Lie, Lie Again(30)
He placed his hand on hers and sighed. “I’d really love for you to go with me. It’s Saturday night.” Tapping his thigh against hers, he smiled and said, “Come on.”
She struggled to come up with the right words. He was Mr. Personality, and she was a homebody. Which is exactly why I need to push myself, she thought. I’ll end up a complete recluse with an apartment full of cats. Not that she had one now. But she could see the path in front of her, and it was littered with cats. Or maybe she’d heard it enough from Rowan to start believing it was a real possibility. “Okay.”
“Really? You’ll go?”
She leaned forward to kiss him. “Yes. I’ll go. Give me a few minutes to change, okay?”
“Awesome. I told them we’d be there in thirty.”
She started to say something but instead headed for her room. What if she’d insisted on staying home? Would he have thrown her over his shoulder and strapped her in the car? She couldn’t imagine Brandon making assumptions about what Embry wanted to do. She sighed. It wasn’t fair to compare Chris to him. But it was like thoughts of Brandon had hijacked her brain. Maybe she could set up a point system for herself, and once she racked up enough points—earned by not thinking about Brandon as anything but her friend’s husband—she could buy herself a reward. Something she’d been wanting, like a new tote for her school things.
She pulled a black turtleneck sweater from the back of her closet and tugged it over her head. Her jeans were fine, she decided, and she slipped on a pair of black leather boots. They probably weren’t waterproof, but she didn’t have anything else to wear besides flip-flops and sandals.
She brushed her hair into a low ponytail before putting on tiny gold hoop earrings and dotting rosy lipstick onto her lips. Done in less than five minutes. She smiled at her reflection. The low ponytail looked good. Usually, she wore them higher, but this was a fun change. It looked more sophisticated. Pretty.
When she emerged from her room, Chris stepped close to kiss her cheek. “You look gorgeous.”
“Thanks.” She took the umbrella from the hall closet and shrugged into her coat. “Let’s go.” Did he hear the lack of enthusiasm in her voice, or had he made up his mind that she loved seeing everyone? It was like he was adding traits to her along the way that didn’t really belong. Although it was possible he was just being encouraging, in the same way her parents used to tell her she loved going to her dance classes, when in reality, she’d dreaded them. Brandon, on the other hand, was the perfect dance teacher. Twirl, girl.
The Lantern was nestled between an art gallery and a juice bar near the beach. Not too many years ago, trash, weeds, and empty storefronts had lined the street, but some entrepreneurial soul had come in and revitalized the entire area. The trash was gone, and the weeds had been replaced with wooden flower boxes and pretty herb gardens. There wasn’t a vacancy on the whole block. It always amazed Riki how quickly things could change.
Chris’s friends were seated around a center table. She’d met them all before—Calvin the production assistant, who looked like Steve Harrington from Stranger Things with his poufy eighties hair; his girlfriend, Shannon; and Eddie, Liam, and Rob, the single trio. Interestingly enough, Liam had a date tonight. The girl next to him had an athletic build and wild dark hair that was capped with a red cashmere beret. She looked chic and cool, which only made Riki feel extra awkward in her plain jeans and basic boots.
A chorus of hellos sounded as Riki and Chris pulled up chairs and wriggled off their coats. Was Liam excited about this new girl? Did she know he had the reputation of a player, or was she happily unaware, drawn in by his cool charm? Maybe she was already imagining what their babies would look like. She was dark while he was fair. Her genes were surely dominant, unless she had some recessive genes in her DNA that would match up with his. She’d wondered that about Chris and had been intrigued when she finally saw a picture of his parents. They both had dark-brown eyes like his. Swarthy, like a pirate.
So that would mean if she and Chris had babies, they would probably have dark-brown eyes. Which was fine. Brown eyes were cool. But she would be the different one in the family—the one who didn’t match. Would it be strange to look into her baby’s eyes that were so unlike hers? Oh, come on, Riki! She couldn’t believe she cared for even a second about what color her future kids’ eyes would be. She should be worried about the important things, like heart health and whether cancer ran in his family.
Chris passed a mug of beer to her, and she took a sip. What the hell was she thinking? If Chris knew she was imagining their children, he’d probably down his beer and ask out the first girl he saw.
Or would he? It was equally easy picturing him bringing over boxes so she could move in with him. She shivered at the thought.
So why was she planning babies with the guy? He kept a hand on her leg as he talked with Eddie and Rob. It felt nice. Protective.
Liam’s date—Evelyn, she learned—sat opposite Riki. She was originally from Wisconsin. It was the first thing she told Riki upon their introduction, although Riki could’ve guessed she was from somewhere else because of her accent. Somehow, it made her less intimidating when she went on to say that she came out here to work in the industry.
“My neighbor did the same thing,” Riki told her. “He and his wife moved here about four years ago. He’s been trying to make it as an actor.”