He sat up behind her and kissed her between her shoulder blades.
“Okay, but promise me that one day soon we both can take the day off and you really will stay in bed with me all day?”
That sounded wonderful. And from his voice, it sounded just as wonderful to him, too.
“I promise,” she said. “But how are you going to explain to your mom why you need the day off?”
He laughed against her skin.
“I’ll find a way.”
She suddenly remembered something, and turned to him.
“Oh. Speaking of. Something weird happened yesterday. I was talking to your mom at the party, and . . . Why does she seem to be under the impression that you and Avery are together? She said something like that, too, when I saw her at the auction, remember?”
He looked down.
“Yeah, I remember that. About that.”
Had anyone ever said about that in that tone of voice and had it preface something good? She sat back against the headboard and pulled the sheets up to her chest.
“About that?” she repeated.
He looked up at her.
“My mom thinks that Avery and I are together because . . . I may have given her that impression.”
She blinked. Once. Twice. Had he really just said that?
“May have? Or you did?”
He sighed.
“I did. But it was before you and I were together! Long before.” He shrugged. “After that first night, but you know what I mean. The thing is, I didn’t want to tell her I quit my job, I told you that. It feels stupid, but she was just so proud of me, proud of that job, and I knew how disappointed she was going to be. I was going to tell her, though, but when I said something about how I helped Avery move, she kind of jumped to that conclusion—she’s always wanted us back together—and then I just . . . didn’t correct her. And then it kind of . . . kept going.”
What the fuck? Margot took a long breath. And then another. But no, the deep breaths weren’t working this time to calm her down.
“I see. One question: Does Avery know about this, or will she also be surprised when your mom mentions it to her?”
He laughed. Did he . . . think this was funny?
“Oh no, Avery knows. I told her right away. She said she’d play along.”
Margot folded her hands together tightly. Was he really just telling her this, like it was no big deal?
“Let me get this straight. Your mom has thought for the past two months that you’re dating Avery. You told Avery this right away. She agreed to this. And then, a month ago, you and I got together. At what point did you plan on telling me that you’re supposedly dating Avery? Because I asked you about this back when your mom first mentioned it, remember? And you brushed it off. Or am I just not important enough to be in on this little scheme? Not like Avery, right?”
His face fell. He put his hand on her shoulder. She pulled away.
“No, Margot, that’s not it! I just kept forgetting to tell you, that’s all—it’s not that you weren’t important, it’s that this wasn’t important enough for me to mention it to you. I should have told you, I know that—I shouldn’t have even done this in the first place, it was stupid, I obviously know that, too. I was just embarrassed and stressed and in too deep, and the longer it went on, the harder it was to tell my mom the truth.”
“Okay,” she said. “I get all of that. Sort of. But look at this from my perspective for a moment. Imagine how it felt for me, to be standing there at the party yesterday talking to your mom, who looked over at you and Avery and started talking about what a cute couple you were. I was uncomfortable when I just assumed it was wishful thinking, but now I find out she thought that because you told her so? And you’ve let her keep thinking that the whole time we’ve—”
She stopped. That they’d been what, sleeping together? It was far more than that to her, and she’d thought it was more than that to Luke, too. Had she been wrong? She was annoyed to feel tears come to her eyes. She hoped Luke didn’t see them.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “This had nothing to do with you and me, I swear. I’m with you. I never should have lied to my mom. And I should have told you about this a long time ago. I should have told you in the car that day. But I didn’t want you to think that I’m the kind of person who lies to his mom so he doesn’t have to tell her he quit his job and feels like a failure. Please forgive me?”
She was still mad. And hurt. But she couldn’t say no to him when he looked at her like that, with those kind, worried eyes, and so much emotion on his face.
“Okay,” she said. “But can you please stop this pretense? Like, immediately?”
He nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll tell my mom right away. That the Avery thing wasn’t true, but also about you and me.”
He put his arm around her, and she leaned into his chest. She’d panicked, for a moment there. For longer than a moment. That everything between them was fake, that she was wrong to trust him, that everything she’d been so happy about last night and this morning had turned to dust.
He kissed her on her shoulder blade, and she let herself breathe again.
“Are we okay?” he asked.
She closed her eyes and breathed him in. She felt a lot more uncertain of him than she had twenty minutes ago, but she didn’t want to throw all of this away just because of a stupid thing he’d done before they’d gotten together. And she knew that he’d been telling the truth when he said it had nothing to do with them.
“Yeah,” she said. “We’re okay.”
* * *
HE PULLED HER CLOSE. He’d been terrified for a moment there that he’d fucked it all up.
“How’s your mom going to take it when you tell her that you aren’t on sabbatical, but you quit your job?”
Well, now he had to tell her about the interview.
“A lot better now than she would have a few months ago. They’re trying to get me to go back. I told you that my old boss is leaving. Well, I have an interview there this week for his job.”
After the stuff he’d told her about that job, he wasn’t sure how she’d react. She looked stunned.
“They’re trying to get you to take that job? You’re interviewing for it this week?”
Why had she said you like that? Like it was ridiculous for them to want him?
“Yeah, well, I’ve been texting back and forth with my old mentor for a while now, and last week he reached out to see if I was interested. Big pay increase, a level up, a better title, and from what I can see online, the people who most annoyed me are gone, so I wouldn’t have to deal with them on my team. From what he said, it’s mine if I want it, but I’m not counting on that.”
She pulled away from him and turned to face him. She still looked stunned, but also angry. Was she still mad about the Avery thing?
“Wait, last week he reached out to see if you were interested? And you said yes?”
He shrugged.
“I mean, I’ve been thinking about my next steps for a while, so when he texted, I figured I should at least talk to him about it. He was really complimentary about my work and what I could bring to the team, so anyway, long story short, I have this interview on Thursday.”
She pulled the sheets tighter around herself.
“You’ve been thinking about your next steps for a while? You’ve known about this interview since last week, and you’re just telling me about all of this now? The last we talked about this, you said he’d texted you, and I asked if you’d ever go back there and you laughed and said never.”
Oh, right, he had said that to her on the drive back from the auction. That felt like forever ago.
“Yeah, but . . . things have been changing there, and I figured I might as well give them another shot, right? Plus, my mom will be better soon, I’ll need to find another job anyway. The devil you know, right?” He grinned at her, but she didn’t grin back. Was she upset because she thought he’d be moving? “Don’t worry, I don’t have to move back down there—I can do most of the job remotely.”
He reached for her, but she pulled away.
“That’s great, but if you’ve been thinking about this for a while, and talking to your old mentor and other people about an interview, why is this the first I’m hearing about it? Why didn’t you talk to me about it?”
Was she actually pissed about this? Why wasn’t she excited for him?
“I don’t know, Margot. Maybe because I knew you’d say something like ‘They’re trying to get you to take that job?’ like it’s absurd for them to actually want me, to think I’m competent, like I’m good enough to do it.”
She shook her head.
“You know that’s not what I meant. Why didn’t you want to talk to me about this? This is a huge surprise to me—you’ve been thinking about this for weeks, you completely changed your mind about this major thing in the course of a month, and you didn’t feel like talking through any of that with me?”
“I didn’t think I had to talk to you about it,” he said. “I thought you’d be excited for me!”