Page 15 of From That Moment

“I don’t know if I blame her. It did look pretty bad for you.”

“The fact that she thinks I’m with Benji for lunch right now is probably not going to be any better. I’ll have to correct her assumption later.”

Paris narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell her?” she asked, glaring at me.

“Because she assumed and then hung up before I could correct her. I didn’t want to get into a fight over the phone. I should have corrected her, and I will. That’s on me. I swear, nothing hinky is going on.”

“Oh, I know nothing hinky is going on, considering I’m the one telling you that. But now she’s going to think you’re cheating on her with me, and I’m going to be the bad guy.”

“No,” I said, angry now. “She’ll be fine. She just gets jealous over every single little fucking thing,” I growled out. “And I didn’t want to get into it over the phone. But I will set things right as soon as I see her tonight. Promise.”

“As long as she doesn’t come and try to like…slice my tires or something.”

“Allison’s not like that,” I said, and Paris sighed.

“No, but she’s going to be hurt, and that’ll be on me as much as you.”

“You’re right. Fuck.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I handled that wrong.”

“Yes, you did.”

I looked down at my salad and then pushed it away, shaking my head. “I can’t eat anymore. Now I’m just pissed off at myself.”

“You can fix it.”

“I will. But I need to get back.”

“Me, too. I’m done anyway.”

“Sorry this lunch turned out to be a bust,” I said.

“I ate, and I got to yell at you, I’m going to count that as a bonus.”

I rolled my eyes, and we went back to work. Benji wasn’t in the office since he was on his lunch break. I counted that as a win because I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything else right now.

By the time we got back to our desks, I was pissed off at myself and quickly shot off a text.

Me:By the way, I was out to lunch with Paris today, not Benji. Didn’t correct you on the phone before you hung up. Sorry about that, babe.

Allison:What?

Me:She had a shitty day, and I needed to get out too. We each paid for our own meal, but I didn’t correct you. I’m sorry.

Allison was quiet for long enough that I had a feeling I had made a big fucking mistake. Allison always blew everything out of proportion, and I really didn’t want to deal with it over the phone just then.

I shouldn’t have lied by omission, though. Fuck.

Allison:I get it. I shouldn’t have figured it was a man right off the bat. You work with women too. Hope you had a good lunch. I’ll see you tonight?

I blinked, wondering exactly what had just happened.

Me:I’ll see you then.

Allison:Sounds good, babe.

And then she didn’t say anything else. I blinked, wondering exactly what had just happened.

I shook my head, put my phone away, and went back to work. It had been a long time since I’d had a serious girlfriend. And I’d never had one who tended to get as jealous as Allison did. Maybe I was overreacting.