Page 10

Instead, I say, “You’re a terrible liar.”

Theo laughs.

“I’m serious. You can’t even pretend to like my cooking. You remember the kale casserole?”

“It was…different and healthy. That wasn’t a lie,” he replies with a grin.

“What happens when someone asks how long we've been together?” I continue. “Or where our first date was?”

“Nobody is going to interrogate us, Mags.”

“Well…” I hesitate to say the next part. “What if it gets weird?”

His brow furrows. “Weird how?”

“We live together. You're my best friend. If this blows up somehow, I don't want to lose that.”

For a second, neither of us says anything.

Then Theo reaches across the table and squeezes my hand.

“You won't.”

The certainty in his voice makes my chest ache.

Because Theo has no idea that pretending to date him feels dangerous for a completely different reason than the one I just admitted.

5

Maggie

Theo gave me his credit card to buy whatever I needed for the trip, but I only bought a few things for him.

Things he’ll need but would never buy himself.

“What’s all this?” he calls out after he comes home from work and goes into his room to take a shower.

I follow him inside where I laid out everything on his bed.

I may have laid on it and smelled his pillow for like two seconds before spreading out the purchases.

“These are your outfits for the trip,” I tell him.

He picks up one of the blue and white Hawaiian shirts and frowns at it.

“You hate it.”

“It’s…bright. With flowers.”

“You hate it,” I realize.

Theo studies the shirt carefully. “I’m just trying to understand it.”

“I’ll pack it since you may warm up to it,” I tell him.

He puts the shirt down and picks up the swimsuit, white with tiny blue boats. “These are men’s shorts?”

“Who else’s would they be?” I ask in confusion.