Page 65 of Coincidentally Kismet

“Look, Will, what’s the matter with you?” Bri’s face makes it evident that she’s a bit annoyed and disappointed with me.

“What’s wrong with me? I didn’t do anything wrong,” I snap back, aggressively shoving fries in my mouth.

“Ohhh okay, this is what we’re doing? Fill your mouth with fries so you can avoid talking. Tell me one thing...how did you find out about this place?”

“Cam told me about it and how much she wanted to try it.” It doesn’t matter how I discovered it. I’m still unsure of what Bri’s getting at.

“Hoo-boy...Did you tell her we were meeting for lunch or did you forget to mention it?”

“No, I don’t need to ask permission to see my friends, Bri. This is exactly what Tina said for me to do. She told me not to let myself drown in something new.” I huff out a deep breath. I’m trying to do the right thing, follow the steps, face the fear.

“Right, you shouldn’t, but as an outsider to this situation, it looks like you kept our meeting a secret and took me to a place you knew she desperately wanted to go.”

“It’s not like she has a lock on good restaurants. I’m allowed to go wherever the hell I want to go for lunch.” Now I’m getting mad, this is not my fault. I don’t think I did anything wrong yet this burger is going down about as good as a brick of chalk.

“Will, let me ask you something. When’s the last time you talked to her?”

“This morning. I sent her flowers and she asked me to lunch. I told her I was busy and couldn’t—ohhh shit.”

“Yep...there it is.” She points at my face as if she can see the realization blooming in my cheeks. “Now you’re getting it. She wants to meet you for lunch, but you tell her you can’t becauseyou’re busy. That’s fine, so she takes herself to lunch at a cool place she wants to try and then to her surprise you show up, hug another woman, whom you probably appear comfortable with, and you can’t figure out how this went wrong.”

“Yeah, I fucked up. But so did she. If she had just let me explain who you are, she would’ve understood.” Scrubbing my hand down my face, I plead my case.

“Will, seriously? Come on. You’ve hurt her before and for all intents and purposes you lied to her today,” Bri admonishes me, an accusatory finger pointing at my chest.

“Shit. What do I do, Bri? You have to help me here.”

“Do you love her?” she asks, raising her brows in consternation.

“Yeah. Unequivocally.”

“Then you do whatever it takes. After work, go talk to her. Make her let you explain, and for fuck’s sake, don’t lie to her about seeing me ever again,” she huffs.

“I’m sorry I put you in the middle of this. I ruined our lunch and messed everything up. I wanted to meet up with you to fill you in on how things are going with Cam, but also to tell you we’re leaving soon. I know it’s not the same for you, but I wanted you to know. In case...well, I thought in case Cam needs you while I’m gone.”

Bri swallows hard then places her hand on mine gently. “Will, thanks for telling me. You know I’ll support her and I’ll be praying for your safety. You may want to fix this, though, so she actually takes my help.”

There’s my girl, Bri.

“Very funny. I’m gonna try, promise.”

Bri and I finish eating and catching up. She’s the best kind of friend. Calls me out on my crap and supports all of us even though she lost her soulmate. I love her, in a friendly way, whichis exactly why I need to fix this mess with Cam. I know she will love her too.

I feel shitty about what happened. Hurting Cam was unintentional, it never crossed my mind that she would find out or that I was even keeping something from her. I’ve been doing my own thing for so long that running a lunch date by her or even just telling her for the sake of awareness wasn’t a thought. I sent the flowers and haven’t been able to think of much else besides Cam for weeks. Apparently, my feelings for her are not obvious, though, and I’m running out of time to make things right before I leave.

My stomach is flipping and flopping in the worst way. It has been since I ate that burger for lunch. Well, and potentially ruined the best thing to ever happen in my life. It would be easy to blame Patty of Patty’s Patties, but I doubt the greasy burger is the cause of my current state. No, that would be my own idiocy in not being transparent with my girl. This is what I was afraid of, that I would make one mistake and she would run. The people I love always leave.

I didn’t think about how having lunch with Bri would look from anyone else’s perspective but my own, and that’s on me. I simply wanted to meet a friend, so I made plans, and when Cam asked, I said I was busy. I wasn’t trying to lie or avoid the truth—truly, it didn’t cross my mind. I don’t know if being a dumbass man is an excuse, but it’s what I have to go with.

Full disclosure, I have no clue what I’m going to do if she won’t forgive me. I’m essentially a ship floating aimlessly at sea right now. A ghost ship with no captain, abandoned to ebb and flow with the changes of the tide. I have to fight for her, I can’tlose her and myself with a mission approaching. Actually, to hell with the mission—I can’t lose her period.

Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I knock on the door. Three slow but sure taps that announce my arrival. Still deep breathing through my nose, I’m almost startled when the door swings ajar. My eyes fly open and I huff out, “Cam, I’m so sorry.”

“Slow down, cowboy. Cam isn’t talking to you,” Lo spits out, frosty disdain dripping off her tongue.

“Lo, please let me in. I need to explain. It’s not what Cam or you think. I swear,” I plead with my hands up in full submission.

“Yeah...hmm. Let me get this straight. She caught you on a date with a gorgeous woman—I mean, seriously a model—and it’s not what we think?”

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