Page 21 of False Confidence

“Right. Yeah, give me a sec.”

He looked back at his phone. Tomorrow? He swallowed.

Tomorrow sounds good.

He hesitated before sending another.

You gave me a hickey, by the way.

That’s hot.

It is. But Maggie saw it and she knows it was you. Pretty sure she’s going to grill me over lunch.

Better you than me!

Give stepmommy my best

Enjoy your lunch :)

Liam’s heart thudded. A smiley face. That’s all it took for him to want to call off work, swing by his dad’s office, and steal her away.

Thanks, darling. Have a good day :)

He locked his phone and tucked it in his back pocket, looking up to find Maggie watching him with a concerned expression.

“What?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “You’re going to make me my best friend’s stepmother-in-law, aren’t you?”

Maggie took a long sip of her wine and set it down. Another perk of not working at the museum anymore: a glass of wine here and there with lunch. Working lunches, Maggie called them. They usually followed meetings with difficult clients or supplier fuck ups.

“So,” she said, folding her hands in front of her. “How was the wedding? I know seeing them must have been hard.”

Liam paused, his glass an inch from his lips. He’d been expecting her to jump straight into a conversation about Jasmine.

He took a swig, then swirled the Pinot Grigio around the glass. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The wedding itself was really fucking tacky, and India and Bart… I don’t know, I guess seeing them together just made me realize that they’re not really the kind of people I want in my life anyway.”

“It’s their loss,” she said, her sapphire eyes flashing with ire for India and Bart. God help them if they ever met.

“It’s taken me a while to figure it out, but I wasn’t happy back then. I was just forcing myself into a mold, trying to be more like the people I grew up with, and that’s not who I am.”

Maggie reached across the table and squeezed his hand once. “I’m proud of you. And at least you got a good dinner out of going.”

“True,” he agreed with a laugh.

“Did you speak to them?”

“Yeah. I was trying to avoid them, but they found Jazz when she was coming back from the restroom and I figured I shouldn’t leave her to deal with them alone.” He’d considered it, but he was sure that would have worked out worse for India and Bart than Jazz. “She was amazing,” he admitted, feeling his cheeks warm. “She’s so effortlessly petty.”

Maggie laughed, rolling her eyes. “She’s always been like that. I know she did something to my ex, but I haven’t been brave enough to ask what.”

“Thank God she’s on our sides.”

Maggie raised her glass. “Cheers to that.”

A server bustled over, setting down plates of steaming pasta, and Liam’s mouth watered as he breathed in the smoky mushrooms, garlic, and onion in his tagliatelle.

Maggie hummed happily around a forkful of her lunch, chasing it with a sip of wine before saying, “So… Jazz.”

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