Nerd Girl(105)

I didn’t have the team meeting in my calendar. It was obviously an intentional oversight.

Catherine met my eyes briefly and I feigned a fake smile for Mia’s benefit. “I’m going to cancel it. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. I’ll reschedule the meeting for later in the week.”

“Uh oh, are you feeling okay?” Mia asked with genuine concern.

“Just a little tired these days. I’m getting some tests done,” said Catherine.

As I eyed Catherine during this exchange, I noticed that she did look a bit tired and pale; thinner, too. But breakups will do that to some people. Guilt washed over me, knowing that I was the cause of her not feeling well. I looked down towards the floor in remorse.

“Okay, then I guess we’ll see you later. Good luck at the doctor’s office. I hope you feel better,” Mia said sympathetically and waved goodbye.

During this whole run in with Catherine, I hadn’t spoken a word, nor did Catherine direct any conversation at me. Thankfully, Mia didn’t seem to notice. She was her usual perky self.

“So what’s up? Did you have a good holiday weekend?” Mia asked as she started the car.

What was I allowed to tell her? I couldn’t tell her why I was frustrated earlier, nor could I tell her who I spent the weekend with. Hopefully sometime within the next few weeks, I would have a new job and could consider sharing the details of my new relationship with Mia. I knew that it was inappropriate to discuss it with her any time before that. Besides, I made an agreement with Catherine and Ryan that the team wouldn’t know. As I rationalized all of this in my mind, Mia waited for me to answer her question.

“Um, yeah. I did.” I searched my brain quickly for something more to say. I knew she was waiting for details. I went with my old standby approach to lying. Stay as close to the details of a story so that you decrease your odds of getting caught. “I, uh, went to the San Juan Islands with a friend of mine.”

“Oh really?” She gave me a mischievous look. Mia rarely let any potential opportunity for a juicy story get past her. She and Anna would love each other. “Tell me more.”

“There’s nothing to tell. Sorry to disappoint.” I tried to look innocent. “I went with an old friend of mine from college.” The first time I had ever gone to the islands was with my friend from college, so it was partly the truth, right? “She was visiting from out of town and we thought it would be fun to get away for a couple of days.”

“You didn’t mention anything about the San Juans last week.” Mia eyed me suspiciously, like she wasn’t buying my story.

I shrugged. “How was your vacation in Puerto Vallarta with Matt?” I blurted out quickly, hoping to divert her from asking any further questions about my weekend.

Mia didn’t answer right away, but I noticed that the smile on her face was growing. She lifted her left hand off the steering wheel, showcasing some serious bling on her left hand.

“You got engaged!” I cried. “AHHH!!”

Both of us squealed again with excitement and started tapping our feet on the floor, clapping and bouncing in our seats. We were such girls.

I cupped my hands over my mouth in awe. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you! Tell me how it happened!”

Trying to make sure that she didn’t have the chance to ask me any more personal questions, I easily pulled her into telling me stories about the proposal and now her upcoming wedding plans. For the next hour or so we ate our sushi and chicken teriyaki while Mia told me about their trip and how Matt had gone down on the traditional one knee to propose after a moonlight stroll on the beach. It was everything Mia had ever imagined a proposal to be and I was content to hear her story and share in her memories. I really was happy for her. Matt and Mia were perfect for one another.

The server at the restaurant arrived with our bill and took both of our debit cards, which led to a momentary lull in our conversation. As expected, Mia took advantage and redirected the focus of our conversation back to me.

“So I saw Kyle yesterday.”

Gosh, she was good. She might’ve been put off for an hour, but I should’ve known better than to think she had forgotten. Her eyes narrowed and there was no escaping her gaze. Crap.

“He said something about you being into someone from his team, and that’s why you won’t go out with him …” She looked as if she was personally offended. “What’s up with that?”

My mouth gaped open. I honestly didn’t know what to say at first. “Oh, that,” I scoffed, taking a drink of my water in an attempt to postpone my answer and think of something to say. “It’s nothing. I was just telling Kyle that so that he would back off.” Crap. Now I was telling more lies to cover other lies. I felt my face flush in my own freefall.