she called me just now, and I was on break, so I answered. That was my first mistake. She was hounding me about meeting someone and insisted I needed a date for Chloe’s wedding. I was standing here looking at a picture of your family, and I just blurted out that I had a date.”
“That explains the sour look on your face.”
“It gets worse.” So much worse.
“I’m listening.”
“I was ready to tell her it was a lie just to get her off my back. Then she went and used her soft mom voice and told me she was proud of me, and I panicked.”
“I can understand that.” Jordyn nods again.
“Yeah, well, she was insistent I give her a name. I scanned the picture again, and Merrick’s name was out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying.” I cover my face with my hands because I can feel my face heating from embarrassment.
“Courtney.” Her tone is soft, but also firm enough for me to know she’s not going to let me hide from this.
I spread my fingers to look at her. She’s smiling. “Is that all?”
I drop my hands. “Is that all? Jordyn! I lied to her, and you don’t know my mother. She’s going to have the entire town thinking that I’m dating Merrick, and it’s a lie, and he’s going to find out, and I’m going to look like a fool.” My heart is thumping wildly in my chest at the thought of Merrick finding out.