“I know so,” I said adamantly. “Trust me on that. He’s a jerk. On the way home from the bar, he was talking about his sister Liv and how she has some crush on some guy called Xander and how he doesn’t know how this guy Xander puts up with her.”

“And?” Lacey asked, confused.

“There is no ‘and’. That in itself is so rude,” I said heatedly. “The fact that he is sticking up for another man and not his sister says a lot about him.”

“I guess,” Lacey said slowly. “What did his sister and this guy Xander do?”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s their story? Like, why does he feel sorry for the guy?”

“I have no clue,” I said and tried to remember what he’d said. “Something complicated, though. You know how relationships are. I think they met at a wedding or something, but something happened.”

“Ooh, I wonder what?” Lacey asked eagerly and I knew she was dying for some gossip. Lacey was the only person I knew who was as excited by gossip about people she knew as she was about people she didn’t know.

“No idea,” I said. “And hey, do you think I should go through with this or not? It seems to me like you’re having doubts.”

“I don’t know,” Lacey said. “I mean, at first I was, like, yeah, bring his ass down a couple of notches. Who is he to lie to you? Jackass. But now, I’m, like, is this a case of sour grapes on your side? But then I remember that someone else hired you for this job before you’d even met him, so it’s not really sour grapes.”

“So do it or don’t do it?” I said, wanting her to tell me what to do. I just didn’t want to listen to myself anymore. I wasn’t sure if I was going through with this job for the right reasons or not. I liked Scott Taylor. He seemed fun. I knew he was sexy. However, he was my boss and he was a man I knew I shouldn’t fall for.

“Go for it,” Lacey said, her answer being the definitive decision to the matter. “I think it will be great. I think you’ll show hottie-mctottie Scott Taylor that he can’t just sleep with you, mess you around and expect everything’s going to be okay. And it’s only a week. Just remind yourself that this is a job. And on Saturday, make him feel the embarrassment you felt. Let the shame burn through him as he does the walk of shame out of his office party.”

“Yeah.” I nodded to myself with a smile. “He’s going to walk out of that room with the biggest boner and I’m going to just stand there and smile as he runs out in shame.”

“Thata girl,” Lacey said and then laughed. “Now I have to go write, but call me later tonight. We have to watch The Bachelor together.”

“Will do. Bye,” I said and hung up. I smiled again to myself as I headed home. Lacey was right. It was only a week. What could go wrong in a week? I’d have some fun with him and then I’d be out of his life. By this time next week, we will have both forgotten about each other.

Chapter Seven

I settled into my couch and turned the TV on and grabbed my phone to call Lacey so we could watch The Bachelor together. It was a pretty sad thing to do, but we loved watching trashy TV shows at the same time and talking about them as we watched. When we lived in the same city, we did it together in person, one of us going over to the other’s house and bringing ice cream and pizza as we settled in for a night of laughter and fun; but now we had to settle for FaceTime chats and whatever snacks we had in our own fridges.

“Hey, it’s me,” I said as she accepted my FaceTime request. I loved the fact that we could video chat as we watched the show without having to sit near a computer.

“Hey, you.” Lacey grinned into the phone and I could see a tub of cookies and cream ice cream next to her. I felt very jealous as I stared at the tub. All of a sudden, I wanted ice cream myself, only I wasn’t lucky enough to have any in my freezer.

“You’re eating ice cream in bed?” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Rough day?”

“Ugh.” She nodded and sighed, her long dark curly hair looking messy around her face. “Very long.”

“What happened?” I asked as I paused the TV. “Sorry I didn’t ask earlier.”

“I’m just fed up about everything.” She sighed. “My book doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and I don’t know what I’m doing with my life anymore. I don’t have a husband¸ I’m not even close to getting married. I have no boyfriend. No money. No nothing. I just feel like a loser.”

“You’re not a loser, Lacey.” I frowned into the phone and lay back, making sure to hold the phone above me so she could see my face.

“You have to say that,” she moaned as she started eating her ice cream. “You’re my best friend.”

“Yes, I’m your best friend, but I don’t have to say that,” I said. “You just have writer’s block, that’s all.” I tried to look at her face to see if she looked depressed or if she was just feeling sorry for herself. That was the only downside with being on the phone. I never really knew what Lacey was feeling if she was down and we were on the phone. She was a good actress and knew how to put a mask on her face. The only way I knew if she was really okay was if I looked into her eyes.

“Yeah, I guess.” She channeled another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and then smiled into the phone, her brown eyes looking light and mischievous. I felt myself relaxing as I saw her goofy smile. She was okay. I knew it was irrational of me, but sometimes I got worried about Lacey. She was always so chipper, but I knew that she held a lot of insecurities and when she got low, she got really low. She was my rock and I tried my hardest to be the same for her. It was weird how close we were as friends; we’d often talked about what we would do if one of us dated a guy that the other one didn’t like. We both said our friendship came first, but we’d never been tested. I often worried that a man would break up our terrific friendship and I despaired that it was me who would be the weak one.